The 25 greatest roles of Al Pacino's career

It’s hard to believe, but Al Pacino is now in his 80s. Then again, the gruff-voiced veteran actor has amassed a seemingly endless number of roles since his career began in the late ‘60s — first on stage, then in films, with some additional theater and TV movie credits sprinkled in. From dramas and action flicks to romantic pieces, Pacino has been nominated for more awards than we can count, owning wins at the Academy, Emmy, and Tony Awards. In honor of Alfredo James Pacino’s 80th birthday, here are the actor’s 25 greatest roles.

Al Pacino has amassed a lot of awards throughout his career; however, his first major nomination wasn’t for a movie, but instead a play. Pacino appeared as a drug-addicted teenager named Bickham in the 1969 Don Petersen play “Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie,” and he subsequently earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play — which he won!

Al Pacino’s third film credit was arguably his most famous: playing Vito Corleone’s son Michael in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 mafia masterpiece “The Godfather.” The then-unknown actor almost didn’t get the gig — as the likes of Robert Redford, Martin Sheen and other big names were preferred by the studio — but Coppola insisted on Pacino, and the rest is history. Pacino earned his first Best Actor Academy Award nomination thanks to the 1972 epic, and he later reprised the role as the star of “The Godfather Part II” (1974) and “The Godfather Part III,” garnering an additional Oscar nod for Part II.

After winning top honors at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, “Scarecrow” promptly fell flat at the U.S. box office. Still, critics were kind to the heart-wrenching drama starring Gene Hackman and Al Pacino as two drifters making their way across the country to start a business. The film has since reached cult status.

On the heels of his success with “The Godfather” (as well as the warmly received 1973 film “Scarecrow” opposite Gene Hackman), Pacino scored another huge hit with Sidney Lumet’s gritty crime drama “Serpico.” Based on Peter Maas’ biography of NYPD officer Frank Serpico, the film centers on one cop’s high-risk undercover efforts to expose corruption within the department over a 12-year period. A box office success, the film also earned two Oscar nominations (Best Actor for Pacino and Best Adapted Screenplay) and two Golden Globe nods, including a win for Pacino.

Switching to the other side of the law, Pacino’s next notable role was playing Sonny Wortzik, a down-on-his-luck everyman attempting to pull off his first bank robbery. Along with his partner-in-crime Sal Naturale (John Cazale), Sonny proved to be an inept criminal, but his sincerity and relatable nature earned the support of onlookers during a tense standoff between the authorities and would-be robbers. Although dramatized for its film adaptation, the plot was based on the true story of John Wojtowicz’s 1972 robbery of a Brooklyn bank. “Dog Day Afternoon” won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and Pacino nabbed nods at both the Oscars and Golden Globes. For what it’s worth, Wojtowicz himself also praised Pacino’s performance.

David Rabe’s play “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel” premiered at New York City’s The Public Theatre in 1971 and moved to Broadway six years later. Upon its Broadway premiere, the titular character was played by Al Pacino, who won a Tony Award for the role later that year. “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel” is the story of one troublesome soldier’s journey from a lousy upbringing to the front lines of the Vietnam War.

Critics slammed the 1977 romantic racing drama “Bobby Deerfield,” but most of the blame fell on director Sidney Pollack and screenwriter Alvin Sargent. After all, Pacino put out a solid performance as the titular Deerfield, a reckless race car driver — and the actor even nabbed his fifth Golden Globe nomination.

No, not the 1988 Metallica album, but instead the 1979 courtroom drama of the same name. In “...And Justice for All,” Pacino plays Baltimore-based defense attorney Arthur Kirkland, a true good guy trying to clean up the Maryland justice system, who is suddenly tasked with defending a repugnant judge (John Forsythe) accused of a heinous crime. A success critically and commercially, especially for its biting social commentary, “...And Justice for All” nabbed Pacino Best Actor nods at both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards as well as a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson.

Director Brian De Palma, screenwriter Oliver Stone and producer Martin Bregman teamed up to make the 1983 crime epic “Scarface,” but it was Pacino who first had the idea to remake the 1932 gangster film of the same name. Packed with senseless violence, graphic gore, excessive drug use and tons of profanity, “Scarface” was initially panned by critics, although individuals like critic Roger Ebert and director Martin Scorsese immediately realized its brilliance. The Golden Globes caught on, giving “Scarface” three nominations, including Best Actor for Pacino, and the three-hour tale of drug lord Tony Montana has since achieved cult status.

The 1985 historical film “Revolution” was a box office bomb and a critical failure, and it led to Pacino taking a four-year hiatus from acting. He returned with a bang, scoring $110 million at the box office while starring in “Sea of Love,” a neo-noir that once again got Pacino some Golden Globe attention. In the slick thriller that also features Ellen Barkin, John Goodman and Michael Rooker, Pacino plays hard-drinking New York cop Frank Keller, who is tasked with tracking down a serial killer who hunts his prey using newspaper ads.

Warren Beatty produced, directed, and starred in the 1990 crime film “Dıck Tracy,” an adaptation of the 1930s comic strip of the same name. Overall, the movie got a mixed reception, but plenty of critics and fans heaped praise on “Dıck Tracy” for its visuals, nostalgia, and supporting cast of Al Pacino, Madonna, Dustin Hoffman, William Forsythe, and numerous other big names. It actually won Academy Awards for Best Art Director, Best Makeup, and Best Music, and Pacino received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for playing crime boss Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice.

When producers Jerry Tokofsky and Stanley R. Zupnik tasked playwright David Mamet with adapting his 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Glengarry Glen Ross,” they assembled an all-star cast of Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin to help bring it to life. Pacino played Richard Roma, a shrewd veteran real estate agent who uses elaborate sales pitches to con vulnerable clients into making investments. Every actor turned out an impressive performance, but it was Pacino who received the most praise, including nods at both the Oscars and Golden Globes — the only two nominations the film earned at either award show.

Pacino thoroughly researched his role as blind, retired Army Lt. Col. Frank Slade, meeting with numerous charitable organizations for the visually impaired in preparation. Thanks to Pacino’s performance and an excellent adaptation of Giovanni Arpino’s Italian novel “Il buio e il miele” and Dino Risi’s 1974 film “Profumo di donna” courtesy of screenwriter Bo Goldman, “Scent of a Woman” made more than $134 million at the box office and finally earned Pacino his first Academy Award win for Best Actor and his second victory at the Golden Globes. To date, this remains the actor’s only Oscar win.

After Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino) gets released only five years into a 30-year prison sentence due to a technicality exploited by his shady lawyer (Sean Penn), the ex-con vows to go straight, save money, retire to the Caribbean and avoid his old lifestyle. But like Michael Corleone said in “The Godfather Part III”: ‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.’ Penelope Ann Miller, John Leguizamo and Luis Guzmán also star in the adaptation of Judge Edwin Torres’ novels “Carlito’s Way” and “After Hours,” which reunited Pacino with director Brian De Palma.

Sure, “Heat” is an engrossing crime flick brilliantly written, produced and directed by Michael Mann, but the nearly three-hour epic is worth watching just for the first scene to ever include both Pacino and Robert De Niro. It’s brief and all the iconic actors actually do is share a cup of coffee, but it’s also tense, it’s deep, and the two basically promise not to stop until they kill each other.

Like “Serpico,” the 1997 crime film “Donnie Brasco” is also about going undercover, except this time, Pacino plays the bad guy. Johnny Depp portrays the eponymous character, an FBI agent attempting to infiltrate New York City’s Bonanno crime family in the 1970s, while Pacino plays aging hitman Lefty Ruggiero. Both characters are based on real people with the same names. Entertaining and clever, “Donnie Brasco” was received with positive reviews and a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination for Paul Attanasio.

The Oliver Stone-directed “Any Given Sunday” divided critics, but it was universally loved by football fans, who found a familiar and endearing character in Miami Sharks head coach Tony D’Amato (Pacino). Pacino brought passion, fire and sincerity to his role as a veteran coach making a run for the championship in what many believe to be his final season, but co-stars Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart and LL Cool J also got their share of praise. Although it didn’t garner any award attention, “Any Given Sunday” earned $155 million at the box office.

Before “Interstellar,” “Inception” and his Batman franchise, Christopher Nolan directed “Insomnia,” a psychological thriller starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank and Maura Tierney. Pacino plays Det. William Dormer, an LAPD officer sent to Alaska to solve a murder, but in typical Nolan fashion, the plot soon devolves into a series of exciting twists and turns. Based on a 1997 Norwegian film of the same name, “Insomnia” was expertly adapted by screenwriter Hillary Seitz and praised for its cast, direction and cinematography — leading to both critical and financial success.

Director Mike Nichols and writer Tony Kushner brought the latter’s Pulitzer prize-winning and Tony Award-winning play “Angels in America” to life by enlisting the help of Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Patrick Wilson, Emma Thompson, Mary Louise-Parker, Justin Kirk, Jeffrey Wright and Ben Shenkman. Too big for a traditional film format, “Angels in America” instead aired on HBO as a six-hour miniseries and became the most-watched TV movie of 2003. The moving drama swept both the Golden Globes (seven nominations, five wins) and Emmys (21 nominations, 11 wins) with Pacino scoring Best Actor honors at both for his portrayal of famed American lawyer Roy Cohn.

Pacino first tackled the role of Shylock in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” in the 2004 Michael Radford-directed movie version, which was also the first feature-length English film adaptation of the 16th-century play. Pacino received positive marks and reprised the role on stage in the 2010 Shakespeare in the Park production, which moved to Broadway later that year and took Pacino along for the ride. The role yielded Pacino’s third Tony Award nomination (second for Best Leading Actor), although he lost for the first time.

In his next acclaimed role, Pacino portrayed real-life pathologist and euthanasia proponent Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Directed by Barry Levinson and written by Adam Mazer, “You Don’t Know Jack” also starred John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Danny Huston, and Brenda Vaccaro and premiered on HBO on April 24, 2010. Pacino won Best Actor at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards and Emmys — with “You Don’t Know Jack” amassing a total of 15 Primetime Emmys nominations.

HBO films and portrayals of real people were both working for Pacino, so playing Phil Spector in an HBO movie written and directed by David Mamet was an easy call. Helen Mirren and Jeffrey Tambor co-starred in the 2013 biopic that centered on the former record producer’s first murder trial and his relationship with defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden (Mirren). “Phil Spector” racked up 10 Emmy nominations (including a Best Actor nod for Pacino) but failed to win a single one. Pacino was also defeated for his Golden Globe and SAG nominations.

“Danny Collins,” Dan Fogelman’s first turn in the director’s chair, was a well-received film about an aging rocker (Pacino) attempting to turn his life around after decades of self-destructive behavior. Pacino earned yet another Golden Globe nod for his role, but the veteran actor was also flanked by a strong supporting cast of Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner, Bobby Cannavale and Christopher Plummer. “Danny Collins” had only a limited release but still earned nearly $11 million.

It took about 50 years, but in 2019, Al Pacino finally appeared in a Martin Scorsese-directed film. “The Irishman” reunited Pacino with Robert De Niro, who also starred in the crime epic based on Charles Brandt’s 2004 non-fiction book “I Heard You Paint Houses.” Pacino portrayed former Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa and received yet another Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actor. After all, Pacino and De Niro are just two members of a packed cast that features Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin and Jesse Plemons.

Some guys named DiCaprio and Pitt got top billing, but “Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood” boasts an all-star cast that also features Margot Robbie, Kurt Russell, Emile Hirsch, Timothy Olyphant, Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern, the late Luke Perry and, yes, Al Pacino. As Marvin Schwarz, the publicist for DiCaprio’s character, Pacino shines in a role Quentin Tarantino wrote into the 1960s Hollywood-set flick specifically for the veteran actor — although Schwarz was, in fact, a real publicist and producer.