What are you currently working on?
I am currently playing one of the main characters in the series Alles was zählt. My episodes started airing in late July 2024. Shooting is scheduled for the next two years for the time being.
What was your most recent project?
You Shouldn’t Have Let Me In – an American horror film for the US streaming service Tubi, shot in Sardinia. I play an Italian vampire hunter who must save a group of American bachelorettes from a dangerous vampire. It’s my first English-language leading part.
Who would you love to work/shoot with?
That is quite the laundry list: directors Nadine Labaki, Alejandro Gonzáles Iñarritu, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ivan Attal, Park Chan-wook, Damien Chazelle, Jane Champion, and Tarsem Singh, and actors Meryl Streep, J. K. Simmons, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Nadine Labaki, and Robert Downey Jr.
What would you be doing if you hadn’t ended up working in the film industry?
Is there anything else? :-)
A film/series must definitely be made about...
“Women’s issues” which are still considered taboo: menstruation, childbirth and its aftermath, violence against women—but without casting the women solely in the role of the victim. Employees at a women’s shelter would make really interesting protagonists, or freedom activists like Ursula Hirschmann.
Who or what inspires you?
In the morning: indigenous pan flute music. In the afternoon: any good rock or blues music. Apart from that: strong personalities who rebel against man-made injustice and fight for a better and fairer world.
Your dream location is...
Yucatan.
What film shaped your childhood?
Stand By Me—a wonderful film about complex friendships, childhood adventures, the difficulty of finding your place in life and overcoming social barriers that young people face, and about the fleeting nature of life. But the film also shows how important good stories are to people, and that culture isn’t a luxury but a necessity.
When did you last cry in the cinema?
Dear Evan Hansen.
Is there a scene that takes your breath away each time you watch it?
[Spoiler alert] In the film Mystic River, in the park, when Jimmy (Sean Penn) learns that his daughter has been found dead, and he lets out this wailing scream of grief, disbelief, and rage as several policemen struggle to hold him back. That film is my all-time favourite; I must have seen it about 40 times and it still gives me goosebumps every time.
Which film/series has the best soundtrack?
King Arthur directed by Guy Ritchie, score composed by Daniel Pemberton.
Actor Riccardo Angelini studied with Lene Beyer in Munich from 2009 to 2014 and then continuously participated in workshops with Robert Castle, June Jasmin, and Matthias Beier to further hone his skills. After various stints as an extra, he landed his first proper role in the film Zwei übern Berg (2012, ARD). His projects so far include Gabriele Mainetti’s Freaks Out (which won the 2021 Leoncino D’Oro in Venice), the RAI series Brennero (2024), the ORF series School of Champions (2024), the feature film Over & Out (2022), the ZDF production Marie fängt Feuer (2023), and, most recently, You Shouldn’t Have Let Me In (2024, Tubi USA).
His own short film, I Love You (2022, Giafatto Entertainment), which deals with the topic of violence against women and was directed by Angelini himself, won the Beverly Hills Arthouse Award and the Cosmopolitan International Film Award of Tokyo. In July 2024, he joined the main cast of the German TV series Alles was zählt (RTL) as Matteo Borazio.
“I’m all for more courage and readiness to take risks in film and TV! There are so many great authors and creatives out there who should be given more space and funding for individual and alternative projects. People who take risks tell the best stories.”