Tom Conti

Preferring contemporary over classical theatre (with nary a Shakespeare stage credit in sight), one of West End theatre's most enduring and popular faces of the past four decades has been that of Tom Conti. He was born Thomas Antonio Conti on November 22, 1941, in Paisley, Scotland, to a pair of hairdressers. His father, Alfonso, was an Italian immigrant, and his mother, Mary (McGoldrick), was Scottish, though of Irish descent. A student at Hamilton Park Catholic School (for boys), he initially trained for a musical career as a classical pianist but switched gears while attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Conti's acting credits began with the Citizen's Theatre's 1959 production of "The Roving Boy" at age eighteen. Throughout the 1960s he tried to make ends meet on the Glasgow and English repertory stages but gained little momentum despite some scattered TV appearances in between. Unable to find the break to sustain himself, he considered leaving the arts at one p