Stanley Tucci was awarded the Aspen Film Festival’s 2009 Independent by Nature Award in October 2009. Tucci’s career encompasses TV (e.g., Miami Vice with Don Johnson; ER 2008), independent films that he has written and directed (e.g., Blind Date 2007, The Impostors 1998), and Hollywood films (e.g., The Devil Wears Prada 2007 with Meryl Streep, The Terminal 2004 with Tom Hanks).

The characters played by Tucci have been as varied as the projects he has been involved with. Take, for example, Tucci’s character in The Pelican Brief (1993, Allan J. Pakula) with Julia Roberts. Julia Roberts plays Darby Shaw who stumbles on incriminating legal information and is forced to run for her life. In one section of the film, she inadvertently arranges to run right into the arms of the coldblooded foreign assassin hired to kill her—Stanley Tucci. Tucci’s appearance in The Pelican Brief as Khamel is brief, but his chilling presence crowns the climax of the suspense both in terms of the story’s progression and Tucci’s performance. Had a lesser actor played the part of Khamel, The Pelican Brief would just be another “little brown bird” of a well-cast and well-acted crime drama with a good script. Tucci’s performance gives the little brown bird bright plumage.

To get an idea of the range and scope of Tucci’s talents, contrast his performance as an assassin to his comedic performances in the spoof The Impostors (1998, Stanley Tucci) and in the music-and-dance centered Shall We Dance (2004, Peter Chelsom), with Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere. In the farcical The Impostors Tucci plays a fame-eluded actor in the 1920s who practices his dramatic lessons, stars in small flicks and tries to filch food with his partner in acting gigs and mishap, Maurice. Tucci and star Oliver Platt (Maurice) find themselves escaping trouble only to send themselves falling into more of it when they discover they are accidental stowaways on a luxury liner. Tucci’s character, Arthur, couldn’t be more different from Khamel. Though Tucci’s characterization of Arthur is perhaps a little rough cut in places, Tucci’s comedic timing is immaculate when he plays a lawyer who is secretly a disguised fake-teeth-and-wig-wearing Latin Ballroom dancer in Shall We Dance!

Tucci’s recent, current and upcoming projects are calculated to impress and heighten his accomplishments. Look for Stanley Tucci for yourself and your family on DVD and in-theater in Four Last Songs (2007, Francesca Joseph); Kit Kittredge (2008, Patricia Rozema) with Abigail Breslin; The Tale of Despereaux (2008, Fell and Stevenhagen) in which he gives voice to Boldo; and the currently playing Julie & Julia (2009, Nora Ephron), again with Meryl Streep.