Who

Vincent Gallo is an actor, director, painter, model, and musician. He's also completely nuts.

Backstory

A Buffalo-born child of Sicilian immigrant hairdressers, Gallo says his parents were "dishonest people" and recalls receiving shoplifted Kmart toys as birthday presents throughout his childhood. A self-described "sexual compulsive," Gallo was kicked out of the house at age 16 after he was arrested for flashing strangers. He made his way to New York, where he landed on the music scene, performed in a band alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat, launched a brief rap career as "Prince Vince," dabbled in experimental film, and painted and raced motorcycles. Gallo had a few bit parts in '90s films like Goodfellas and The Funeral before directing his first film, 1998's Buffalo '66, in which he also starred opposite Christina Ricci. Nothing, though, compared to the reaction that followed his second feature, The Brown Bunny. As he fully expected, Gallo's (non-simulated) blowjob from actress Chloë Sevigny earned him a torrent of media attention, which he further exploited with a giant LA billboard that featured an image from that very scene. Not surprisingly, it was taken down after five days after complaints from motorists (and possibly a few related car crashes).

Of note

Gallo is set to star in 2009's Tetro, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It's not his ongoing film career, though, that's brought him the most fame—it's the fact that he's totally insane. After Roger Ebert called The Brown Bunny the worst film in the history of the Cannes festival, Gallo called Ebert "a fat pig with the physique of a slave trader" and put a hex on Ebert's colon. (He later claimed he'd been misquoted, saying he intended to curse Ebert's prostate.) Three years later, Gallo attempted to sell his sperm ($1 million) and his services as an escort ($50,000 per night) on eBay, generously offering up a $50,000 discount on the former if the woman involved could prove she was of Aryan descent. (When PayPal cancelled his account in response, a furious Gallo suggested that the company "should breathe some death gas or something.") He also happens to be a diehard Republican: He attended the 2004 RNC convention and has been seen out and about with Barbara Bush and her sister, Jenna.

Personal

As you might expect from someone with a sex addiction, Gallo has had his share of partners, including Chloë Sevigny, Asia Argento, and Paris Hilton, just to name a few. Until recently, Gallo lived in one of Richard Meier's towers on Perry Street.

Off hours

Gallo has a huge collection of Rickenbacker guitars and owns a recording studio run entirely on antique and vintage equipment, where he records all of his albums (he's released five to date) on tape.

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