Born in Rome, as a teenager D'Alatri was active as a stage and film actor and worked with Luchino Visconti, Giorgio Strehler, Vittorio De Sica among others. His 1998 film The Garden of Eden, an apocryphal history of Jesus, was entered into the main competition at the 59th Venice International Film Festival.
In 1970s he decided to focus on directing, and after a long apprenticeship as a director of commercials, that led him to be awarded for best AD director at the 1987 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in 1991 he directed a first feature film, Americano rosso, for which he won the David di Donatello for Best New Director. The following No Skin was both a critical and a commercial success, and gave D'Alatri a David di Donatello, a Nastro d'Argento and a Ciak d'oro for best screenplay.
