Troisi was born into a large family in San Giorgio a Cremano, a town near Naples. His father was a train engineer. Some of his family experiences were later told in his first films. After secondary school, Troisi wrote some poems inspired by his favourite author, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and, in 1969, started to play in a small local theatre together with some childhood friends. The early death of his mother condemned Troisi to a harsh period of activity, which is said to have had a role in the development of his increasingly serious heart problems which were brought on during his teenage years from bouts of rheumatic fever. Troisi started his artistic career as a cabaret showman in 1972, as a member of the comic trio called "I Saraceni" and, later, "La Smorfia". His mates were De Caro and Arena. They gained national fame on the radio and increased it consistently from 1977 onwards eventually becoming TV stars with the shows Non Stop, La sberla and Luna Park. Troisi soon gained the status of leader of the trio. He was noted for his use of facial mimicry and of apparently confused speech—in these he drew inspiration from such famous figures of Neapolitan comedy as Totò, and Eduardo and Peppino De Filippo.
Cinema
Troisi wrote, directed, and starred in his first film, Ricomincio da tre in 1981. He achieved wide success and critical praise, establishing himself as one of the most talented new Italian directors of the 1980s. Like his second film, Ricomincio da tre is centered on the troublesome love life of a Neapolitan character, partly inspired by Troisi's youth, as well as featuring Lello Arena. Scusate il ritardo, similar to the preceding one, was released in 1983, and had Giuliana De Sio as co-star. Troisi starred opposite Roberto Benigni in Non ci resta che piangere, in which they play two friends who are accidentally transported back in time to the 15th century; there they meet Leonardo da Vinci and, upon realising which age they are in, travel to Spain to try to stop Christopher Columbus from discovering the Americas. After some small acting roles, in 1987 Troisi directed Le vie del Signore sono finite, set during the Fascist era. The film won a Silver Ribbon for best screenplay. In the following years, he starred alongside Marcello Mastroianni, in Ettore Scola's Splendor, Che ora è? and Il viaggio di Capitan Fracassa. His last film as director was Pensavo fosse amore, invece era un calesse, again centering on the everyday difficulties of love between a man and a woman.
''Il Postino'' and death
Troisi came to international fame through the success of , directed by Michael Radford. Troisi died in 1994 of a heart attack in his sister's house in Ostia twelve hours after the main filming on Il Postino had finished. It was reported that he postponed surgery to complete the film. He was posthumously nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role, and is one of only seven actors to be posthumously nominated for an acting Academy Award. A good friend of the musician and singer Pino Daniele, he wrote lyrics for his music or adapted his poetry for it. Eduardo De Filippo, father of Neapolitan theatre of the 20th century, said of him that he was "a comic actor of the future, but with his roots in the past".
