Silvia Colloca (born 23 July 1977) is an Italian-Australian actress, opera singer, cookbook author, and television cookery show personality. She has published six cookbooks.

Life and career

Colloca was born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

to Loredana and Mario Colloca. Her first major film

role A role (also rôle or social role) is a set of connected behaviors, rights, obligations, beliefs, and norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behavior and may have a given indi ...

was in '' Van Helsing'', in which she played Verona, one of

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

's brides. On 25 September 2004, at the medieval castle of Montalto in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, Italy, she married the Australian actor Richard Roxburgh who played Dracula in that film. They have two sons and a daughter. The family currently resides in Sydney. Colloca is an opera-trained

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

and worked as a musical theatre performer in Italy before becoming a film actress. She appeared in 2015 as Orfeo in

Gluck Christoph Willibald ( Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire at ...

's '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' in Sydney, and as The Queen in Lindy Hume's production of ''Snow White'' for Opera Queensland and La Boite theatre in 2016. Her debut album, ''Sing Like an Italian'', was released by Decca in October 2022. She performs four numbers alongside arias and art songs by international stars singers. The album made its debut at No. 1 on the

ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

Core Classical and Classical/Crossover charts.

Television

''Made in Italy with Silvia Colloca'', an Australian 10-part TV series, premiered on SBS TV in November 2014, coinciding with the publication of the book of the same name. Colloca took a film crew home to meet her Italian family, showcasing three picturesque regions of Italy,

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...

where her family is from,

Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...

, and

Molise Molise ( , ; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise together with Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effective until 1970, makes Molise the newest region in Ital ...

, using her mother's kitchen to present . ''Silvia's Italian Table'', an eight part reality and cooking series debuted on ABC on 6 October 2016. In each episode, Colloca invites a group of celebrities to cook and eat with her and engage in entertaining and intelligent conversation. Guests featured are Kathy Lette, Lisa McCune,

Tom Gleeson Thomas Francis Gleeson (born 2 June 1974) is an Australian stand-up comedian, writer, television and radio presenter. Gleeson currently hosts '' Hard Quiz'' and '' Taskmaster Australia'' and previously co-hosted ''The Weekly with Charlie Picker ...

, Magda Szubanski, Matt Moran, Ken Done, Sarah Ferguson, Merrick Watts, Claire Hooper, Amanda Vanstone, Pia Miranda and Ian Thorpe. ''Cook Like an Italian'', an Australian 10-part TV series, premiered on

SBS Food SBS Food (formerly Food Network) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel airs programs about food and cooking, from cultures around the world. History SBS first ...

in November 2020. A second season premiered in April 2021 and third season in May 2022.

Filmography

* '' Casomai'' (2002) as Cannes award hostess * '' Van Helsing'' (2004) as Verona * ''

The Detonator ''The Detonator'' is a 2006 American action film directed by Po-Chih Leong. The film stars Wesley Snipes, Silvia Colloca, Tim Dutton and William Hope (actor), William Hope. The film was released on direct-to-video, direct-to-DVD in the United Sta ...

'' (2006) as Nadia Cominski * '' Virgin Territory'' (2007) as Sister Lisabetta * ''

Lesbian Vampire Killers ''Lesbian Vampire Killers'' is a 2009 British comedy horror film directed by Phil Claydon and written by Stewart Williams and Paul Hupfield. The film stars James Corden and Mathew Horne, with MyAnna Buring, Vera Filatova, Silvia Colloca an ...

'' (2009) as

Carmilla ''Carmilla'' is an 1872 Gothic fiction, Gothic novella by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. It is one of the earliest known works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's ''Dracula'' (1897) by 25 years. First published ...

* '' Out of the Night'' (2010) as Roberta * ''Triple Happiness'' (2010) * ''L'Apocalisse delle scimmie'' (2012) as Tossica * ''

Nerve A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons). Nerves have historically been considered the basic units of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the Electrochemistry, electrochemical nerv ...

'' (2013) as Elena * '' Dante's Inferno Animated'' (2013, Short) as Beatrice (voice: Italian version) * '' Little Tornadoes'' (2022) as Maria * The Twelve (2022) as Sonia Spears * '' Sting'' (2024) as Maria

Published works

* ''Silvia's Cucina'', Penguin 2013. * ''Made in Italy'', Penguin 2014. * ''La Dolce Vita'', Penguin 2016. * ''Love Laugh Bake'', Pan Macmillan 2018.

Music career

In 2022, Colloca signed with

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

and released ''Sing Like An Italian'' in October 2022. The album peaked at number 1 on the ARIA Classic Album Chart and was the second biggest album in that genre in Australia in 2022.

Albums

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Colloca, Silvia 1977 births Italian film actresses Italian mezzo-sopranos Chefs of Italian cuisine Living people Actresses from Milan Australian television chefs Australian women chefs 21st-century Italian singers 21st-century Italian women singers