 His career was jumpstarted by his first three successes, "Un sacco bello" (1980), "Bianco, rosso e Verdone" (1981) and "Borotalco" (1982).Since the 1990s, he has been introducing more serious subjects in his work, linked to the excesses of society and the individual's hardships in confronting it; some examples are "Maledetto il giorno che t'ho incontrata" (1992), "Il mio miglior nemico" (2006) and "Io, loro e Lara" (2010).Carlo Verdone was born in Rome to Mario Verdone, an important Italian film critic and academic, and during his youth he earned a degree in Modern Literature at Sapienza University of Rome, the same University where his father taught, and a degree in Film Direction at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.