Benigni was born in Manciano La Misericordia (a frazione of Castiglion Fiorentino), the son of Isolina Papini, a fabric maker, and Luigi Benigni, a bricklayer, carpenter, and farmer. He was raised Catholic and served as an altar boy; he still considers himself a believer. His first experiences as a theatre actor took place in 1971, in Prato. During that autumn he moved to Rome where he took part in some experimental theatre shows, some of which he also directed. In 1975, Benigni had his first theatrical success with Cioni Mario di Gaspare fu Giulia, written by Giuseppe Bertolucci.\n', '

Benigni became famous in Italy in the 1970s for a television series called Onda Libera, on RAI2, produced by Renzo Arbore, in which he interpreted the satirical piece The Hymn of the Body Purged (L\'inno del corpo sciolto, a scatological song about the joys of defecation). A great scandal for the time, the series was suspended due to censorship. His first film was 1977\'s Berlinguer, I Love You (Berlinguer ti voglio bene), also by Bertolucci.\n', '

His popularity increased with L\'altra domenica (1976/9), another TV show of Arbore\'s in which Benigni portrayed a lazy film critic who never watches the films he\'s asked to review. Bernardo Bertolucci then cast him in a small speechless role as a window upholsterer in the film La Luna which had limited American distribution due to its subject matter.\n', '

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