Lou Taylor Pucci (born July 27, 1985) is an American actor who first appeared on film in
Rebecca Miller
Rebecca Augusta Miller, Lady Day-Lewis (born September 15, 1962) is an American filmmaker and novelist. She is known for her films ''Angela'', '' Personal Velocity: Three Portraits'', '' The Ballad of Jack and Rose'', ''The Private Lives of Pipp ...
's ''
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits'' in 2002. Pucci had his breakthrough leading role in ''
Thumbsucker'' (2005), for which he won a Special Jury Prize at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
and the
Silver Bear for Best Actor
The Silver Bear for Best Actor (german: Silberner Bär/Bester Darsteller) was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chosen by ...
at the
Berlin Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
. Pucci then starred in ''
The Chumscrubber
''The Chumscrubber'' (German: ''Glück in kleinen Dosen'') is a 2005 comedy-drama film, directed by Arie Posin, starring an ensemble cast led by Jamie Bell. The plot, written by Posin and Zac Stanford, focuses on the chain of events that foll ...
'' (2005), ''
Fast Food Nation
''Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal'' is a 2001 book by Eric Schlosser. First serialized by ''Rolling Stone'' in 1999, the book has drawn comparisons to Upton Sinclair's 1906 muckraking novel '' The Jungle''. The book ...
'' (2006), ''
The Go-Getter
"The Go-Getter" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the March 1931 issue of
''Cosmopolitan'' (as "Sales Resistance"), and in the United Kingdom in the August 1931 ''Strand''. Part of the Blandings ...
'' (2007), ''
Explicit Ills'' (2008), and ''
Carriers'' (2009). Pucci had starring roles in the 2013 ''
Evil Dead'' remake, as well as ''
The Story of Luke
''The Story of Luke'' is a 2012 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Alonso Mayo. It is Mayo's first feature-length film and tells the story of Luke, a young man with autism who embarks on a quest for a job and a girlfriend. It s ...
'' (2013) and ''
Spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season)
Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...
'' (2014).
Early life and education
Pucci was born in
Seaside Heights
Seaside Heights is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 2,887,[New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...]
. His mother, Linda Farver, is a former model and beauty queen (Miss Union County), and his father, Louis Pucci, worked as a guitarist for the bands The Watch and Leap of Faith. He has two brothers. At the age of two, he moved to
Keansburg, New Jersey. He is a graduate of
Christian Brothers Academy in
Lincroft, New Jersey
Lincroft is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) within Middletown Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. .
Career
He first acted at the age of ten in a hometown production of ''
Oliver!
''Oliver!'' is a coming-of-age stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens.
It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before op ...
''. Two years later he acted as an
understudy
In theater, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to ap ...
on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
playing Freidrich in ''
The Sound of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...
''. He can be seen in
Arie Posin
Arie Posin is an Israeli-born American film director and screenwriter best known for his 2005 film ''The Chumscrubber''.
Early life and education
Posin was born in Israel in the early 1970s, a month after his anti-communist parents left Russ ...
's ''
The Chumscrubber
''The Chumscrubber'' (German: ''Glück in kleinen Dosen'') is a 2005 comedy-drama film, directed by Arie Posin, starring an ensemble cast led by Jamie Bell. The plot, written by Posin and Zac Stanford, focuses on the chain of events that foll ...
'', the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
miniseries ''
Empire Falls'', and starring as the lead in
Mike Mills
Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., hi ...
' film ''
Thumbsucker'', for which he received the Special Jury Prize for Acting at the 2005
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
and the Silver Bear Award for Best Actor at the 2005
Berlin Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
. He also played "St. Jimmy" in
Green Day
Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...
's "
Jesus of Suburbia" music video.
In 2009, Pucci had three films that screened at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
: ''
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
''Brief Interviews with Hideous Men'' is a short story collection by the late American writer David Foster Wallace, first published in 1999 by Little, Brown. According to the papers in the David Foster Wallace Archive at the Harry Ransom Center, ...
'', directed by
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom ''The Office''. He also served as a producer and occasional director of the series throughout its nine ...
; ''
The Informers
''The Informers'' is a collection of short stories, linked by the same continuity, written by American author Bret Easton Ellis. The collection was first published as a whole in 1994. Chapters 6 and 7, "Water from the Sun" and "Discovering Jap ...
'', with
Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. He had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller ''One False Move'', and received international attention after writing, directing, a ...
,
Winona Ryder
Winona Laura Horowitz (born October 29, 1971), professionally known as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. Originally playing quirky roles, she rose to prominence for her more diverse performances in various genres in the 1990s. She has recei ...
,
Kim Basinger
Kimila Ann Basinger ( ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress and former fashion model. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film and television, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Glo ...
and
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. (; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films.
During the star of the 1980s, Rourke played supporting roles i ...
, based on
Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a w ...
' collection of short stories
of the same name; and ''
The Answer Man
''The Answer Man'' is a United States 15-minute radio program that aired from 1937 to 1956 on the Mutual Broadcasting System and also in syndication. It was broadcast late Sunday evening on some stations. During the 1940s, the program was sponso ...
'' (formerly ''Arlen Faber'' and ''The Dream of the Romans'') with
Jeff Daniels and
Lauren Graham. Pucci was also a juror for the short film competition.
Pucci had roles in multiple indie films for the latter part of the decade, and had a leading role playing an
autistic
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
man in ''
The Story of Luke
''The Story of Luke'' is a 2012 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Alonso Mayo. It is Mayo's first feature-length film and tells the story of Luke, a young man with autism who embarks on a quest for a job and a girlfriend. It s ...
'' (2013), alongside
Seth Green. He also had a starring role in the ''
Evil Dead'' (2013) remake, based on
Sam Raimi
Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007) and the ''Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present). He also directed the 1 ...
's 1981
original
Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...
and played one of the leading roles in the thriller ''
Spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season)
Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...
''. In November 2014, Pucci starred as Teddy Courtney in a ''
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''-''
Chicago P.D.
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind th ...
'' crossover.
He also portrayed Ben in the horror film ''
Ava's Possessions
''Ava's Possessions'' is a 2015 American supernatural comedy horror film written and directed by Jordan Galland. Louisa Krause stars as the titular Ava, a young woman that must learn how to put her life together after a demon is exorcised from h ...
.'' In 2016, he starred alongside
Michael Shannon
Michael Corbett Shannon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor, producer, musician, and theater director. He is an off beat actor known for his on-screen versatility, performing in both comedies and dramas. He became known for his frequent ...
in the western thriller ''
Poor Boy'', which premiered at the
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...
in April 2016.
In 2018, Pucci guest-starred in the first 3 episodes of
Lifetime's thriller series ''
You
In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers.
History
''You'' comes from the Proto- ...
'' as Benji.
In 2019 he guest-starred as Nock Nock in the FX comedy series ''
You're the Worst
''You're the Worst'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Stephen Falk. Originally broadcast by FX, the series moved to its sister channel FXX beginning with the second season. The series follows Jimmy ( Chris Geere), a sel ...
'', then went on to play a recurring role in ''
American Horror Story: 1984''.
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pucci, Lou Taylor
1985 births
American male film actors
Christian Brothers Academy (New Jersey) alumni
Living people
People from Keansburg, New Jersey
People from Seaside Heights, New Jersey
Sundance Film Festival award winners
Silver Bear for Best Actor winners
21st-century American male actors