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Raffaele "Lello" Arena (born 1 November 1953) is an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
actor and comics writer. He was also an occasional film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
and screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
.
Life and career
Born inNaples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
as Raffaele Arena, he was the son of two workers in a tobacco factory. In 1969, at a very young age, Arena formed the cabaret ensamble "La Smorfia" together with Massimo Troisi and Enzo Decaro
Enzo is an Italian given name derivative of the German name Heinz. It can be used also as the short form for Lorenzo, Vincenzo, Innocenzo, or Fiorenzo. It is most common in the Romance-speaking world, particularly in Italy and Latin America bu ...
. In 1978 and 1979, the group appeared in two RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
variety shows (''Non stop'' and ''Luna Park'') obtaining a great success. The group disbanded in 1980 and for some time Arena kept on collaborating with his friend Troisi, starring in his three first films. He won a David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Troisi's ''Scusate il ritardo
''Scusate il ritardo'' (''Sorry for the delay'') is a 1983 Italian comedy film written, directed and starred by Massimo Troisi.
For this film Lina Polito was awarded with a David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress and Lello Arena was awa ...
''.
Later Arena focused his career on television, appearing in a large number of variety shows; he occasionally came back to cinema, even making his debut as a director in 1989 with ''Chiari di luna''. He is also active on stage.Giorgio Dell’Arti, Massimo Parrini. ''Catalogo dei viventi''. Marsilio, 2009. .
Arena also worked as a comics writer, notably for ''Lupo Alberto
Lupo Alberto ("Alberto the Wolf") is a famous Italian comic book series created by Guido Silvestri (Silver) in 1974. It details the adventures of Lupo Alberto, a blue wolf. The protagonist of the comic book, Lupo Alberto, takes the shape of the ...
'' and ''Topolino
''Topolino'' (from the Italian name for Mickey Mouse) is an Italian digest-sized comic series featuring Disney comics. The series has had a long running history, first appearing in 1932 as a comics magazine. It is currently published by Panini ...
''.
Filmography
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arena, Lello 1953 births Male actors from Naples Italian male stage actors Italian male film actors Italian male television actors David di Donatello winners Living people Italian film directors Italian television personalities Film people from Naples