Vincent Gallo (born April 11, 1961, in Buffalo, New York) is an American actor, filmmaker, musician, painter, and former model whose work has moved between underground art, independent cinema, experimental music, and fashion. He is best known for writing, directing, and starring in the films Buffalo '66 (1998) and The Brown Bunny (2003), as well as for distinctive acting performances in films by directors including Emir Kusturica, Claire Denis, Francis Ford Coppola, and Jerzy Skolimowski.
Gallo left Buffalo for New York City in 1978 and became involved in the downtown art and music scene. He joined Gray, the experimental group associated with artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and filmmaker Michael Holman. The band combined minimal electronics, free-form noise, and performance art, placing Gallo within the same avant-garde milieu that shaped much of late-1970s and early-1980s New York culture. After Gray, he formed Bohack, which released the industrial and experimental album It Took Several Wives in 1982. He also worked as a painter and created unconventional public performances, developing an interest in combining music, visual art, and provocative presentation.
Gallo began making short films during this period and appeared in the underground feature The Way It Is (1985), directed by Eric Mitchell. He later acted in films such as Goodfellas (1990), Arizona Dream (1993), The House of the Spirits (1993), and Palookaville (1995). His collaborations with French director Claire Denis, including U.S. Go Home and Nenette et Boni, helped establish him as an actor capable of bringing nervous energy and emotional ambiguity to unconventional roles. He also appeared in Julian Schnabel's Basquiat (1996), a film closely connected to his earlier New York experience.
With Buffalo '66, Gallo became a major figure in American independent film. He wrote, directed, produced, edited, and starred in the film, playing Billy Brown, a recently released prisoner who forces a young tap dancer, played by Christina Ricci, to pose as his wife. The film combines bleak comedy, stylized imagery, awkward family drama, and an unusually personal atmosphere. Gallo's performance and the film's handmade visual style earned it a lasting cult following.
His second feature, The Brown Bunny, premiered in competition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Gallo wrote, directed, produced, photographed, edited, and starred in the sparse road movie, portraying a motorcycle racer haunted by the loss of a former lover. Its explicit sexual scene and difficult Cannes reception made it one of the most controversial American films of the period, although later discussion has also emphasized its austere photography, isolation, and sustained mood of grief.
Music remained central to Gallo's work. He composed or performed music for several of his films and released the albums When (2001) and Recordings of Music for Film (2002) on Warp Records. The latter collected material written for earlier films and reflects his interest in fragile melodies, tape textures, drones, and deliberately unfinished-sounding arrangements.
Gallo later appeared in Tetro (2009), Metropia (2009), and Essential Killing (2010). His performance as a hunted prisoner in Essential Killing earned him the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 2010 Venice Film Festival. He subsequently acted in The Legend of Kaspar Hauser (2012) and Shut In (2022). Across his career, Gallo has maintained a reputation for uncompromising authorship, treating acting, filmmaking, music, and visual art as parts of one highly individual practice.