Angelo Pizzo grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, the son of a Sicilian immigrant.  After remaining in Bloomington long enough to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science at Indiana University, Pizzo moved to the West Coast to attend film school at the University of Southern California.  After studying three years in the History, Theory, and Criticsim department he left to begin his career in the story department at Warner Brothers Television. He then moved to Time Life Films, where he became Director of Development for MOWs and Mini-Series, then Vice President of Feature Film Productions.

Pizzo produced three movies of the week and two pilots during his time in television and supervised six feature films before deciding to create an original film of his own.  Pizzo’s first feature film, Hoosiers, which he wrote and co-produced, earned two Oscar nominations.  The film has proven to have lasting popularity, being named the best sports film of all time by both ESPN and USA Today.  It is also in the Library of Congress’ National film Registry.

Pizzo followed Hoosiers with two more feature films, Rudy and the The Game of Their Lives.  After living in Southern California for the last thirty years, Pizzo and his family moved back to Bloomington in 2006.  While raising his two sons and pursuing new film projects from his hometown, Pizzo also serves on the Board of the Heartland Film Festival, the Indiana Film Commission and the Kinsey Institute.  Pizzo received an honorary doctorate from Franklin College and was the commencement speaker there in 2002.

He has also been the recipient of the Thomas Hart Benton Award as a distinguished Indiana University alumnus, as well as the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumnus Award, Governor’s Art Award for contributions toward the arts, the Indiana Living Legend Award in 2012, and was named a Sagamore of the Wabash, the highest civilian honor of Indiana.  In 2013 he was inducted into the Indiana High School Basketball Hall of Fame.