Paul Giamatti Is A Dad Of One Son

Paul Giamatti has managed to become the surprise darling of this awards seasons. Well, it shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise to anyone who saw The Holdovers. Alexander Payne’s movie earned Giamatti a Best Actor win at the Golden Globes for his performance as a curmudgeonly teacher spending the holidays at an all-boys school watching students left behind in the ‘70s. He was brilliant, as ever, in the movie, and so believable as a grump with no patience for teenaged boys. Which is definitely not based on the relationship he has with his own son in real life, we’re sure of it. Here’s a look at what Giamatti has shared about his family and life as a dad.

Paul Giamatti’s parents were both teachers.

As far as life imitating art, Giamatti could well have gotten some inspiration to play a teacher in The Holdovers from his parents. His father A. Bartlett Giamatti was a professor of literature at Yale University (and later the Commissioner of Major League Baseball), while his mother Toni was an actor and English teacher. In fact, when Giamatti won the Golden Globe for The Holdovers, he gave an impassioned speech about his family of teachers and all the under-appreciated teachers of the world. “I play a teacher, my whole family, they're teachers, all of them going back generations. Teachers are good people, gotta respect them. They do a good thing. It's a tough job, so this is for teachers as well,” he said at the time.

His son Samuel Giamatti is 23 years old and a recent college grad.

While the Sideways actor does not tend to talk about his private life very often, we do know that he is a dad. He and ex-wife Elizabeth Cohen welcomed their son Samuel together in 2000, and he is now 21 years old. The proud dad gave Samuel a sweet nod in his Golden Globes Acceptance speech, saying per People, “I want to give a shout-out to my son Samuel, who recently graduated from college.”

According to Samuel’s LinkedIn page, he graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in 2023. Much like his multi-talented dad, Samuel has dabbled in several different careers already at his young age. He worked as a journalist, volunteered his time for a political campaign, worked as a server, and was a scenic designer and a director.

Samuel is a tried-and-true New Yorker.

As the son of a Yale professor, Paul Giamatti grew up in New Haven, Connecticut and recently spoke to Jimmy Kimmel about his favorite pizza in that city — a pizza he admitted his son Samuel thought was not that great. When Kimmel pointed out to the actor that everyone likes the pizza they grew up with, Giamatti admitted, “That’s probably true because my kid is a New Yorker. I took him to New Haven and he was like, ‘No, this isn’t any good.’ He doesn’t like it.”

The real question is, if Paul Giamatti wins an Oscar for The Holdovers, will he invite Samuel to join him for a late night In-N-Out burger? We know he’s a fan.