Name: Stanley Tucci Date of Birth: 11th November 1960 Place of birth: Peekskill, NY, USA Special moves: Acting, writing, pretending to be gay Films include: Big Night, The Devil Wears Prada, The Lovely Bones, Captain America: The First Avenger, Margin Call

What you probably already know:

Stanley Tucci is the American Dame Judi Dench, insofar as he’s in all of the films all of the time but you can’t hold it against him because he’s never less than brilliant. He’s been nominated for an Oscar (for The Lovely Bones), played a child-killing paedophile (in The Lovely Bones) and led an entire generation to believe him to be gay (thanks to all his other films). His latest film Margin Call – it’s excellent, in case you were wondering – is due out on Friday, and his lovely bald head will be bobbing up in no fewer than five of this year’s big releases – fantasy adventure Jack the Giant Killer, heist caper Gambit, spy thriller The Company You Keep and dystopic YA action flick The Hunger Games.

But if you’re thinking that 2012 is Stanley Tucci’s year, you’re not keeping up. Every year is his year – 2011 saw him take a pivotal role in Avengers prequel Captain America and star alongside Cher and Christina Aguilera in Burlesque, 2010 was the year of Easy A with dear lovely Emma Stone and 2009 played host to Julie & Julia (starring his The Devil Wears Prada costar Meryl Streep) as well as the aforementioned The Lovely Bones. He’s in at least one of your favourite films of the last five years, we absolutely guarantee it – he might not be starring, but he’ll be somewhere in the middle distance making everything subtly better.

What you might not know:

Can you believe that wrinkle-free head is 51? Stanley Tucci made his Broadway debut in 1982 and appeared in his first film three years later, and since 1987 he’s made at least one silver screen appearance a year. He doesn’t stick to appearing in front of the camera, either – Big Night, which he wrote and directed as well as taking a lead role, attracted awards and nominations from all directions. He’s picked up Emmys and Globes for his small-screen work, and returned to Broadway in 2002 to be immediately met with a Tony nomination.

Tucci married in 1995 and had three children with his social worker wife Kate as well as raising her two sprogs from a previous marriage. Following Kate’s death, Tucci became romantically involved with literary agent Felicity Blunt, the sister of actress Emily Blunt (with whom Tucci appeared in The Devil Wears Prada). The pair became engaged in late 2011.

Oh, and just like every other actor we’re totally in love with (and Sandra Bullock), he used to own a restaurant. Obviously.

Stanley Tucci quote:

“The constraints of melodrama can be a great blessing, because they demand that all the characters involved – as absurd and extreme as they may initially seem – must stay utterly rooted in their own reality, or the whole project collapses.”

What to say at a dinner party:

With The Lovely Bones, Tucci took a much-needed step out of supporting roles to seize the limelight for himself. Long may his fame endure!”

What not to say at a dinner party:

“Oh, is he not gay?”

Final thought:

Margin Call is out on Friday, and you’re advised to go along. Mind you, if you don’t he’ll have another film out in five minutes…

Anything else you think the world should know? Drop us a comment below!