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- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Eliot Sumner was born on 30 July 1990 in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. Eliot is an actor, known for Ripley (2024), The Gentlemen (2019) and No Time to Die (2021).- Actor
- Music Department
- Producer
Cole Mitchell Sprouse was born in Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy to American parents, Melanie (Wright) and Matthew Sprouse, and was raised with his older identical twin Dylan Sprouse in Long Beach, in their parents' native California. Cole began his acting career alongside Dylan at the tender age of six months. From 1993 to 1998 the twins shared the role of Patrick Kelly on ABC's hit series Grace Under Fire (1993), soon booking Julian in Adam Sandler's box office hit, Big Daddy (2000). That same month, their second feature film, The Astronaut's Wife (1999), starring Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron, was also released. Cole appeared without his brother on the NBC series Friends (1994), portraying Ross's son Ben Gellar; in the fall of 2003, the brothers again shared a lead role: Jeremiah in The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004). After that, Cole began starring alongside his twin in their own half-hour sitcom on the Disney Channel, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005). After wrapping his sixth year of this program, Cole chose to attend NYU and remain absent from entertainment until he finished his college education in 2015, graduating with honors. The graduate soon booked the role of Jughead on Riverdale (2017), becoming a fan favorite, and then starred as Will Newman in the box office hit Five Feet Apart (2019), which was one of the highest-grossing non-genre teen movies of the 2010s.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Rose McGowan is an American actress and director, known for her contribution to independent film. Since the age of nineteen, she has appeared in acclaimed films by Gregg Araki, Wes Craven, Brian De Palma, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. In 2014, her directorial debut Dawn (2014) was nominated for the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Rose Arianna McGowan was born on September 5, 1973 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy, to American parents Terri and Daniel Patrick McGowan. She is the second eldest of six siblings, and has Irish, French, and English ancestry. As a young child, she was raised within the Italian chapter of the Children of God. During the early 1980s, her family severed ties with the community and migrated to Eugene, Oregon, USA. Following the divorce of her parents, Rose relocated to Gig Harbor, Washington, to live with her grandmother. At age 14, McGowan was accused of drug use by a family friend and committed to rehabilitation. She has consistently maintained the decision was unjustified. Upon release, she spent a year without a home and was emancipated from her parents by the age of 15. McGowan's career as an actor began with The Doom Generation (1995). Originally intended for Jordan Ladd, the character of Amy Blue was, coincidentally, awarded to McGowan by an associate of director Gregg Araki. For her performance, she was nominated at the 1995 Independent Spirit Awards for Best Debut Performance. Subsequently cast in Wes Craven's Scream (1996), she experienced further success when the project defied expectations to become one of the highest grossing films of the year. The innovative career of McGowan was overshadowed throughout much of the 1990s by her high-profile relationship with musician Brian Warner (aka Marilyn Manson). Strong performances in Going All the Way (1997), Lewis & Clark & George (1997), Southie (1998) and Jawbreaker (1999) were largely unseen by the general public. When the relationship ended between Rose and Manson in 2001, she remarked: "There is great love, but our lifestyle difference is, unfortunately, even greater". Rose continued to work solidly, appearing in a string of soft-sounding studio and independent films. Performances from this period included: a political activist in Showtime's The Killing Yard (2001), a grifter in Roads to Riches (2002) and a factory worker in "Stealing Bess" (aka Vacuums (2003)). She was re-introduced to the mainstream as Paige Matthews in Aaron Spelling's Charmed (1998), a popular television series for which she devoted five consecutive years. When "Charmed" finished its run in 2006, McGowan emerged in top form. Critics praised her efforts in Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror (2007), and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007). In several interviews, McGowan has expressed a general apathy and disdain for Hollywood. Despite this, her work ethic remains strong. Following her recent marriage to LA-based artist Davey Detail, the actress has resolved to purse further projects as a director.- Actor
- Music Department
- Producer
Sprouse was born August 4, 1992, in Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy, to American parents, Melanie (Wright) and Matthew Sprouse. Dylan and his younger identical twin Cole Sprouse were raised in their parents' Long Beach, California. He has acted from the age of six months, initially with Cole, and continues to do so out of his new home base of NYC after receiving his bachelors degree from NYU. Along with acting, Dylan owns a meadery and bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, serving as the master brewer of the business.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Maurizio Lombardi was born in Florence, Italy in1973. He started his acting training as a teenager with Ugo Chiti. Under Gabriella Bartolomei and Franco di Francescantonio, he worked specifically on his voice and body, so as to develop his own personal study both on mimics and physicality of the body as narrative tools. Besides, he completed his education by studying dance and singing. His focus on quality took Maurizio to continuously refine his technique, also taking part into the American acting coach Ivana Chubbuck's workshops in Italy and abroad.
Maurizio is today a recognised and multifaceted international actor, starring in movies, series and live on stage.
2024 will see his appearance in: Netflix Series 'Ripley' by Academy Award winner Steve Zaillian 'Citadel: Diana' series directed by Arnaldo Catinari 'M - The Son of the Century' series directed by Joe Wright 'Romeo è Giulietta', the movie directed by Giovanni Veronesi 'Il Vangelo Secondo Maria', the movie directed by Paolo Zucca 'Sei nell'Anima', the movie / biopic of Italian rocker and singer Gianna Nannini, directed by Cinzia TH Torrini
Since 2016, Maurizio Lombardi also appeared on both HBO series 'The Young Pope' and 'The New Pope' by Academy Award winner Paolo Sorrentino, in the prominent role of Cardinal Mario Assente.
Earlier in his professional career, he acted in many other movies and TV series, including also 'Il ragazzo invisibile 2' by the Academy Award winner director Gabriele Salvatores, 'Metti una notte' with Amanda Lear; 'All the money in the world' by Ridley Scott.
Maurizio is also a very active stage actor, with numerous tournées, in Italy and internationally. In this context, in 2016 Maurizio was runner-up for the Prize 'Le Maschere del Teatro Italiano' as best supporting actor, for the play The Pride, by Alexi Kaye Campbell, directed and interpreted by Luca Zingaretti.
Maurizio Lombardi is a prolific author and has his own production company Velvet 9 Productions, whereby he produces and co-produces his works, including: 'L'uomo Rondine'; the monologue 'Fists of Sulfur', which competed in the 2013 edition of the Fringe Festival in Edinburg the musicals 'Biancaneve' and 'Peter Pan', a one-man show called 'No Party' and his most recent work 'Ho Visto Cose' where he addresses impact on artificial intelligence on the human condition, which sold-out in all 4 opening shows in March 2024.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Alice Rohrwacher was born on 29 December 1981 in Fiesole, Tuscany, Italy. She is a director and writer, known for Happy as Lazzaro (2018), La Chimera (2023) and The Wonders (2014).- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Alba Rohrwacher was born on 27 February 1979 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress, known for Hungry Hearts (2014), The Wonders (2014) and I Am Love (2009).- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Roberto Benigni was born on 27 October 1952 in Manciano La Misericordia, Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Life Is Beautiful (1997), The Tiger and the Snow (2005) and Down by Law (1986). He has been married to Nicoletta Braschi since 26 December 1991.- Actress
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Soundtrack
Elsa Martinelli was born in the central Tuscan city of Grosseto into a struggling family, one of eight siblings. She had to earn her keep from the age of twelve, delivering groceries in Rome. Looking older than her years suggested, she then did some part-time work as a barmaid. Aged sixteen and ambitious, she moved on to modeling and was soon promoted by well known designers, and, in particular, by a New York magazine editor who suggested a move to the Big Apple. While employed with the Eileen Ford Agency, she was spotted on a Life magazine cover by none other than Kirk Douglas (or by Douglas' wife, according to another version of the story) who, incidentally, happened to own a fashion company. In any case, Elsa soon found herself in Hollywood to co-star opposite Douglas in The Indian Fighter (1955) (despite some as yet unresolved problems with her command of English). Her sojourn in tinseltown was short-lived, however, and the contract she had signed with Douglas was quietly annulled -- and thus she famously spurned an opportunity to appear in the lucrative blockbuster Spartacus (1960). There were to be no further American pictures at this time. Instead, she returned to Italy, married Count Franco Mancinelli Scotti di San Vito, joined the glitterati, attended lavish parties and created an image for herself which rivaled those of Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. She counted Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas among her close friends.
Taken under the wing of Carlo Ponti, Elsa was able to eventually make a success of her screen career not merely because of her exotic good looks, but by deliberately varying the type of parts she took on and thereby avoid typecasting. Those included the titular Stowaway Girl (1957) who bewitches an embittered steamboat captain played by Trevor Howard. In stark contrast, she was also Carmilla, possessed by her vampiric ancestor Millarca in the unsatisfactorily filmed Blood and Roses (1960), an 'arthouse' horror movie, though artlessly directed by Roger Vadim, based on Sheridan Le Fanu's Gothic novella. Encumbered by excessive bathos, neither scary nor original, the only saving grace of the picture was derived from Claude Renoir's evocative camera work.
In Hatari! (1962) -- which might aptly be described as a good-looking travelogue -- Elsa co-starred as a freelance wildlife photographer on a Tanganyika game farm, torn between affections for baby elephants and 'bring-'em-back-alive' trapper John Wayne. With character development sorely lacking, the animals, the scenery (and two exquisitely ornamental ladies -- the other being Michèle Girardon) pretty much stole the show. Likewise, in her next outing, the wartime comedy The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962), Elsa was the romantic (mostly decorative) interest of Charlton Heston's army guy smuggled into Nazi-occupied Rome in 1944 to extract and send back secret military information via carrier pigeon. For the remainder of the '60s, Elsa appeared in a number of international co-productions which included a segment in The Oldest Profession (1967) as a Roman Emperor's wife discovered in a brothel; and as a gangster's daughter helping a bumbling American treasury agent in Rome (played by Dustin Hoffman in his first starring role) to recover Madigan's Millions (1968).
In 1968, Elsa married Paris Match photographer and furniture designer Willy Rizzo. Having already invested some of her earnings from film work into Roman and Parisian real estate, Elsa began to diversify into designing avant garde furniture with apparently mixed success. By the 1980s, she was active as an interior designer in Rome while still making sporadic screen appearances, primarily in TV series. Described by the newspaper La Repubblica as "an icon of style and elegance", Elsa Martinelli died on July 8, 2017 in Rome at the age of 82.- Additional Crew
- Production Designer
- Director
Franco Zeffirelli is an Italian director and producer of operas, films and television. He was also a senator from 1994 until 2001 for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party. Some of his operatic designs and productions have become worldwide classics.
He was known for several of the movies he directed, especially the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet (1968), for which he received an Academy Award nomination. His 1967 version of The Taming of The Shrew (1967) with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton remains the best-known film adaptation of that play as well. His mini-series Jesus of Nazareth (1977) won both national and international acclaim.
In 1999, Zeffirelli received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In November 2004, he was awarded an honorary knighthood by the United Kingdom. He was awarded the Premio Colosseo in 2009 by the city of Rome.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
She was born in Viareggio (Tuscany, Italy) on June 5th, 1946. She won a beauty contest when she was just 15 years old, which led to her first role in "Il federale" together with the great Italian actor Ugo Tognazzi. She was then cast by Germi for the Italian comedy "Divorzio all'Italiana", working with Marcello Mastroianni, but she became well known a few years later performing in the movie "Sedotta e abbandonata". At 16 she had a relationship with the Italian musician Gino Paoli and in 1964 she gave birth to her first daughter Amanda. In the 70s she worked with directors Bernardo Bertolucci, Ettore Scola, Comencini and acted with Vittorio Gassman, Dustin Hoffman (Alfredo, Alfredo), Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu (Novecento). In the 80s she performed her sexiest role in "La chiave" by Tinto Brass, which made her an erotic icon for a whole generation of men, and participated in important Italian movies (for example Speriamo che sia femmina, with Catherine Deneuve and Liv Ullman). In the 90s she especially worked for tv series and became very popular as Gigi Proietti's fiancée in "Il Maresciallo Rocca". She worked a little less for the cinema industry, nevertheless she participated in Bertolucci's "Io ballo da sola" and in Muccino's "L'ultimo bacio", where she portrayed a woman in the deep of a midlife crises. On September 10th 2005 she received the Golden Lion at the 62th Venice Film Festival for her life achievements.
Stefania Sandrelli represents one of the few actresses who are able to age gracefully and still get interesting roles. She is still regarded as one of the most beautiful women in Italy and she is still able to charm the audience with her sweet smile and sparkling eyes.- Alexandra Moen was born in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. Having an oceanographer as a father meant that she and her family - teacher mother and two younger brothers - travelled along with his work and, at age six, she moved to Canada and then to Bermuda, ending up in England, where she completed her schooling. She read English at Leeds University before studying acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. She made her professional stage debut in 2003 at the Chichester theatre in Chekhov's 'The Seagull' and has since worked widely on stage and television. To many small screen viewers she is probably best known for her appearance in 'Doctor Who', doing something the doctor failed to and ridding the world of his great enemy, the Master. In addition to acting she sings and is a member of a psychedelic pop band.
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Writer
George P. Cosmatos was born on 4 January 1941 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was a director and assistant director, known for Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Leviathan (1989) and Cobra (1986). He was married to Birgitta Ljungberg. He died on 19 April 2005 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
A true polymath and polyglot, fluent in several languages, Ana-Sofia Mastroianna is known for an astonishing facility with a variety of accents as well as being an accomplished concert violinist, singer, dancer (American Ballet Theatre) and award-winning writer.
A Wooley/Fulbright Scholar, she studied in Paris and Moscow at their prestigious conservatories (CNSMP & Tchaikovsky) and in London at RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She returned to the US, acting in acclaimed theatrical productions On and Off Broadway: in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, "Titanic" and Off-Broadway, in the American premiere of the hugely successful New Group Theatre production of "Goose-Pimples" by Mike Leigh, directed by Scott Elliott. She garnered unanimous critical praise and earned nominations as Best Featured Performance in both the Drama Desk Awards as well as the Outer Critics' Circle Awards. As a result, she was invited by director Frank Oz, producer Brian Grazer and Steve Martin to co-star in the Universal Pictures/Imagine Entertainment feature, Bowfinger, written by and starring Steve Martin with Eddie Murphy.
In addition to her on-camera work, she is a highly sought-after voice actor having done award-winning turns as a narrator and voice talent for audio books as well as for film and in television series and commercials.- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Laura Morante was born on 21 August 1956 in Santa Fiora, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for Cherry on the Cake (2012), The Son's Room (2001) and Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981). She has been married to Francesco Giammatteo since 3 October 2004. She was previously married to Georges Claisse and Daniele Costantini.- Actor
- Sound Department
- Additional Crew
Yves Montand was born on 13 October 1921 in Monsummano Terme, Tuscany, Italy. He was an actor, known for Jean de Florette (1986), Z (1969) and The Wages of Fear (1953). He was married to Simone Signoret. He died on 9 November 1991 in Senlis, Oise, France.- Vittoria Puccini was born on 18 November 1979 in Florence, Italy. After graduating from high school, she first appeared on screen in Sergio Rubini's TV movie Tutto l'amore che c'è (2000) and in other minor titles, and finally became a star on Italian TV, playing the title character in Elisa di Rivombrosa (2003). She also has appeared in several international productions including Kronprinz Rudolf (2006).
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Born in Massa Marittima, Italy on August 6, 1931, Umberto Lenzi was a movie enthusiast since his early grade school years. During those years, he founded various film fan clubs while studying law. Lenzi started out as a journalist for various local newspapers and magazines. Lenzi put off his law studies to pursue the technical arts of filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale de Cinematografia.
After graduation from the school, Lenzi continued working as a writer and film critic. He found employment as an assistant director before making his directorial debut with Queen of the Seas (1961). Other pirate/sword flicks followed, starting with I pirati della Malesia (1964) (Pirates of Malaysia), which was part of the height of the career of fictitious tales of historic legendary characters including Robin Hood, Catherine the Great, Zorro, Sandokan and Maciste. For the movie Kriminal (1966), Lenzi turned to the new wave of adult-oriented comic books (known as fumetti) for fresh inspiration and initiated a popular trend.
After directing a war film and two "spaghetti westerns," Lenzi turned to the giallo gene with Paranoia (1969) (originally called "Orgasmo"), starring Carroll Baker and Lou Castel, which was the first of his thrillers and one of his personal favorites. Retitled Paranoia for its USA release, Orgasmo caused some confusion since Lenzi directed a movie with the same name, Paranoia, in 1970 also with Carroll Baker. During the 1970s, Lenzi directed a number of giallo thrillers among them So Sweet... So Perverse (1969), Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972) and Eyeball (1975). None of them were particularly successful since Lenzi blamed his tight budgets and poor scripts, which he believed no director could do well with.
In the late 1970s, Lenzi turned to the police thrillers (polizieschi), which rejuvenated his confidence and his popularity. Titles like Almost Human (1974), Tough Cop (1976) (Free Hand For a Tough Cop), and Brothers Till We Die (1978) (Brothers Till We Die) were the most popular and brutal of the thrillers. Prior to the polizieschi, Lenzi directed Sacrifice! (1972) (Man from Deep River), which was the start of the Italian cannibal sub-genre. A re-telling of the western A Man Called Horse (1970), with a south Asia setting, set the stage for a later group of extremely gory cannibal sub-genre movies most noteworthy being Ruggero Deodato's Last Cannibal World (1977) which featured a potent combination of extreme violence in a documentary realism. Lenzi responded with two very gory jungle cannibal features, Eaten Alive! (1980) and Cannibal Ferox (1981) (Make Them Die Slowly), which attempted to outdo Deodato's thrillers. The excess of Cannibal Ferox, which was banned in 31 countries, made Lenzi distance himself from the cannibal genre.
In between Eaten Alive and Cannibal Ferox, Lenzi directed Nightmare City (1980), a zombie flick, with Lenzi rejected the slow-moving zombies of the Romero and Fulci movies for a more type of fast-moving, weapons toting, super zombies with action and an anti-nuclear message.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Lenzi turned his attention to other genres: action-adventure, war films and even made-for-TV dramas, although he directed the occasional thriller most notable in that time was Ghosthouse (1988). His movie Le porte dell'inferno (1989) is a seldom-seen horror film, which makes the most of its low budget. Lenzi claimed to have shot it in three weeks at a cost of 300 million lire, whereas low-budget Italian horror films shot in Italy or abroad cost an average of a billion lire or more. It represented a personal challenge for Lenzi since the entire movie takes place in a cave and the suspense is maintained for the entire 90 minutes.
As his budgets and financing for his films dwindled, so did his output. The 1990s saw Lenzi directing a number of TV productions that were never broadcast, causing him lament upon the change in Italian film industry. After 40 years and directing over 60 films, Lenzi more or less retired from film directing and left his mark as one of the most creative and inexhaustible cult film directors of Italy.
Umberto Lenzi died on October 19, 2017 at a hospital in the Ostia district of Rome, Italy at age 86.- Actress
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Daria Nicolodi was born on 19 June 1949 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She was an actress and writer, known for Phenomena (1985), Deep Red (1975) and Tenebrae (1982). She died on 26 November 2020 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Actress
- Composer
- Music Department
Gianna Nannini was born in Siena, Tuscany. She has two brothers, Guido (b. 1951) and Alessandro (b. 1961). After school, she studied piano at the "Luigi Boccherini" University in Lucca. In 1975, she moved to Milan, where she studied composing and philosophy. The following year, she published her first record "Gianna Nannini". Her album "California", released in 1980, was inspired by a trip to the US. One year later, she composed the soundtrack for Luciano Manuzzi's Sconcerto Rock (1982). She became one of Italy's most successful singers in the 1980s, which gave her the opportunity to record the official song for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, "Un' Estate Italiana". In December 1994, she graduated in philosophy from the University of Siena. Her last album "Grazie" was released in February 2006 and became the best selling of her career in her native Italy.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Born in Tuscany, Italy Luca Calvani studied textile engineering and moved to Milan and then New York to complete his education.
While in New York City, a photographer turned screenwriter/director Kelley Sane pointed him to acting introducing him to Ron Stetson where he studied for two years. He later trained with Susan Batson and attended sessions at the Actor's Studio.
His American debut ,the HBO series Sex and the City (1998), where he starred opposite Alan Cumming and Sarah Jessica Parker.
In Europe, Ferzan Özpetek award-winning The Ignorant Fairies (2001) aka "Le Fate Ignoranti."
Between 2001 and 2012 he worked on on CBS TV's daytime drama As the World Turns (1956), Il commissario Manara (2008) directed by Davide Marengo, on Tutti pazzi per amore (2008) directed by Riccardo Milani, Married to a Cop (2007), Sposami (2012) and Una buona stagione (2014). All series aired on Rai Uno network.
Also for RaiUno, Luca hosted prime-time talk show Effetto sabato (2008).
Among his film credits, Fausto Brizzi's, Men Vs Women (2010) Tom Tykwer's action thriller The International (2009), Woody Allen's To Rome with Love (2012), Mark Steven Johnson's When in Rome (2009) and the indie feature The Good Guy (2009) directed by Julio DePietro.
In September 2013 he joined Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander and screen wife Elizabeth Debicki when he was cast by Guy Ritchie as villainous Alexander Vinciguerra. Then starred opposite Piotr Adamczyk and Torsten Voges in German Polish thriller Wrobiony (2016) directed by Piotr Smigasiewicz.
Travelled and entrepreneurial in the fall of 2014 Calvani launched "Inspiritu", a line of fine fragrance candles.
Calvani is trilingual, he speaks French and English in addition to his native Italian.
He lives in Camaiore at Le Gusciane a Tuscan country estate where he produces Organic Gin and Honey.
His directorial debut Il cacio con le pere (2023) is due out later this year.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Luisi Pistilli's most notable stage successes were roles in "The Threepenny Opera", "St. Joan of the Stockyards" and a 1972 production, "Lulu". In 1991 he reprised his role in "Lulu" in the first professional collaboration with actress-singer Milva, his partner in previous plays as well as in a four-year offstage relationship. Pistilli's most memorable roles were in Francesco Rosi's Illustrious Corpses (1976), Lino Del Fra's Antonio Gramsci: i giorni del carcere (1977), Carlo Lizzani's Italo-Bulgarian co-production The Bandit (1969) and Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), in which he played priest Pablo Ramirez, the brother of Eli Wallach's character Tuco. He also worked frequently in TV, including the Mafia series La piovra (1984), directed by Luigi Perelli.- Francesco Arca was born on 19 November 1979 in Siena, Tuscany, Italy. He is an actor, known for Spectre (2015), Married to a Cop (2007) and Los nuestros (2015).
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Dario Marianelli was born in Pisa and studied piano and composition in Florence and London. After a year as a postgraduate composer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he spent 3 years at the National Film and Television School, from which he graduated in 1997. Dario's film scores include 'Paddington 2' (2017), 'Darkest Hour' (2017), 'Kubo and the 'Two Strings' (2016) Everest (2015), 'The Boxtrolls' (2014), 'Anna Karenina' (2012), 'Jane Eyre' (2011), 'Salmon Fishing In The Yemen' (2011), 'Eat Pray Love' (2010), 'The Soloist' (2009), 'Agora' (2009), 'Atonement' (2007), 'V for Vendetta' (2006) and 'Pride and Prejudice' (2005). He has written orchestral music for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and the Britten-Pears Orchestra, as well as vocal music for the BBC Singers, incidental music for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and several ballet scores. Dario won the Oscar, Golden Globe and Ivor Novello Award in the Best Original Score category for the award-winning Working Title film 'Atonement', for which he also won the World Soundtrack Award and was BAFTA nominated. He was also nominated for a Classical Brit Award in the Soundtrack Of The Year category for 'Atonement'. In 2006, Dario was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Score category for his music to Joe Wright's 'Pride & Prejudice'. This score won him the Classical Brit Award in the Soundtrack/ Musical Theatre Composer of The Year category and also earned him an Ivor Novello Award nomination. Dario's collaboration with Joe Wright on the film 'Anna Karenina' led to his nomination for an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Original Score, and in May 2013, he won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score for 'Anna Karenina'. In 2014 Dario composed the score for Laika animation 'The Boxtrolls', which was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award. He has recently completed work on the score to his second Laika animation, 'Kubo and the Two Strings', for which he won an Ivor Novello Award, and also worked on his fifth film collaboration with director Asif Kapadia on live action feature 'Ali and Nino'.
During 2014 Dario's 'Voyager' Violin Concerto also had its world premiere in Brisbane, Australia, performed by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra as part of a spectacular event combining science, music, voice, and film titled 'Journey Through The Cosmos'. The piece was featured alongside a lecture given by Professor Brian Cox and has since gone on to be performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Harding and featuring highly acclaimed violinist Jack Liebeck.
In 2017, Dario continued his working relationship with Joe Wright on 'Darkest Hour' and also scoring Paul King's 'Paddington 2'. Dario was commissioned by The Royal Opera House to compose their new ballet, 'The Unknown Soldier', which premiered in November 2018. He also worked with Travis Knight, composing the score for the latest film in the Transformers film series, 'Bumblebee.' Dario collaborated with Matteo Garrone to score the Italian feature film 'Pinocchio'. Most recently Dario composed the original score for 'A Boy Called Christmas', directed by Gil Kenan, which was released in late 2021.- Martina Stella was born on 28 November 1984 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress, known for Nine (2009), Ocean's Twelve (2004) and The Early Bird Catches the Worm (2008). She was previously married to Andrea Manfredonia.
- Music Artist
- Actor
- Writer
Andrea Bocelli, as born in Lajatico, Italy, in 1958, is one of the greatest singing talents in the world today. He has been blind since age 12, owing to congenital glaucoma and a blow to the head while tending goal during a soccer game. Andrea did not begin his singing career until the late 1980s, when he began performing in piano bars throughout Italy. Before then he earned a law degree from the University of Pisa. In 1993 he was signed to a record contract after a scout heard him sing during a party. That was the beginning of a spectacular career, which saw him team with some of the best voices in the business. Andrea has worked with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti and Sarah Brightman, and has sung for the Pope. Perhaps his best-known hit is "Con Te Partirò [Time To Say Goodbye]", a duet with Sarah Brightman. Bocelli has also done "Vivo Per Lei," which means "I Live For Her". The song has been translated many times, and Bocelli has teamed up with many different singers in the translations. He himself sings the Italian and Spanish versions, and sings in Italian on the French and German versions of the song. Hélène Ségara, Marta Sánchez, Sandy and Judy Weiss have all teamed with him on different versions of the song. He has even worked with Céline Dion, teaming up with her for the song "The Prayer." Andrea met Enrica Cenzatti in 1987, and they married in 1992. They have two sons: Amos (b 22-Feb-1995) and Matteo (b 8-Oct-1997).- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gillo Pontecorvo was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for his 1966 masterpiece, The Battle of Algiers, widely viewed as one of the finest films of its genre: realistic though fictionalized documentary. Its portrayal of the Algerian resistance during the Algerian War uses the neorealist style pioneered by fellow Italian film directors de Santis and Rossellini, employing newsreel-style footage and non-professional actors, and focusing primarily on a disenfranchised population that seldom receives attention from the general media. Though very much Italian neorealist in style, Pontecorvo co-produced with an Algerian film company.
The Battle of Algiers achieved great success and influence. It was widely screened in the United States, where Pontecorvo received a number of awards. He was also nominated for two Academy Awards.
Pontecorvo's next major work, Queimada! (Burn!, 1969), is also anti-colonial, this time set in the Antilles. This film (starring Marlon Brando) depicts an attempted revolution of the oppressed. Pontecorvo continued his series of highly political films with Ogro (1979), which addresses the occurrence of terrorism at the end of Francisco Franco's dwindling regime in Spain.
In 2006, he died from congestive heart failure in Rome at age 86.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Jason 'Wee Man' Acuña was born on 16 May 1973 in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Jackass 3D (2010), Elf-Man (2011) and Jackass Number Two (2006).- Renato Salvatori was born on 20 March 1933 in Seravezza, Tuscany, Italy. He was an actor, known for Z (1969), Rocco and His Brothers (1960) and The Organizer (1963). He was married to Annie Girardot. He died on 27 March 1988 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.
- Actor
- Writer
Ruaridh Mollica was born in Prato, Tuscany, Italy. He is known for Witness Number 3 (2022), Too Rough (2022) and Stonemouth (2015).- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paolo Taviani studied liberal arts at the University of Pisa, becoming interested in the cinema after seeing Roberto Rossellini's Paisan (1946). After writing and directing short films and plays with his brother Vittorio, he made his first feature in 1962. The brothers have continued to work together ever since, with each directing alternate scenes with the other watching but never interfering.- Director
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Cinzia TH Torrini was born in Florence and took her diploma at the academy Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen in Munich, Germany. Since than she works as a film director and writer. Her feature film debut is "Giocare d'azzardo" which was presented at the film festival of Venice in 1982. Three years later she is the director of "Hotel Colonial", starring John Savage, and the Oscar® awarded actors Robert Duvall and Massimo Troisi. In the following years she is directing numerous films for television often as international co-productions between Italy, Germany, France and Sweden. For her tv movie "L'Aquila della Notte" with leading actress Elena Sofia Ricci she won in 1993 the award for best director at Umbria Fiction, the award for best film and best leading actress at Sichuan in China and the Valmarana Award of the Italian Cinematic Press Union. For the short film "Sweeties" with Stefania Sandrelli, as part of the collection "Erotic Tales", she receives the Golden Rocky Award at the Banff film festival in Canada in 1996. For her film "Iqbal", a co-production between Rai, arte and the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, which deals with children exploitation, she receives among others the Public Jury Award at the Monte Carlo Television Festival 1999. With the television costume drama "Tides of Change" (2x100'), co-produced by Mediatrade and Beta she gained her first experiences with period pictures in 2000. In 2003 she had a phenomenal success with "Elisa di Rivombrosa" starring Vittoria Puccini and Alessandro Preziosi for Canale 5, the first costume drama for television in a long series (13x100'). The show was sold in various European countries and won many awards including four Telegatti. In her films she reveals a certain attention to social issues and virulent problems of our society. In 2005 she received from the President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi the Order of Merit "Cavaliere Ufficiale". In 2007 she directed "Donna Detective" (6x100'), starring Lucrezia Lante della Rovere and Kaspar Capparoni. Two years later she shot again with Vittoria Puccini the miniseries (2x100') "Tutta la verità" for Rai Uno. With her production company Cassiopea she carried out two documentaries: in 2007 the multi-awarded "Un'incontro con Chiara" and in 2009 "The Bagnaia - the dream of Marisa Riffeser" and developed the mini series in seven episodes "Rebel Land" which she directed in 2010 for Rai Uno. In 2011 she directed the mini series "The Charterhouse of Parma" (2x100') based on the novel by Stendhal, a co-production between Rai Uno and France 3. In France it was rewarded in 2012 as best fiction of the year. In 2013 she produced and directed other two documentaries with her own production company: "The Antinori. Vintners since 1385" and "Florence. World Capital of Arts and Handcrafts". In 2013 she directed "Un'altra vita" (6x100') for the Italian television, which toped the audience ranking of 2014/2015 in the category fiction series. Afterwards she co-wrote and directed the miniseries (2x100') "Anna and Yusef", which was shot in Italy and Tunisia. In 2016/17 she directed the mistery thriller "Sorelle" (6x100'), which was broadcasted very successfully in spring 2017 on Rai Uno.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Gino Corrado is best known as the waiter in most of the films from Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in such popular and beloved films as Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and Gone with the Wind. With over 1,000 appearances (mostly uncredited roles as a bit player or an extra from 1916 until 1956) he has one of the largest filmographies of any actor in the film industry. Three Stooges fans recognized him from his appearances in several memorable Three Stooges shorts, and it was the Three Stooges Fan Club that eventually bought him his gravestone. Corrado's earliest film roles included DW Griffith's Intolerance (1916), Sunrise (1927) and his biggest role as one of the Three Musketeers (Aramis) opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Iron Mask (1929). Italian-born Gino Corrado's real name was Gino Liserani and his two brothers were also actors. Lawrence Liserani worked mostly as an extra, and Louis (Luigi) Liserani had a few bit roles in the 1920s under the name Louis Dumar.
Corrado was mainly uncredited after the silent era ended and typecast as a waiter or chef. He, incredibly, entered the restaurant business in the late 1940s where he served the motion picture crowd much like on-screen. Kirby Pringle is writing a book about Gino Corrado titled "Waiting on Hollywood: The Tale of an Italian Bit Player," with University Press of Mississippi, due out in early 2022.- Art Department
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The archetypal "Renaissance Man," Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest scientific minds as well as one of the greatest visual artists the human race has ever produced. The illegitimate son of a wealthy Florentine notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman named Caterina, Leonardo was born in Tuscany on April 15, 1452, in Anchiano, a town near Vinci, which is in the proximity of Florence.
When he was about 17 years old, Leonardo was apprenticed as a garzone or studio boy to the workshop of the Renaissance master Andrea Verrocchio, the leading Florentine painter and artist of his day. From roughly 1469 to 1476, Leonardo acquired a variety of skills during his apprenticeship at Verrocchio's workshop, including painting altarpieces and panel pictures and making large sculptures in bronze and marble. In 1472, he joined the painters' guild, and six years later, he became an independent master. His first commission was in 1478, to paint an altarpiece for the Palazzo Vecchio's chapel. The painting was never executed. Florence's Monastery of San Donato a Scopeto commissioned Leonardo's first large painting in 1481. 'The Adoration of the Magi' was left unfinished when Leonardo left Florence for Milan approximately a year later, to work for Duke Lodovico Sforza as court artist and as an engineer.
Leonardo had written the Duke of Milan touting his skills as a military engineer. In his letter, Leonardo claimed that he could build portable bridges, manufacture cannon, and build ships and war machines, including armored vehicles and catapults. He also told the Duke he could sculpt in bronze, clay and marble. He worked for the Duke of Milan for almost 18 years, painting portraits, designing festivals, and planning to sculpt a massive equestrian monument to honor the Duke's father. In addition to serving the duke as an architect and working for him as a military engineer, Leonardo assisted the mathematician Luca Pacioli in the celebrated work Divina Proportione.
Leonardo's interest in science began to flourish in Milan, and as a civil and military engineer, he delved into the field of mechanics. His scientific research also embraced anatomy, biology, mathematics, and physics. It was during this period that he finished "The Last Supper," which along with the "Mona Lisa," is his most significant masterpiece.
France captured Milan in 1499, and Leonardo moved to Mantua and then to Venice to seek employment. By April 1500, he had returned to Florence, though two years later, he left to work for Cesare Borgia, the Duke of Romagna, in a military capacity. The son of Pope Alexander VI, Borgia served his father as his general in-chief. Leonardo. as the duke's chief architect and engineer, supervised construction on forts in the Papal states in central Italy.
Back in Florence in 1503, Leonardo served on the art commission of artists that determined the proper placing of Michelangelo's sculpture 'David.' Florence was at war with Pisa, and Leonardo served the city-state as a military engineer while continuing his scientific research. Leonardo began to design a painting for the great hall of the Palazzo Vecchio to commemorate the Battle of Anghiari, a Florentine victory over Pisa. While Leonardo produced a full-size sketch in 1505, he never executed the wall painting. During his second residency in Florence, Leonardo painted the portrait 'La Giocondane,' more famously known as Mona Lisa. Leonardo apparently was quite fond of the completed work, as it accompanied him on all of his subsequent travels.
Arguably the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa is a bravura technical performance. The innovative Leonardo exhibits his mastery of chiaroscuro, the technique of modeling and defining form through contrasts of light and shadow, and sfumato, the technique of using subtle transitions between areas of color. The Mona Lisa, like many of his paintings, features a landscape background utilizing atmospheric perspective. Leonardo was one of the first painters to introduce atmospheric perspective into art, and his work influenced the High Renaissance Florentine masters, including Raphael. He also was a major influence on the artistic development of Correggio.
Returning to Milan in June 1506, at the invitation of French governor Charles d'Amboise, Leonardo went to work for the French court, which with King Louis XII of France, was residing in the Italian city. Except for a sojourn back in Florence in the period 1507-08, Leonardo stayed in Milan for seven years, though he returned to Florence often to visit his half-brothers and -siters and to manage his inheritance. In 1507, Leonardo went was named court painter to King Louis XII.
In Milan, he worked on engineering projects and on the planning of an equestrian statue to honor Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, the French military commander of Milan. The statue was never realized. During this Milan stay, scientific research became paramount. He applied his artistic gifts toward scientific illustration. In addition to his study of anatomy, he studied the stratification of rocks and researched the principles behind light, the flow of water, and the growth of plants. Leonardo's method was to draw and describe things by first approaching the surface before delving in to the underlying structure. He was interested in exactly describing the appearance of natural things in order to analyze their functioning. Similar to his artistic innovations, Leonardo's scientific theories were based on careful observation, precisely documented. He also made sketches of mechanical devices for the transmission of energy.
Along with Giuliano de'Medici, the brother of Pope Leo X, Leonardo moved to Rome in 1514. Enjoying the patronage of Pope Leo X, he lived in the Palazzo Belvedere in the Vatican and was mostly concerned with scientific experimentation. In 1516, he left Italy and moved to France to become the architectural adviser of King Francis I, an admirer of his work. Leonardo lived at the Château de Cloux, near Amboise, France, where he died on May 2, 1519 at at the age of 67.- Writer
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- Producer
Paolo Virzì was born on 4 March 1964 in Livorno, Tuscany, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for The First Beautiful Thing (2010), Tutta la vita davanti (2008) and Like Crazy (2016). He has been married to Micaela Ramazzotti since 17 January 2009. They have two children. He was previously married to Paola Tiziana Cruciani.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Elena Sofia Ricci was born on 29 March 1962 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress and director, known for Loose Cannons (2010), Io e mia sorella (1987) and Ne parliamo lunedì (1989). She has been married to Stefano Mainetti since October 2003. They have one child. She was previously married to Luca Damiani.- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lorella De Luca was born on 17 September 1940 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She was an actress and assistant director, known for Orlando e i Paladini di Francia (1956), Le fils de Tarass Boulba (1962) and Tough Guys (1974). She was married to Duccio Tessari. She died on 9 January 2014 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Jacopo Olmo Antinori was born on 28 August 1997 in Poggibonsi, Tuscany, Italy. He is an actor, known for Me and You (2012), The Dinner (2014) and The Girl in the Fog (2017).
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Francesca Bertini was undoubtedly one of the first divas of cinema, a lady not only on screen but also in real life. She made her film debut in La dea del mare (1907) and after that producers fought for her services. In 1921 she married European nobleman and banker Alfred Cartier. She tried her hand at directing films as well as acting in them and turned out two well-received efforts, Assunta Spina (1915) and Tosca (1918)). She made the transition from silent films to talkies, although her output slowed down considerably. Her final role was in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 (1976).
A "diva" to the end, she died in a "grand hotel" in Rome, Italy, in 1985, receiving friends and fans on her deathbed in a sumptuous salon.- Writer
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Zerocalcare was born on 12 December 1983 in Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. He is a writer and actor, known for This World Can't Tear Me Down (2023), The Prophecy of the Armadillo (2018) and Tear Along the Dotted Line (2021).- Clara Calamai was born on 7 September 1909 in Prato, Tuscany, Italy. She was an actress, known for L'adultera (1946), Deep Red (1975) and Obsession (1943). She was married to Leonardo Bonzi. She died on 21 September 1998 in Rimini, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Orso Maria Guerrini was born on 25 October 1942 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He is an actor, known for The Bourne Identity (2002), Double Team (1997) and Keoma (1976). He has been married to Cristina Sebastianelli since 4 August 2011. He was previously married to Alessandra Carella and Catherine Spaak.- Chiara Francini was born on 20 December 1976 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress, known for Miracle at St. Anna (2008), The Worst Week of My Life (2011) and Men Vs Women (2010).
- Gabriella Giorgelli was born on 29 July 1941 in Carrara, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress, known for The Organizer (1963), The Police Are Blundering in the Dark (1975) and Bersaglio altezza uomo (1978).
- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mauro Bolognini was born on 28 February 1922 in Pistoia, Tuscany, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Madamigella di Maupin (1966), Mosca addio (1987) and Careless (1962). He died on 14 May 2001 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
- Director
- Editor
Gualtiero Jacopetti was born on 4 September 1919 in Barga, Tuscany, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for A Dog's Life (1962), Goodbye Uncle Tom (1971) and Mondo candido (1975). He was married to Jolanda Kaldaras. He died on 17 August 2011 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Guido Mannari was born on 13 December 1944 in Rosignano Marittimo, Tuscany, Italy. He was an actor, known for Caligula (1979), The Decameron (1971) and Il medium (1980). He died on 10 August 1988 in Rosignano Marittimo, Tuscany, Italy.
- Camilla Diana was born on 17 April 1990 in San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress, known for Wondrous Boccaccio (2015), Le indagini di Lolita Lobosco (2021) and Floor 17 (2005).
- Actress
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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Silvia Rossi was born in Tuscany, Italy. She is known for Cheeky (2000), Fallo! (2003) and Fine settimana a Lecco (2000).- Actress
- Additional Crew
Marina Malfatti was born on 25 April 1933 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She was an actress, known for They're Coming to Get You! (1972), Il prato macchiato di rosso (1973) and Sherlock Holmes (1968). She was married to Umberto La Rocca. She died on 8 June 2016 in Rome, Italy.