Alessandro Nivola has been cast in the upcoming third Downton Abbey movie (subtitled: The Grand Finale), but we don’t yet know what role he’ll be playing. He’s also rumored to be playing in the upcoming Peggy Lee biopic, so I thought it was a good time to take a look at his previous historical roles!
In addition to those below, Nivola also acted in:
- Paul Rice in Remember WENN (1996-98)
- Noel in The Ring (1996)
- Mr. Dixon in Emma (1996) — the Kate Beckinsale version. Okay I had to see this, so I even went and skimmed through the entire movie and canNOT find him! He’s uncredited, so maybe his scenes were cut?
- John Selby in Wildcat (2023)
Henry Crawford in Mansfield Park (1999)
Feature film adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. Crawford is the shallow guy who makes a play for main character Fanny Price.
The King in Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000)
The Kenneth Branagh adaptation of the Shakespeare play, set in the 1940s.
Leonard Chess in Who Do You Love (2008)
A feature film biopic about the founder of Chess Records, set in the 1960s.
Boy Capel in Coco Before Chanel (2009)
The biofilm about iconic French fashion designer Coco Chanel, before she became famous. Capel was a rich businessman who had a love affair with Chanel.
Luther Nichols in Howl (2010)
A 1950s-set biopic about American poet Allen Ginsberg. Nichols plays a literary critic/book editor who participated in a related obscenity trial.
John Doar in Selma (2014)
The film about the Civil Rights marches in 1965. Doar was Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, then head of the division, and led the government’s response to the civil rights movement.
Mr Dean in Black Narcissus (2020)
A British TV series, in which “An Anglican nun sent to establish a branch of her order with her fellow sisters in the Himalayas struggles to temper her attractions to a World War I veteran they meet,” per Wikipedia.
Dickie Moltisanti in The Many Saints of Newark (2021)
The prequel film to The Sopranos, about mobsters in 1960s-70s New Jersey.
Detective Hiltz in Amsterdam (2022)
Set in the 1930s, three friends “seek to uncover the act following the mysterious murder of a retired U.S. general” per Wikipedia.
Detective Conley in Boston Strangler (2023)
A crime drama about a serial killer in 1960s Boston, centered on the female journalist who broke the story.
Attila in The Brutalist (2024)
The recently-lauded feature film in which a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor immigrates to the United States. Nivola plays his more-assimilated cousin.
What’s your favorite of Alessandro Nivola’s historical roles?
I loved him as Henry Crawford. Why, oh why would Fanny choose Edmund when she could have had Alessandro’s Henry?
Am I going to have rewatch Rember WENN to find him?!?! He is a good actor and good looking! I’ll go with Mansfield Park or Coco Before Chanel as my fave of his roles.
Are you able to?? I can’t find this beloved show anywhere!
I enjoyed this. He is definitely classically handsome.
Loved him as the “playa”—with a heart—in Mansfield Park. Fun fact — he is the father of Sam who played the younger brother in White Lotus3. Mom is Emily Mortimer.
I am deeply, deeply disappointed that a man with a name like ‘Alessandro Nivola’ has so very seldom worn a moustache – dagnabit, if your name makes you sound like a man who should be composing and/or singing operas he should at least LOOK the part!
Also, for my money the beard he wears in BLACK NARCISSUS is simply too un-trimmed to suit: with a face like that a goatee or a Van Dyke is more the order of the day.
I thought he was the best on-screen Henry Crawford.