Aurelio De Laurentiis

In his career, Aurelio De Laurentiis has produced and distributed more than 400 films directed by such filmmakers as Mario Monicelli, Carlo Verdone, Ettore Scola, Ridley Scott, David Cronenberg, Luc Besson, Paul Haggis, Joel and Ethan Coen, David Lynch, Roberto Benigni and many others. In September 2010, he was awarded with the "Variety Profile in Excellence", given by the prestigious magazine Variety with the following motivation: "Aurelio De Laurentiis has always been able to stay in touch with the taste of the audience. He is really the only Italian producer with an authentic grandeur that results from his symbiotic relationship with a wide audience. Aurelio has an innate radar for pop culture, he has business acumen and a real willingness to take risks". In the United States, the Guinness World Records introduced the Christmas comedies (a movie franchise invented by De Laurentiis) in the category of longest-running movie franchise. In June 1995, when Oscar Luigi Scalfaro was President of the Italian Republic, he received the title of "Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic", given by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. In 2002 the French Minister of Culture, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, appointed Aurelio "Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres", because of his important relationship with the French film industry. In October 2004, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the President of the Italian Republic, honored him with the title of "Grand Officer of the Italian Republic". In January 2007, he was named "Ambassador of Rome" by then Mayor Walter Veltroni. In June 2008, he received the "Knight of Labor" (Cavaliere del Lavoro) honor from the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, who in December of the same year awarded him with the "Premio Leonardo Qualità Italia". In October 2010 he received the prestigious "United States-Italy Friendship Award" in Washington. In 2012, in the United Kingdom, the British Minister of Commerce and Investments, Lord Stephen Green of Husterpoint, gave him the "Career recognition Award". On May 23rd 2014, he received an Honorary Degree (Laurea Honoris Causa) by the American University of Rome, and was appointed Doctor of Humane Letters, "for his extraordinary contribution to business, in Italy and in the world, both in cinema and in sports". In his career, with his films, Aurelio De Laurentiis has won 50 Golden Movie Theatre Tickets (the awards given to the most successful movies at the Italian box office), 15 David di Donatello (the Italian Oscars), 7 Italian Golden Globes assigned by the Foreign Press, and 7 Nastri d'Argento (Silver Ribbons) given by the Italian Association of Film Journalists, and many other prizes. Between 1993 and 2003, Aurelio De Laurentiis served as President of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, which includes 26 member countries, from the United States to Japan and China, from South America to Europe. From October 2001 to June 2006 he was President of the Italian Film Producers Association. Starting in 2008, he became a shareholder of Italian Entertainment Group, a company that controls - among others - Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà Parchi and Luneur Park (2 companies involved in amusement parks). He is also a shareholder of Filmmaster Group, which will organize the opening and the closing ceremonies of 2016 Rio Olympic Games. In May 2014, Aurelio De Laurentiis set up a new working team in Los Angeles, to develop and produce for American TV. Besides the movie business, he has another love: in 2004, he began a new career as sports entrepreneur. He won the auction to buy the Naples Football team directly from a bankruptcy sale at the Naples Court, and set the goal for himself of getting the team back to success. When De Laurentiis bought the team, Naples was playing in the Third Division (Serie C1). In just three years, he was able to bring it back to the First division (Serie A): in 27 months (less than 1.000 days), the team went from Third Division to the European Competitions. Naples is the only team that has played, for the last six years in a row, in the European Competitions, including two Champions League tournaments, during which it was able to win against very prestigious teams like Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Arsenal, Olympique Marseille. During the De Laurentiis era, the team has also won two Coppa Italia Cups, one against Juventus (2012) and one against Fiorentina (2014). Thanks to very savvy and determined work, De Laurentiis was also able to establish his Naples team among the world's top 30 soccer clubs.