Paolo Ricca was born and raised in Corleone, Sicily. He left his hometown at the age of 22 and moved to Palermo, where he enrolled at the acting school of Teatro Biondo Stabile di Palermo. He had never read a book in his life. From there, things changed quickly.
During his training, Paolo had the opportunity to meet and learn from figures such as Vittorio Gassman, Giorgio Albertazzi and Judith Malina, as well as members of the Living Theatre. He then moved to Rome and began working in theatre, film and television.
At the beginning of his career, Paolo thought that being Sicilian was a limitation. He almost tried to leave his origins behind. During a photo shoot, a photographer once told him: “Say the lines in perfect Italian, but think them in Sicilian.” Something changed, and his career took an unexpected turn.
One of the turning points was Corleone (Il Capo dei Capi), directed by Enzo Monteleone and Alexis Sweet. Paolo played a young man caught inside the world of Cosa Nostra, finding the fragility beneath the surface — someone trying to belong to a world he was never really made for.
Other roles followed, including Squadra Antimafia and The Hunter (Il Cacciatore), where Paolo played Vito Vitale across three seasons. Through this work, he became interested in what lies beneath the surface — the contradictions, fractures and human needs of people caught up in difficult worlds.
His work has also taken him in a completely different direction. In La primavera della mia vita, directed by Zavvo Nicolosi and starring Colapesce and Dimartino, he stepped into a surreal and slightly grotesque world, far removed from the characters he had become known for.Today, Paolo’s work is centred on what happens underneath the words: listening, reacting and allowing a character’s contradictions to emerge. He is interested in what strength can hide, and what vulnerability can reveal. Everyone is fragile somewhere.
Paolo works in Italian, Sicilian and English. His further training includes work with Bernard Hiller, Adrian Gaeta, Michael Margotta and Aurin Proietti.