Born in Paisley, Scotland; educated at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, Glasgow. Gifted, stage-trained comedic player who has been cast in a variety of ethnic roles. Conti won a Tony® for his Broadway performance in Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1979) and acclaim for his film work as the title character, a boozy Scottish poet, in REUBEN, REUBEN (1983); as the only bilingual prisoner and title character in Nagisa Oshima's harrowing Japanese POW camp drama, MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE (1983); as the hilariously neurotic psychiatrist in Robert Altman's BEYOND THERAPY (1987); and as the archetypal Greek lothario in SHIRLEY VALENTINE (1989). Other notable credits include "The Norman Conquests" (TV trilogy, 1978), AMERICAN DREAMER (1984), SAVING GRACE (1985, as Pope Leo XIV), MIRACLES (1986), SOMEONE ELSE'S AMERICA (1995), SUB DOWN (1997), OUR OF CONTROL and SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN (both 1998), THE ENEMY and the TV series "Deadline" (both 2000), DERAILED (2005), RABBIT FEVER, PAID, ALMOST HEAVEN and O JERUSALEM (all 2006), DANGEROUS PARKING (2007), and TALKING WITH DOG (rumored for 2008). Conti married actress Kara Wilson in 1967. Their daughter is actress Nina Conti.  Nominated for Actor 1983: REUBEN, REUBEN 1 nomination