Silvana ManganoSilvana Mangano (Italian pronunciation:; 21 April 1930 – 16 December 1989) was an Italian film actress. She was one of a generation of actors who arose from the neorealist movement, and went on to become a major female star, regarded as a sex symbol for the 1950s and '60s. She won the David di Donatello for Best Actress three times – for The Verona Trial (1963), The Witches (1967), and The Scientific Cardplayer (1972) – and the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress twice. Raised in poverty during World War II,...
Anna MagnaniAnna Maria Magnani (Italian: [ˈanna maɲˈɲaːni]; 7 March 1908 – 26 September 1973) was an Italian actress. She was the first Italian woman to win an Academy Award. Born and raised in Rome, Italy or Alexandria, she worked her way through Rome's Academy of Dramatic Art by singing at night clubs. During her career, her only child was stricken by polio when he was 18 months old and remained disabled. She was referred to as "La Lupa", the "perennial toast of Rome" and a "living she-wolf symbol" of the cinema. T...
Gina LollobrigidaLuigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (4 July 1927 – 16 January 2023) was an Italian actress, model, photojournalist, and sculptor. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol and was dubbed "the most beautiful woman in the world". Nicknamed "la Bersagliera" in her country after her famed role in Bread, Love and Dreams as well as her combative character, at the time of her death she was among the last surviving high-profile internatio...
Nastro d'ArgentoThe Nastro d'Argento (plural: Nastri d'Argento; English: Silver Ribbon) is an Italian film award, held since 1946 by the Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani (Italian National Union of Film Journalists). Awards are given annually in a wide range of categories, covering not only feature films but also short films (Corti d'argento) and television series (Nastri d'Argento Grandi Serie). The main awards are given at Taormina Film Fest, Sicily, while the short film awards ceremony is held in Naples.
Claudia CardinaleClaude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale (Italian: [ˈklaudja kardiˈnaːle]; 15 April 1938 – 23 September 2025) was an Italian-Tunisian actress. Regarded as one of the leading female figures of Italian cinema, alongside Sophia Loren, Monica Vitti, Silvana Mangano, Anna Magnani, and Gina Lollobrigida, she achieved international recognition during a career spanning more than six decades. Celebrated in the 1960s as "the most beautiful woman in the world" and widely considered a sex symbol of the era, Cardinale...
Best ActressBest Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress award was awarded for acting in a film, on May 16, 1929 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) at the Academy Awards to Janet Gaynor for her role of Diane in 7th Heaven, Angela in Street Angel and The Wife - Indre in Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. In theat...
Margherita BuyMargherita Buy (Italian pronunciation: [marɡeˈriːta ˈbui]; born 15 January 1962) is an Italian actress. She is a seven-time David di Donatello Awards winner and eight-time Nastro d'Argento winner.
Mariangela MelatoMariangela Caterina Melato (Italian: [mariˈandʒela meˈlaːto, maˈrjan-]; 19 September 1941 – 11 January 2013), sometimes billed as Maria Angela Melato, was an Italian actress. She is most remembered for her roles in films of director Lina Wertmüller, including The Seduction of Mimi (1972), Love and Anarchy (1973), and Swept Away (1974). In cinema, she also appeared in films of Claude Chabrol, Elio Petri and Vittorio De Sica, and on stage in productions by Dario Fo, Luchino Visconti and Luca Ronconi. Her r...
Jasmine TrincaJasmine Trinca (Italian: [ʒaˈzmin ˈtriŋka]; born 24 April 1981) is an Italian actress and film director.
Micaela RamazzottiMicaela Ramazzotti (born 17 January 1979) is an Italian actress. Her film credits include Non prendere impegni stasera, The First Beautiful Thing and The Big Heart of the Girls. Ramazzotti was a regular cast member of the show Crimini bianchi.
Giulietta MasinaGiulia Anna "Giulietta" Masina (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈljetta maˈziːna]; 22 February 1921 – 23 March 1994) was an Italian film actress best known for her performances as Gelsomina in La Strada (1954) and Cabiria in Nights of Cabiria (1957), for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. Cinema historian Peter Bondanella described Masina's work as "masterful" and "unforgettable"; and Charlie Chaplin, with whose work Masina's is often compared, called...
Sophia LorenSofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (Italian: [soˈfiːa vilˈlaːni ʃʃikoˈloːne]; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( lə-REN, Italian: [ˈlɔːren]), is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Encouraged to enroll in acting lessons after entering a beauty pageant, Loren began her film career at age 16 in 1950. She appear...*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.