Biography

Fortunato Cerlino (born June 17, 1971, Naples, Italy) is an Italian actor, director, and writer who trained at the Accademia del Teatro Diana in Naples (1987–1990) and graduated from the Accademia d'Arte Drammatica della Calabria (1991–1993) under Alvaro Piccardi and Luciano Lucignani. He made his screen debut in 1997 in the soap Un posto al sole and his film debut in Ribelli per caso (2001). His breakthrough came with the role of Don Pietro Savastano, the Camorra clan patriarch, in the Sky Italia series Gomorrah (2014–2017), which brought him international recognition. He has been married to Antonella Sava since 2018; they have a daughter, Delfina (born 2017). He also directed and wrote his debut feature Avemmaria (2026), adapted from his own novel. His notable film credits include Gomorrah (2008) (Toni Servillo, Salvatore Cascino), Inferno (2016) (Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones), A Family (2017) (Vinicio Marchioni, Alessandro Borghi), Falchi (2017) (Vinicio Marchioni, Marco Giallini), Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend (2022) (Daniel Day-Lewis, Valentina Bellè), The Palace (2023) (Isabelle Adjani, Adrien Brody), and Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025) (Gerard Butler, 50 Cent). On television he is best known for Gomorrah (2014–2017), with additional roles in Hannibal (2015) (Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy), Medici: Masters of Florence (2016) (Rupert Friend, Alexander Vlahos), Britannia (2018) (Damian Lewis, Peter Mullan), and American Night (2021) (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emile Hirsch).