Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren

Sofia Villani Scicolone (born 20 September 1934) is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as the 21st greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema. Loren’s performance as Cesira in the movie Two Women earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress. She is the first actor or actress to win an Oscar for a foreign-language performance.

About Sophia Loren in brief

Summary Sophia LorenSofia Villani Scicolone (born 20 September 1934) is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as the 21st greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema. Loren’s performance as Cesira in the movie Two Women earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the first actor or actress to win an Oscar for a foreign-language performance. She has also won a Grammy Award, five special Golden Globes, a BAFTA Award, a Laurel Award, the Volpi Cup for Best actress at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Loren met with her father three times, at age five, age seventeen and in 1976 at his deathbed, citing that she forgave him but had never forgotten his abandonment of her mother. Loren has two younger paternal half-brothers, Giuliano and Giuseppe. Her first role was in Aida for which she received critical acclaim. After playing the lead role in Two Nights with Cleopatra, she changed her name to Sophia Loren to appeal to a wider audience. In 2010, Loren crowned the 71st Miss Italia pageant winner. She returned in 2001 as president of the jury for the 61st edition of the pageant. She is married to Italian film director Paolo Sorrentino and has a son, Alessandro, and a daughter, Sofia, with ex-husband Gianfranco Zaccaria. Loren is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Italian Academy of Television and Sciences, and was awarded the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievements in 1991.

She also holds the record for having earned six David di Donatello Awards for Best Actor or Actress: Two and a half Women; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow ; Marriage Italian Style ; Sunflower ; The Voyage ; and A Special Day. Most recently, she has appeared in American films such as Grumpier Old Men and Nine. She has won the Grammy Award and the Golden Globe Award for her role in The Gold of Naples, directed by Vittorio De Sica, in which she played the role of La Carlo Ponti. Loren was born in Rome, Italy, the daughter of Romilda Villani and Riccardo Scicol one, a construction engineer of noble descent. She grew up in Pozzuoli, near Naples, with her grandmother, Luisa Villani, and her sister Maria. During the Second World War, the harbour and munitions plant in Pozuoli was a frequent bombing target of the Allies. After the war, Loren and her family moved to Naples, where they were taken in by distant relatives. She appeared as an uncredited extra in Mervyn LeRoy’s 1951 film Quo Vadis, when she was 16 years old. In the early part of the decade, she played several bit parts and had minor roles in several films, including La Favori. sì! sù lui. sü! In the 1960s, she was credited as Sofia Lazzaro.