Isabella Ferrari (born 31 March 1964), better known by her stage name of Isabella Fogliazza, is an Italian actress of television, theatre and the cinema. She is best known as the protagonist, ''Commissioner Giovanna Scalise'' in the police drama series ''Distretto di Polizia'' (Police District) and ''Distretto di Polizia 2'' (Police District 2) which was televised on

Mediaset Mediaset Italia S.p.A., also known as Mediaset, is an Italian-based mass media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE - MediaForEurope. Founded in 1987 by former ...

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have a national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...

from 2000 to 2001. At the 1995

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

she won a

Volpi Cup The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

award for Best Supporting Actress in the film ''

Romanzo di un giovane povero ''The Story of a Poor Young Man'' ( it, Romanzo di un giovane povero) is a 1995 Italian drama film directed by Ettore Scola. The film entered the 52nd Venice International Film Festival, where Isabella Ferrari was awarded with the Volpi Cup ...

''.

Career

Ferrari was born Isabella Fogliazza in

Ponte dell'Olio Ponte dell'Olio ( egl, label= Piacentino, Al Pont da l'Oli ) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about south of Piacenza, about south of Milan and about northwest of Bologna. ...

Province of Piacenza The province of Piacenza ( it, provincia di Piacenza) is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its provincial capital is the city Piacenza. As of 2016, it has a total population of 286,572 inhabitants over an area of , giving it a popu ...

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

. At the age of 15 she was elected ''Miss Teenager'' in a contest held in a

discoteque A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gene ...

. She made her acting debut at the age of 17 as ''Selvaggia'' in the Carlo Vanzini comedy ''Sapore di mare'' in 1982; she also performed in the film's sequel ''Sapore di mare 2- un anno dopo''. Since then she has regularly performed in films, television and the theatre. She is best known to the Italian audience as Police Commissioner Giovanna Scalise, the protagonist in the first two seasons of the police drama series ''Distretto di Polizia''. At the 1995 Venice Film Festival, Ferrari won a ''Volpi Cup'' for Best Supporting Actress in the

Ettore Scola Ettore Scola (; 10 May 1931 – 19 January 2016) was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He received a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1978 for his film '' A Special Day'' and over the course of his film career was nominated for fiv ...

film ''Romanzo di un giovane povero'' in which she played the part of ''Andreina''. She was nominated to the

David di Donatello The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's ''David'', a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the ''Accademia del Cinema Italiano'' (The Academy of Italian Cinema). There are 26 award cat ...

for Best Supporting Actress in 2006 thanks to her performance in '' The Goodbye Kiss'' and in 2008 for her performance in '' Quiet Chaos''. In 2021, she was selected as jury member for International competition section of 74th Locarno Film Festival held from 4 to 14 August.

Personal life

Ferrari lives in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy, and is the mother of three children.Interview with Isabella Ferrari, ''Libertà OnLine'', 11 May 2001, www.libertà.it, retrieved 31 March 2010 Her eldest daughter, Teresa, who was born in 1995, is by her first husband, Massimo Osti; and her younger daughter, Nina (born 1998), and son, Giovanni (born 2001) are by her second husband, director Renato De Maria.

Filmography

Theatre

*''Anestesia totale'' (2011) *''Il catalogo'' (2010) *''Due partite'' (2006) *''I tre alberghi'' (1999) *''Ondine'' (1994))

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrari, Isabella 1964 births Living people 20th-century Italian actresses 21st-century Italian actresses Italian film actresses Italian television actresses People from the Province of Piacenza Volpi Cup for Best Actress winners