Elio Germano (born September 25, 1980) is an Italian actor. He made his film debut in 1993 as a child actor, before gaining prominence with a string of roles in youth-oriented movies in the early 2000s. He achieved stardom following his lead role in Daniele Luchetti's My Brother Is an Only Child (2007), for which he won his first David di Donatello for Best Actor. He won the award for Best Actor at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival for Luchetti's La Nostra Vita (tied with Javier Bardem for Biutiful) and at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival for Volevo Nascondermi, portraying painter Antonio Ligabue. Subsequent starring roles include Tutta La Vita Davanti (2008), Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood (2012), Il Giovane Favoloso (2014), Suburra (2015), The Man Without Gravity (2019), Bad Tales (2020) and Rose Island (2020). Outside of Italy he appeared in the Abel Ferrara's Mary (2005), and Nine (2009), opposite Daniel Day-Lewis.

Filmography

• 2026Ritorno al tratturo — Sé stesso, Writer
• 2026You, Me, Us — Simone
• 2025Three Goodbyes — Antonio
• 2024N-Ego
• 2024Sicilian Letters — Matteo
• 2024The Great Ambition — Enrico Berlinguer
• The Story — Giuseppe 'Eppetondo' Cucchiarelli
• 2024Trust — Pietro
• 2023Palazzina LAF — Giancarlo Basile
• 2022America Latina — Massimo Sisti
• 2022Lord of the Ants — Ennio Scribani
• 2021All Star - Ritorno al cinema — Uomo delle pulizie
• 2021Così è (o mi pare) — Director, Producer
• 2021The Italian Baba — Baba Cesare, Director, Writer, Producer
• 2020Bad Tales — Bruno Placido
• 2020Hidden Away — Antonio Ligabue
• 2020Rose Island — Giorgio Rosa
• 2019Segnale d'Allarme | La mia battaglia VR — Sé stesso, Director, Producer, Writer
• 2019The Man Without Gravity — Oscar
• 2018Archiviato - L'obbligatorietà dell'azione penale in Valsusa — Narrator (voice)
• 2018Io sono Tempesta — Bruno
• 2018Lucia's Grace — Arturo
• 2017Binxet - Under the border — Narrator
• 2017It's All About Karma — Mario Pitagora
• 2017Tenderness — Fabio
• 2016In arte Nino — Nino Manfredi, Teleplay
• 2016L'ami — Francesco
• 2016No Borders — Sé stesso, Writer, Producer
• 2015Alaska — Fausto
• 2015Lost and Beautiful — Sarchiapone (voice)
• 2015Street Opera — Sé stesso, Music
• 2015Suburra — Sebastiano
• 2015The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun — Stefano
• 2014Leopardi — Giacomo Leopardi
• 2013The Fifth Wheel — Ernesto
• 2012A Magnificent Haunting — Pietro
• Angel Face — il Toso
• 2012Diaz - Don't Clean Up This Blood — Luca Gualtieri
• 2012Faccia d'angelo — Il Toso
• 2012The Landlords — Elia
• 2011Scattered Cloud — Venditore
• 2010Flaiano: il meglio è passato
• 2010Our Life — Claudio
• 2010The End Is My Beginning — Folco Terzani
• 2009Beautiful People — Giulio
• 2009Nine — Pierpaolo
• 2009The Bee and the Wind — Matteo
• 2008A Whole Life Ahead — Lucio 2
• 2008As God Commands — Quattro Formaggi
• 2008Fallen Heroes — Luca
• 2008The Early Bird Catches the Worm — Marco Baldini
• 2008The Past Is a Foreign Land — Giorgio
• 2007My Brother Is an Only Child — Accio Benassi
• 2006Napoleon and Me — Martino Papucci
• 2006Pavilion 22 — Uomo Bambino
• 20053.87 — Andrea
• 2005Call Me Salomè — Profeta
• 2005Crime Novel — Sorcio
• 2005Do You Like Hitchcock? — Giulio
• 2005Mary — Matteo
• 2005Melissa P. — Arnaldo
• 2005Quo Vadis, Baby? — Lucio
• 2005Sangue - La morte non esiste — Iuri, Screenplay
• 2004A Judge of Honor — Manfredi Borsellino
• A Judge of Honor — Manfredi Borsellino
• 2004Fame Chimica — Ragazzo in discoteca
• 2004What Will Become Of Us — Manuel
• 2003Break Free — Vince
• 2003Ferrari — Enzo Ferrari at 18 years
• Ferrari — Enzo Ferrari a 18 anni
• 2003Now or Never — Doveri
• Il sequestro Soffiantini — Paolo Soffiantini
• Per Amore — Gabriele Mariani
• 2002Respiro — Pier Luigi
• 2002Ultimo stadio — Billo
• 2001La storia chiusa — Amico
• 2001Unfair Competition — Paolo Della Rocca
• Via Zanardi, 33 — Ivan
• 2000Honey Horn — Ernesto
• Padre Pio: Miracle Man — Padre Pio ragazzo
• 1999Il cielo in una stanza — Paolo da giovane
• 1993Ci hai rotto papà — Andrea 'Cotoletta' Cecconi
• The Man Who Could Have Changed the World — Ranuccio

Appearances as themselves (7)

• 2025Anatomia di un grande sogno — Self
• 2025Libero sempre comunque mai — Self
• 2025Noi e la grande ambizione — Himself
• 2021Uno, nessuno, cento Nino — Self
• 2020Liberi e pensanti - Uno maggio Taranto — Self
• 2011Noi c'eravamo — Self
• Ulisse - The Pleasure of Discovery — Self