Max Minghella

Max Minghella
Minghella at the 2010 Peabody Awards
Born	Max Giorgio Choa Minghella (1985-09-16) 16 September 1985 London, UK
Alma mater	Columbia University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1999－present
Partner(s)	Kate Mara (2010－2014)
Parent(s)	Anthony Minghella Carolyn Choa

Max Giorgio Choa Minghella (born 16 September 1985) is an English actor. He has appeared in several American films, making his debut in Bee Season (2005) before starring in Art School Confidential (2006), The Social Network (2010) and The Internship (2013).

Early life

Minghella was born in Hampstead, London, the son of late director Anthony Minghella and dancer and choreographer Carolyn Jane Choa. His father was born in Ryde, Isle of Wight, and was of Italian descent, and his mother was born in Hong Kong. His maternal grandfather was of three quarters Han Chinese and one quarter Jewish descent, and his maternal grandmother was of Chinese, English, Irish, Indian Parsi, and Swedish ancestry. His maternal great-grandfather was Hong Kong legislator Robert Kotewall, and his maternal great-great-grandfather was Calcutta-born businessman Emanuel Raphael Belilios.

Minghella spent time on his father's film sets while growing up, of which he has "fond memories" and has said that he felt "no pressure" by his father to succeed in the entertainment industry. He was educated at St Anthony's Preparatory School and University College School in Hampstead. He then attended Columbia University, which he considered his "first priority", and studied history, graduating in 2009. He typically worked on films only during his summer break. He said that he felt like "an English boy at an American school", that he kept to himself, and that most of his fellow students had no idea that he was an actor.

Career

Minghella was inspired to become an actor during his late teenage years, after seeing a production of the play This Is Our Youth at London's West End; he subsequently dropped out of the University College School to pursue an acting career, and attended the National Youth Theatre. He did not always want to become an actor. He said: "I thought it was sort of embarrassing to say you wanted to be an actor – it was, like, uncool. And growing up I was massively concerned with seeming cool. I thought up until about age 16 that I was going to be a music video director."

Minghella had an uncredited appearance as an extra in his father's film Cold Mountain. His first professional role was in Bee Season, playing the son of a dysfunctional Jewish American family. The film was released in November 2005 to mostly mixed reviews and low box office, grossing only $1 million in its limited release, although critics remarked that Minghella was "a talented young actor to watch, delivering a strong performance".

Minghella followed with the political thriller Syriana, which was also released in November 2005, playing the son of George Clooney's CIA agent character. In 2006, he starred in the Daniel Clowes adaptation Art School Confidential, a comedy directed by Terry Zwigoff. He got the part after meeting Zwigoff when he visited the set of Bee Season. His film Elvis and Anabelle, a dark romantic drama in which he plays an undertaker's son, premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in 2007. He described it as "a really sweet film". He was to play Art Bechstein in the film version of writer Michael Chabon's novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, but dropped out of the project due to his university schedule.

The press reported in 2007 that Minghella was cast in Beeban Kidron's Hippie Hippie Shake, a film about writer Richard Neville set in 1960s London. In March 2008, it was announced that he would star in Alejandro Amenábar's second English language film, Agora. The film is set in 4th century Egypt and revolves around Hypatia of Alexandria. Later in 2008, Minghella played a pompous film director in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, and was seen in a segment of the dark comedy Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.

In David Fincher's The Social Network, the 2010 film about the origins of Facebook, he plays Divya Narendra, one of the Harvard upperclassmen who sues Mark Zuckerberg for stealing the idea behind Facebook. In June 2010, Minghella was cast in the Russian science-fiction film The Darkest Hour, released in December 2011. He appeared in the ensemble dramedy 10 Years (2012). The following year, he had a supporting role as Graham Hawtrey in the comedy The Internship.

In November 2013, it was announced that Minghella would be playing Richie Castellano in the second season of the Fox sitcom The Mindy Project. In 2013, he appeared in the music video for "Shot at the Night" by The Killers.

Personal life

Minghella dated actress Kate Mara from 2010 to 2014.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Toy Boys	Danny	Short film
1999	Let the Good Times Roll	Boy with dog	Short film
2005	Bee Season	Aaron Naumann
2005	Syriana	Robby Barnes
2006	Art School Confidential	Jerome Platz
2007	Elvis and Anabelle	Elvis
2008	How to Lose Friends & Alienate People	Vincent Lepak
2009	Brief Interviews with Hideous Men	Kevin (Subject No. 28)
2009	Agora	Davus
2010	The Social Network	Divya Narendra	Hollywood Film Festival for Ensemble of the Year Palm Springs International Film Festival Ensemble Cast Award Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association for Best Ensemble Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
2011	The Ides of March	Ben Harper	Nominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association for Best Ensemble
2011	10 Years	AJ
2011	The Darkest Hour	Ben
2013	The Internship	Graham Hawtrey
2013	Horns	Lee Tourneau
2013–14	The Mindy Project	Richie Castellano	5 episodes
2014	About Alex	Isaac
2014	Not Safe for Work	Tom Miller
2015	Into the Forest	Eli	In post-production

External links

• Max Minghella at the Internet Movie Database