Lou Taylor Pucci

LOU PUCCI

Date of Birth: July 27, 1985

The son of a former model and a professional guitarist, Lou Pucci was born in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. He started acting at 10, when he was encouraged by his mother to try out for a local production of the musical Oliver. A bribe of $10 from his aunt didn't hurt either, and he wound up landing a role as one of Fagin's boys.

Pucci found the experience rewarding and went on to play parts in several more musicals. After signing on with an agent, he began pursuing paying roles. His first professional experience was in 1997 on the daytime soap The Guiding Light. A sixth month stint as understudy for two roles in The Sound of Music on Broadway led to him being offered the chance to play a regular role. After nine months of portraying the eldest von Trapp son Friederich, he'd grown too old for the role.

Unemployed, Pucci took on community theater projects and high school productions in order to hone his craft. He was still in high school when he made his film debut in Rebecca Miller's Personal Velocity (2002), which gave him the opportunity to act with Kyra Sedgwick and Parker Posey.

When the film was released, Hollywood talent scouts sat up and took notice. He obtained new management and began to audition for major roles. In his next movie, shot in 2003, Pucci played the lead role—a 17-year-old boy who wants desperately to break his thumb sucking habit in Thumbsucker (2005). Also starring Keanu Reeves, Tilda Swinton and Vince Vaughn, the film was nominated for a Golden Berlin Bear at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival, and Pucci won the Silver Berlin Bear as Best Actor. He also won a Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Festival for his performance.

Later in 2003, he had the opportunity to work with Paul Newman, Ed Harris, Joanne Woodward, Robin Wright Penn and Helen Hunt in the Emmy award-winning miniseries Empire Falls, which aired in 2005. In 2004, he joined the ensemble cast of The Chumbscrubber (2005), working alongside Glenn Close, Ralph Fiennes, Jamie Bell and Rory Culkin.

After playing the lead in the indie film Fifty Pills (2006), he then joined Dwayne Johnson and Sarah Michelle Gellar for the big budget thriller Southland Tales (2006).

Pucci is an accomplished magician who specializes in sleight of hand tricks.

Filmography:

Carriers (2009)
Fanboys (2009)
The Informers (2009)
The Horsemen (2009)
The Go-Getter (2008)
Fast Food Nation (2006)
Southland Tales (2006)
Fifty Pills (2006)
/ The Chumbscrubber (2005)
Thumbsucker (2005)
Personal Velocity (2002)