John Turturro (Brooklyn, New York, 28 febbraio 1957) è un attore statunitense. Negli oltre 60 film in cui ha recitato, Turturro ha mostrato tutto il suo istrionismo e la sua versatilità interpretando personaggi diversissimi tra di loro, alcuni dei quali memorabili.

Turturro è nato a Brooklyn da una famiglia cattolica italoamericana; suo padre era pugliese (di Giovinazzo, in provincia di Bari) e sua madre aveva origini siciliane. Dopo aver completato il MFA alla Yale School of Drama partecipò come comparsa in Toro scatenato (1980).

John Turturro created the title role of John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at the Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in 1983. He repeated it the following year off-Broadway and won an Obie Award.

Spike Lee liked Turturro's performance in Five Corners so much that he chose to cast him in Do the Right Thing, in which he played the explosive racist Pino. This movie initiated a long-standing collaboration between the famous director and John Turturro.

A versatile actor comfortable with both comedy and drama, Turturro also had an extended collaboration with the Coen Brothers, appearing in their films , Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski and most recently, O Brother, Where Art Thou?. He also appeared as a severely disturbed psychiatric patient of Jack Nicholson's in Anger Management. He also played Johnny Depp's antagonist in Secret Window. Turturro is also an occasional guest star on Monk as Adrian's eccentric brother, Ambrose Monk.

Turturro was the producer, director and actor of the film Illuminata (1999), which also starred his wife Katherine Borowitz.

John's Brother is actor Nicholas Turturro, actress Aida Turturro is John Turturro's cousin.

He has two children, Amedeo Turturro and Diego Turturro born in July 1990 and December 2000, respectively. Turturro is Catholic and his wife is Jewish.

Trivia

  • Despite his many acclaimed performances, Turturro has never been nominated for an Academy Award.
  • Turturro's last name is from the Italian tortora meaning "turtle-dove" (a name used in Italy in the past), a fact slyly alluded to in the Monk episode "Mr. Monk Goes Home Again" when Ambrose Monk (Turturro) tells Adrian's assistant Natalie (Traylor Howard) that their father named him Ambrose after his beloved pet turtle.
  • Won an Emmy award for his portrayal of Adrian Monk's brother Ambrose Monk in the USA Network series Monk.

Selected filmography

Television appearances

  • Monk, 2004-2005, as Ambrose Monk