Police on Sunday arrested an Italian actor who had leading roles in 2002 Cannes-winner Respiro and 2006 Oscar candidate The Golden Door on suspicion of drugs dealing.
Francesco Casisa, 21, was busted along with two friends when police burst into a loud house party taking place in a coastal town near the Sicilian capital.
Casisa and his friends, who police described as ''completely drunk'', threw a large bag of hashish out of the window as soon as they spotted the officers.
Police said they seized more than half a kilogramme of drugs and several grammes of cocaine during the blitz.
Casisa played the son of a manic depressive portrayed by Valeria Golino in Respiro, set in a fishing village on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa.
Passing practically unobserved in Italy when it was released in 2002, Respiro went on to win a string of prestigious festival awards and international critical acclaim including the Critics' Week Grand Prize and the Young Critics' Award at Cannes.
Respiro director Emanuele Crialese also cast Casisa in his film about a Sicilian family migrating to America, The Golden Door (Nuovomondo), which picked up six awards at the Venice Film Festival and was Italy's candidate for best foreign language film at the 2006 Academy Awards.
