‘There was no way I wasn't going to make it'

Movie star Stanley Tucci opens up about beating cancer and finding love again

- Karleigh Smith

In Hollywood, there has never been an actor who is more perpetually present than Stanley Tucci. His cross-section of roles span from family favourites like The Devil Wears Prada and Captain America through to indie hits including The Lovely Bones, and though his résumé is impressive, he was rarely the main star.

That all changed in 2020, when Stanley, 60, went viral for posting an Instagram of himself making a negroni at his home bar during London’s first lockdown, and a generation of new fans were born.

His renaissance continued when his hit show Searching For Italy – part food, part travel and part love letter to his Italian roots – burst onto the small screen, beating Oprah’s bombshell interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to an Emmy.

“There was no way I wasn’t going to make it. I wanted to tell for a long time the story of Italy and the disparate cuisine in every region,” he said in an interview with The New York Times. Stanley had feared he wouldn’t be able to make the show after a battle with oral cancer, months of chemo and losing his sense of taste.

Now he’s brought out a memoir, aptly titled Taste: My Life Through Food, that seamlessly blends his own fascinating story of finding love, surviving loss, beating cancer and finding love again, with incredible recipes sourced from his own family and dishes he’s picked up on his world travels.

FOOD & FAMILY