Roberto Citran

Roberto Citran — Biography

Roberto Citran is a well-known Italian character actor, closely identified with the films of fellow Paduan director Carlo Mazzacurati, and moves between stage, cinema and television. In 1994 he won the Volpi Cup for best supporting actor at Venice for his part in Mazzacurati's The Bull. He has worked for over three decades and is still on screen in the 2020s.

Born in Padua, he graduated in psychology. At university he founded the film club CinemaUno, and after some sporadic stage work he set up a small theatre company, Punto e Virgola. His screen breakthrough came through Mazzacurati, who gave him his first main role in The Handsome Priest in 1989. In the 1990s he appeared in films such as Chiedi la luna, Policemen, Marching in Darkness, Italiani and Class Is Thicker Than Water, and played Adriano Milani in Don Milani il priore di Barbiana. The Truce (1997), adapted from Primo Levi's memoir, brought him wider recognition.

In the 2000s he played Monsignor Loris Capovilla in The Good Pope: Pope John XXIII, Diolaiti in Night Bus and Alberto Molaien in 7/8, and appeared in the international production Nine (2009). More recently he has been seen in La macchinazione, Diabolik and The Wedding Days, in which he plays Cardinal Pineider.