Born in Rome to a Molisan family from Duronia, Province of Campobasso, Germano debuted aged twelve in Castellano e Pipolo's movie Ci hai rotto papà (1992).

In 1999, he abandoned an opportunity to work in theatre with Giancarlo Cobelli in order to play in Carlo Vanzina's film Il cielo in una stanza, which launched Germano as one of the most popular Italian actors.

[2] Germano worked with numerous directors such as Ettore Scola (Unfair Competition), Emanuele Crialese (Respiro), Gianluca Maria Tavarelli (Break Free), Giovanni Veronesi (What Will Happen to Us), Michele Placido (Romanzo Criminale), Gabriele Salvatores (Quo Vadis, Baby?, As God Commands), Paolo Virzì (Napoleon and Me, Your Whole Life Ahead of You), Francesco Patierno (The Early Bird Catches the Worm), Daniele Vicari (The Past Is a Foreign Land) and Ferzan Özpetek (Magnificent Presence).

In 2010, he won the Best Actor Award, ex-aequo with Javier Bardem, at the Cannes Film Festival, for his interpretation in La Nostra Vita.

[4] In his spare time, Germano makes raps for a music group called Bestierare, which sings about "unemployment, homelessness, precariousness, prisons and Fascist violence".