Michael Badalucco brings warmth and humour to supporting parts without making every character reassuring. We value his ordinary, working-class presence, and the Coens’ volatile George Nelson shows how useful it can be when put to less comfortable work.
Fi1m perspective
A volatile bank robber is not the most obvious use for Michael Badalucco’s approachable manner, which is part of the pleasure of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). His George Nelson interrupts the Coens’ wandering musical comedy with welcome unruliness. We laughed at the mismatch between that familiar, everyday presence and the character’s volatility. The film leaves some of its people short of attention, and a memorable cameo is still a cameo. We would gladly have spent longer with him.
His early film career was built from supporting parts, including Vic Vitelli in John Turturro’s Mac (1992), a role written with him in mind. In Luc Besson’s Léon: The Professional (1994), he is Mathilda’s father. We find that film gripping and unusually tender, though its treatment of a child amid the violence remains troubling. Jean Reno and Natalie Portman supply the central bond; Badalucco belongs to the smaller parts around it. It is worth seeing, but it would not be our starting point for someone interested chiefly in his acting.
Television gave him a longer acquaintance with an audience through Jimmy Berlutti in David E. Kelley’s The Practice (1997–2004), his breakthrough role. The heart and humour of that performance make it the clearest reason to seek him out beyond the film cameos. His recurring casting as policemen, drivers and food workers carries a risk: we can begin to assume we know what he will offer before he has done anything. Playing David Berkowitz in Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam (1999) was certainly no invitation to settle down with another agreeable working man.
The Coens brought him back as Frank in The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001), another supporting assignment in a career largely made from them. There is no reason to demand that he become a leading man, though we would be wary of choosing every film simply because his name appears in the credits. Start with O Brother, Where Art Thou?; try The Practice when a cameo no longer seems enough.
Biography
Michael Badalucco is an American actor. He made his screen debut in Raging Bull (1980) and has appeared in films including Miller's Crossing (1990), Léon: The Professional (1994) as Mathilda's Father, You've Got Mail (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) as George Nelson and The Man Who Wasn't There (2001). He is also known for portraying Jimmy Berluti in the television series The Practice (1997–2004), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999.
Born on 20 December 1954 in Brooklyn, New York, Badalucco attended Xaverian High School, graduating in 1972, and later studied at the State University of New York at New Paltz. His brother is actor Joseph Badalucco Jr. He has been married to Brenda Heyob since 1996.
