Federico Fellini considered him a genius
After his movie Life Is Beautiful (1997) received seven Academy Award nominations, he met the Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and said, after shaking his hand: "Now I have the Oscar in my hand!".
After leading a crowd of thousand in Rome, protesting against Silvio Berlusconi's government's decision to cut state arts funding by 35 percent, he hijacked the opening credits of Italy's most watched news show, removed his shirt to drape it over the anchorman's shoulders and announced "Berlusconi had resigned!" the next day (15 September 2005).
Also a respected poet, known for his poesia estemporanea, and singer-songwriter.
Attended a seminary in Florence, planning to become a priest.
Benigni met wife Nicoletta Braschi on the set of You Disturb Me (1983).
Candidate to be awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature for his explanation and recitations of Dante's "Divina Commedia" (2007).
Graduated from Instituto Tecnico Commericale Datini di Prato.
Has become one of the most radical opponents to Silvio Berlusconi's government and policy in Italy.
Has his look-alike puppet in the French show "Les guignols de l'info" (1988).
He and Laurence Olivier are the only two actors to have directed themselves in Oscar winning performances.
He is the sixth actor in history to win the Oscar for Best Actor in a comedy after Clark Gable in It Happened One Night (1934), James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940), Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou (1965), Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl (1977) and Jack Nicholson in As Good as It Gets (1997).
He joins Sylvester Stallone, Prince, Kevin Costner, William Shatner, and Tom Green as being the only actors to direct themselves in performances that would "win" them a Razzie Award for Worst Actor.
His father Luigi Benigni (1918-2004), who worked as a farmer, carpenter and bricklayer, was a prisoner in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen between 1943 and 1945. Roberto used his stories as the basis for his film Life Is Beautiful (1997).
His mother Isolina Papini (1918-2004) worked as a fabric inspector.
Is one of five performers to win an Oscar playing a character that spoke mostly in a foreign language. The other are Sophia Loren, Robert De Niro, Marion Cotillard and Benicio Del Toro.
Left the seminary after two-thirds of Florence had been flooded by the Arno River (4 November 1966).
Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival 1990
Sister: Albertina Benigni (flower shop owner), born 1947.
Sister: Anna Benigni (teacher's aide), born 1948.