Biography Of Monica Bellucci

Monica Anna Maria Bellucci was born in Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy, on 30 September 1964  Her father Pasquale Bellucci owned a trucking company, and her mother Brunella Briganti was a housewife and amateur painter. Bellucci was the only child in her family since her parents did not want another one. Bellucci grew up in Selci-Lama,  in the comune (municipality) of San Giustino on the banks of the Tiber River. 

Bellucci received a Catholic education. She was an "intelligent child".  According to her father, she was discreet and increasingly interested in fashion, and grew up "surrounded by love".  Bellucci was introduced to modelling at age 13 when she posed for a photographer friend-of-the-family in Città di Castello  She was distant from other children her age, regularly made detours to get home after school,  and did not spend time with them in the comune's public space. Bellucci's father said she complained that everyone stared at her. Her father helped her gain self-confidence. 

Bellucci developed a taste for cinema, watching films by Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, Marcel Carné, and Jean-Luc Godard.  Bellucci has said her personality largely reflects her upbringing: "Certainly a lot of positivity also depends on the climate in which my parents raised me

In 1990, Italian director Carlo Vanzina noticed a photo of Monica Bellucci in a magazine and recommended her to Dino Risi, who was looking for a "new face" for his television miniseries Vita coi figli.  Bellucci had never thought of becoming an actress and was surprised to be chosen for a role. Bellucci made her acting debut in Vita coi figli,  a two-part television film that was broadcast in Italy in May 1991, in which she played Elda. The same year, Bellucci made her film debut in La Riffa, which Francesco Laudadio directed. 

In 1992, Bellucci played one of the three brides of Dracula in the horror film Bram Stoker's Dracula. Roman Coppola saw a photograph of Bellucci in the Italian magazine Zoom and implored his father Francis Ford to offer her a film role.  Coppola arranged a meeting with Bellucci in Los Angeles while she was in New York for a photography session. After talking with Coppola, Bellucci realised she would embark on an acting career.  At Coppola's request, Bellucci stayed in Los Angeles during filming; she was apprehensive about the city and believed her English needed improvement. She decided her next acting work would be in Italy.  Bellucci's role as a "sensual vampire" was her international film debut. 

Following her minor role in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Bellucci returned to Italy and enrolled in acting classes. According to Bellucci: "I craved it ... I needed to act".  Bellucci said a time when all of her friends were leaving the faculty was a challenging time. Bellucci had difficulty overcoming the prejudices related to her modelling and her physical appearance, and had to work to establish her credibility.  For the next four years, Bellucci starred in Italian films but was ultimately dissatisfied due to the lack of opportunities, and she aspired to an international acting career.  Bellucci appeared in the Emmy-winning biblical television miniseries Joseph (1995).  In her view, the Italian film industry needed to invest more money to promote films internationally.  Bellucci moved to France to improve her career prospects,  and settled in Paris in 1995. 

Bellucci's portrayal of Lisa in The Apartment (1996), a "moody" French film noir, earned her a César Award nomination for Most Promising Actress. This launched her career in France and strengthened her position as an actress.  It was her first French-language film. Gavanndra Hodge of The Sunday Times stated that her "break-out role" was in the European arthouse film The Apartment. The BBC's Almar Haflidason described the film as "seductive" and "startling", giving it a rating of five stars. Bellucci's second French film was Jan Kounen's Dobermann (1997), in which she portrayed a mute Romani woman and had to learn sign language beforehand to embody her character. Recalling the filming process, she expressed an inclination for mise-en-scènes (stage settings) "that pass more through bodies than through words".  At this point in her career, Bellucci made a significant impact on European audiences.  Pierce Brosnan performed a screen test with Bellucci for the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) then requested she be given the role of Paris Carver but the studio stated only an American actress could be cast in the role. For her leading role as Giulia Giovannini in the Italian comedy-drama L'ultimo capodanno (1998),  Bellucci received a Globo d'oro Award^[e] for Best Actress.  The Apartment later won a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) for Best Film not in the English language, prompting film director Stephen Hopkins to take a close interest in Bellucci

Bellucci's first marriage was with Italian photographer Claudio Carlos Basso In a 2006 interview, Bellucci said she met Basso in 1987, when he recruited her for a photography session; she was 23 and he was five years older. Bellucci and Basso married in Monte-Carlo on 3 January 1990 They divorced a year later 

Bellucci was in a relationship with Italian actor Nicola Farron [it] for several years. Farron said they met in 1990 on the set of Vita coi figli.  Farron said he felt "an overwhelming passion" for Bellucci. Their relationship became unstable because other men increasingly lusted after Bellucci  and the couple separated in 1995 

Bellucci and French actor Vincent Cassel met in 1995 on the set of their film The Apartment  They married in Monaco at the beginning of August 1999. Bellucci and Cassel have two daughters, Deva (born 12 September 2004) and Léonie (born 21 May 2010), both of whom were born in Rome. Film critic Jason Solomons wrote Bellucci and Cassel were "the golden couple of European cinema". The couple acted together in nine films between 1996 and 2006. In March 2013, Bellucci reflected on the evolution of their marriage when she and Cassel often lived separately in Italy, France, Brazil and England The couple's separation by "mutual agreement" was announced on 26 August 2013 and they later divorced 

In October 2013, Bellucci said she had almost always been in a relationship since the one with her first boyfriend at the age of fourteen 

In 2019, Bellucci was in a relationship with the French sculptor and former model Nicolas Lefebvre.  They had been dating since 2017  Lefebvre, who was then aged 36, and Bellucci made their relationship "official" in early March 2019 during a Chanel show at the Grand Palais in Paris  Bellucci told Italian magazine F about the end of their relationship, which was reported by other media in early July 2019

• Is fluent in Italian, English, French, Persian and Spanish. She also speaks a little Portuguese that she learned when she moved to Rio de Janeiro in 2013.
• Gave birth to her first child at age 39, daughter Deva Cassel, on 9/12/2004. Child's father is her second ex-husband, Vincent Cassel.
• Appearing in the James Bond movie Spectre (2015) as Lucia Sciarra at age 51, she becomes the oldest actress to play a Bond Girl. Honor Blackman at age 39 had previously been the oldest actress to play a Bond Girl with her role as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964). However, Blackman is still the oldest actress ever to play a lead Bond girl, since Bellucci's role is only a brief cameo.
• Has a wax statue in the Grevin Museum in Paris, France.
• Divorced from her second husband of 14 years Vincent Cassel.
• Made a nude calendar for the Italian magazine Max in 1998 and another one for the Italian magazine GQ in 2000.
• Doesn't always reside with her husband Vincent Cassel, for avoiding routine, the two reside in separate apartments. She resides most of the time in Rome and he resides in Paris, France.
• Speaks to her daughter Deva Cassel in Italian.
• She has said in an interview that Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale have inspired her acting career.
• Attended the University of Perugia.
• Elected the most beautiful woman in the world by French viewers on a television show "La Plus belle femme du monde" on 11/8/2004.
• Ranked #1 in Ask men's top 99 "most desirable" women of 2002.
• She was originally cast as Mina Harker in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), but had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict. The role then went to Peta Wilson.
• Ranked #9 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2002 list.
• Returned to work five months after giving birth to her daughter Deva in order to begin filming How Much Do You Love Me? (2005).
• She auditioned for the role of Mrs. Paris McKenna Carver in the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). That role was later portrayed in the finished product by Teri Hatcher, but Miss Bellucci eventually did play a Bond Girl 18 years later in the role of Donna Lucia Sciarra for the 007 adventure Spectre (2015).
• "Bellucci" is a typical surname from central Italy, it comes from the Latin word "Bellutus", and has the same root as surnames like Belluto, Belluti, Belluzzo, Belluccio or the aristocratic surname of Belluzzi.
• Was considered for the role of Giuseppina "Pina" Auriemma in House of Gucci (2021). She was the producers first choice for the role before Salma Hayek was cast.
• Studied jurisprudence for a short time.
• Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#35) (2007).
• Was four months pregnant with her daughter Léonie when she completed filming The Whistleblower (2010).
• Ranked #6 on Maxim magazine's Hot 50 Women of 1999 list.
• She appeared in a black and white TV commercial for Dolce & Gabbana. The director was Giuseppe Tornatore, who also directed her in the movie Malena (2000).
• Is a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006.
• Her favorite movie is A Special Day (1977) by Ettore Scola.
• Has her lookalike puppet on the French comedy show Les Guignols de l'info (1988).
• Also a successful fashion model, represented by Elite and Storm Model Management.
• Returned to work four months after giving birth to her daughter Léonie in order to begin filming The Ages of Love (2011).
• Her role as Chantal Hearst in Under Suspicion (2000) was held by Romy Schneider in the original movie The Grilling (1981).
• Ranked #5 on E! Entertainment Networks list of "101 Sexiest Celebrity Bodies" list of 2006.
• Shares birthday with fellow actresses Deborah Kerr, Angie Dickinson, Marion Cotillard and actor Ezra Miller.
• Ranked #89 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement.
• Her favourite poem is "A Silvia" by Giacomo Leopardi.
• Ranked as having one of the "Most Beautiful Famous Faces" by TC Candler's list of the "100 Most Beautiful Famous Faces From Around the World" for 18 consecutive years (1999-2016). Ranked #2 in 2004.
• Her parents are Luigi Bellucci and Maria Gustinelli.

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