Pasquale Aleardi

Pasquale Aleardi (born 1 June 1971) is a Swiss actor. He is known for playing the role of J.D. Salinas in Resident Evil. He also starred as Billy Flynn in the Broadway production of Chicago. In 2016, Aleardi starred in the lead role of Tommaso, an Italian miner, in Gotthard (2016). The film is the largest-scale Swiss TV production ever made and had its world premiere on 2 August 2016 during the traditional Prefestival evening at the Locarno Film Festival. Aleardi is the son of Greco-Italian emigrants. He was hired for his first Swiss film role in Jazz (1994). Despite the sudden success, he left the Zurich University of the Arts in 1995 and went to Germany, where he took up acting engagements at theaters in Bonn, Düsseldorf and Cologne. After several theatrical successes on German stages with plays such as The Big Bang by Arthur Miller (Best Production NRW 96 / Berliner-Theatertreffen), his interest focused on film. He played alongside Veronica Ferres in the TV movie Für immer verloren ("Forever Lost") and made his German cinema debut in At Night in the Park, acting alongside Heike Makatsch and Heino Ferch. He played the main role in a film version of Bertolt Brecht's Baal, where he played the role of Ekart alongside Matthias Schweighöfer, and his performance alongside Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil gave him his first exposure on the international stage. One of his greatest successes was when he played copilot Peter Landolt in the 2006 film Grounding – Die letzten Tage der Swissair ("Grounding – The Last Days of Swissair"). In Germany, Aleardi acted in the 2006 film Schöner Leben ("A More Beautiful Life"), as well as in the film adaptation of Frank Wedekind's play Lulu. In the Anke Engelke series Frauengeschichten ("Stories of Women"), he showcased his comedic talents.