Monica Bellucci

Born :              Monica Anna Maria Bellucci

30 September 1964 (1964-09-30) (age 45),

Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy

Occupation:    Actress and fashion model

Years active   1990 – present

Spouse(s)         Claudio Carlos Basso (1990 –?), Vincent Cassel (1999 – present)

 Monica Anna Maria Bellucci (born 30 September 1964) is an Italian actress and fashion model.

Personal life

Bellucci was born in Citta di Castello, Umbria, Italy, the daughter of Maria Gustinelli, a painter, and Luigi Bellucci, who owned a trucking company. Bellucci started modelling at 16, when she was attending the Liceo classico. Initially pursuing a career as a lawyer, Bellucci modeled to pay her tuition at the University of Perugia, but the lifestyle tempted her away from her law studies. She speaks Italian, French, and English fluently, Spanish semi-fluently, and she has had speaking roles in each of these languages as well as in Aramaic for her part as Mary Magdalene in The Passion of the Christ.

Bellucci was married to fashion photographer Claudio Carlos Basso in 1990. She is currently married to fellow actor Vincent Cassel, with whom she has appeared in several films, and has a daughter named Deva (born 12 September 2004). In 2004, while pregnant with her daughter, Bellucci posed nude for the Italian Vanity Fair Magazine in protest against Italian laws that prevent the use of donor sperm.

Career

Modeling

In 1988, Bellucci moved to one of Europe's fashion centers, Milan, where she signed with Elite Model Management. By 1989, she was becoming prominent as a fashion model in Paris and across the Atlantic, in New York City. She posed for Dolce & Gabbana and French Elle, among others. In that year, Bellucci made the transition to acting and began taking acting classes. The February 2001 Esquire's feature on Desire featured Ms. Bellucci on the cover and in an article on the five senses. In 2003, she was featured in Maxim. In 2004, she topped AskMen's 100 Most Beautiful Women in the World annual list. Bellucci's modelling career is managed by Elite+ in New York City. She is considered an Italian sex symbol. She is currently a face of a range of Dior Cosmetics. Bellucci is also signed to Storm Model Management in London.

Entertainment

Bellucci's film career began in the early 1990s. In 1992, she made her first appearance in a major English-language film as one of Dracula's brides in Bram Stoker's Dracula. She became known and popular with worldwide audiences, following her roles in Malèna (2000), Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001), and Irréversible (2002), though is perhaps best known for her role as Persephone in The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003), followed by her portrayal of Mary Magdelene in The Passion of the Christ (2004).

In a documentary about the film, The Big Question, she stated: "I am an agnostic, even though I respect and am interested in all religions. If there's something I believe in, it's a mysterious energy; the one that fills the oceans during tides, the one that unites nature and beings."

In 2003, Bellucci starred in Tears of the Sun as a doctor in Nigeria being rescued by the U.S., and in 2005 in the fantasy film The Brothers Grimm as a beautiful evil queen. Her latest films are The Stone Council (2006) by Guillaume Nicloux, and Manuale d'amore 2 (2007), where she portrays a physiotherapist, who is the object of the desire of her patient. She was supposed to be seen portraying Indian politician Sonia Gandhi in the biopic Sonia, originally planned for release in 2007, but now shelved. September 2007 saw the release of Shoot 'Em Up, where she plays a prostitute, opposite Clive Owen. She dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film.

She filmed Le deuxième souffle (2006), with Daniel Auteuil, Michel Blanc and Eric Cantona.

Bellucci also voiced Kaileena in the video game Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, and the French voice of Cappy for the French version of the 2005 animated film Robots.

In 2007, she appeared in Heartango (2007), a film for Intimissimi, with José Fidalgo and directed by Gabriele Muccino.

Awards

In 2003, Bellucci won the Nastro d'Argento Best Supporting Actress award for her portrayal of Alessia in Remember Me, My Love. She has been nominated for several others, including the 1996 César Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Lisa in L'Appartement.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1992	Briganti – Amore e libertà (Bandits – Love and Liberty)	Costanza
	Vita coi figli (Life With the Sons)	Elda
1992	Bram Stoker's Dracula	One of Dracula's brides
1995	Joseph	Pharaoh's wife
1996	L'Appartement	Lisa
1997	Dobermann	Nat the Gypsy
1998	Ultimo capodanno dell'umanità (Humanity's Last New Year's Eve)	Giulia Giovannini
2000	Under Suspicion	Chantal Hearst
	Franck Spadone	Laura
	Malèna	Malèna Scordia
2001	Brotherhood of the Wolf	Sylvia
2002	Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre	Cleopatra
	Irréversible	Alex
2003	Remember Me, My Love	Alessia
	Tears of the Sun	Lena Fiore Kendricks
	The Matrix Reloaded	Persephone
	Enter the Matrix (video game)	Persephone
	The Matrix Revolutions	Persephone
2004	The Passion of the Christ	Mary Magdalene
	Agents secrets	Barbara / Lisa
	She Hate Me	Simona Bonasera
2005	The Brothers Grimm	The Mirror Queen
	How Much Do You Love Me? (Combien tu m'aimes?)	Daniela
2006	The Stone Council	Laura Siprien
2007	Heartango (short film for Intimissimi)	L'inafferrabile/ La passionale / L'indecisa / La curiosa / L'aggressiva / La mamma / La premurosa
	Manuale d'amore 2 (Capitoli successivi)	Lucia
	Shoot 'Em Up	Donna Quintano
	Le deuxième souffle	Manouche
2008	Sanguepazzo	Luisa Ferida
	L'uomo che ama	Alba
2009	Don't Look Back	Jeanne
	The Private Lives of Pippa Lee	Gigi
	Baarìa - La porta del vento	Bricklayer's girlfriend
2010	The Sorcerer's Apprentice	Veronica
	The Whistleblower