Monica Anna Maria Bellucci is an Italian actress and model.
124 Facts About Monica Bellucci
2.
Monica Bellucci played Malena Scordia in the Giuseppe Tornatore's acclaimed Italian romantic drama Malena.
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Monica Bellucci starred in one of the highest-grossing French language films in the United States, Brotherhood of the Wolf.
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Monica Bellucci starred in Gaspar Noe's controversial arthouse thriller film Irreversible, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Monica Bellucci portrayed Persephone in the 2003 science-fiction films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
6.
Monica Bellucci portrayed Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson's biblical drama The Passion of the Christ.
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At the age of 50, by appearing in the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, Monica Bellucci became the oldest Bond girl in the history of the franchise.
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Monica Bellucci has since acted in films such as The Whistleblower, The Wonders, Ville-Marie, On the Milky Road, The Best Years of a Life, The Man Who Sold His Skin, and Memory.
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Monica Bellucci received the Knight insignia of the Legion of Honour in 2016.
10.
Monica Bellucci is a permanent member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
11.
Monica Anna Maria Bellucci was born in Citta di Castello, Umbria, on 30 September 1964.
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Monica Bellucci's mother, Brunella Briganti, was a housewife and amateur painter.
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Monica Bellucci is their only child, as her parents did not want another one.
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Monica Bellucci grew up in Lama, in the comune of San Giustino, on the outskirts of Citta di Castello.
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Monica Bellucci's parents described her as "discreet" and "aware of her advantageous physique", with a growing interest in fashion.
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Monica Bellucci was distant from other children her age, regularly making detours to get home after school and did not spend time with them around the comunes public space, with her father recalling that she complained that everyone stared at her.
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Monica Bellucci began modelling at age 13 by posing for a photographer friend of the family in Citta di Castello.
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Monica Bellucci, who planned to become a lawyer, studied at the university of Perugia.
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Monica Bellucci financed her studies by working as a model through her father's friend.
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Monica Bellucci moved to one of Europe's fashion centres, Milan, where Elite Model Management spotted her and signed her to a contract in 1989.
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Monica Bellucci became a prominent fashion model in Milan, Paris, and New York City.
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Monica Bellucci was the Italian model that fashion brands vied to sign her.
23.
In 1991, Monica Bellucci was the brand ambassador for French personal care L'Oreal.
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In 1997, Monica Bellucci became brand ambassador and muse to Cartier.
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Monica Bellucci posed for the GQ calendar in 2000 and was photographed by Gian Paolo Barbieri.
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Monica Bellucci first appeared on the cover of Paris Match in June 2001.
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Monica Bellucci was featured nude with caviar placed on her breasts on the 2001 cover of Esquire, and the photograph was used nine months later for the November cover of GQs Italian edition.
28.
Many photographs of Monica Bellucci taken by Ferry, notably where she was drizzled with honey, appeared regularly in the two direct competitor magazines, GQ and Esquire.
29.
In 2004, while pregnant with her daughter Deva, Monica Bellucci posed nude for the Italian cover of Vanity Fair in protest against the Italian laws that opposed in vitro fertilisation.
30.
Also in 2004, it was reported that Monica Bellucci was the only actress contractually bound to Cartier.
31.
Monica Bellucci posed pregnant and semi-nude again for the April 2010 issue of Vanity Fair.
32.
Monica Bellucci was signed to Storm Management in London and D'Management Group in Milan.
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On 10 April 2016, the Karin Models agency, representing Monica Bellucci, opened an official Instagram account for her.
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Monica Bellucci was chosen as the face of German Nivea personal care products for its 2018 and 2019 campaigns.
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In 2020, Monica Bellucci was a model for Cartier's Naturel high jewellery creations composed of emeralds, opals, beryls, sapphires, and diamonds.
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Monica Bellucci made her screen debut in 1990 in the television film Vita coi figli when she was cast after Italian director Dino Risi noticed one of her photographs in a magazine.
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In 1992, Monica Bellucci played a bride of Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula.
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Monica Bellucci had to overcome, not without difficulty, the prejudices related to modelling and her physical appearance and had to work to establish her credibility.
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Monica Bellucci starred in Italian films for the next four years but was dissatisfied due to the country's lack of opportunities as she aspired to an international acting career.
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Monica Bellucci conceded that the Italian film industry needed to invest more money to promote a film internationally.
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Monica Bellucci eventually moved to France in anticipation of enhanced career prospects.
42.
In 1997, Monica Bellucci was nominated for a Cesar Award for Most Promising Actress for her portrayal of Lisa in The Apartment, which launched her towards stardom in France and strengthened her position as an actress.
43.
Monica Bellucci slowed down her modelling career around this time.
44.
In 1998, for her leading role of Giulia Giovannini in the Italian comedy drama film L'ultimo capodanno, Monica Bellucci received a Globo d'oro Award for Best Actress.
45.
In 2000, Monica Bellucci caught the attention of American audiences with Hopkins' Under Suspicion, her first English-language lead role, in which she starred opposite Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman.
46.
Hopkins cast Monica Bellucci after observing her perform in The Apartment and then retained her ideas for creating the character of Chantal.
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Monica Bellucci has this quality that reminds me of Jeanne Moreau.
48.
Monica Bellucci returned to Italian cinema in 2000 when she portrayed an enigmatic, envied and coveted war widow whose life unfolded before the captivated eyes of a 13-year-old boy in the Tornatore-directed film Malena.
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Monica Bellucci began to become known and popular with global audiences thanks to Malena.
50.
Monica Bellucci starred in Christophe Gans' Brotherhood of the Wolf with Samuel Le Bihan and Vincent Cassel, a 2001 French film based on historical events involving the beast of Gevaudan that decimated the population of Gevaudan in Lozere in 18th-century France.
51.
Monica Bellucci portrayed the "prickly" Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, in the comedy film directed by Alain Chabat.
52.
In 2002, Monica Bellucci co-starred with Cassel in the "violent" arthouse thriller Irreversible by Gaspar Noe.
53.
Lisa Nesselson of Variety thought Monica Bellucci showed "responses to peril and joy particularly memorable".
54.
In 2003, Monica Bellucci played Alessia in the Italian romantic drama Remember Me, My Love, directed by Gabriele Muccino, which earned her the Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress.
55.
Monica Bellucci played the role of doctor Lena Kendricks, working for a humanitarian organisation within a village threatened by rebels.
56.
The New Yorker film critic David Denby felt that some of Monica Bellucci's scenes were exaggeratedly stylised but praised the film's visual prowess.
57.
Also in 2003, Monica Bellucci portrayed Persephone successively in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
58.
Monica Bellucci described her character as "dangerous, sensual with some sense of humor", recalling fond memories with Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Laurence Fishburne throughout the filming process in Australia.
59.
In Rome, before filming Tears of the Sun, Monica Bellucci was notified that a film about Jesus Christ by Mel Gibson was in the works and asked to meet with him for the role of Mary Magdalene.
60.
Monica Bellucci's agent advised her against making this film due to its potential failure, as its distribution was undetermined at the time.
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However, Monica Bellucci ignored his suggestion and turned down another film.
62.
Monica Bellucci aspired to create an interpretation of the character that would be "strong and deep", even though no one believed the film would succeed.
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On 2 July 2005, Monica Bellucci was awarded the European Golden Globe for cinema at Rome's 45th Globo d'oro ceremony.
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Monica Bellucci emphasised that she appreciated acting in both American and European films.
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In Terry Gilliam's fantasy adventure film The Brothers Grimm, Monica Bellucci played the 500-year-old Mirror Queen, starring opposite Matt Damon and Heath Ledger.
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Monica Bellucci voiced Cappy for the French version of the 2005 computer-animated science fiction film Robots.
67.
Monica Bellucci portrayed Daniela, the most beautiful prostitute in Pigalle, Paris, to whom a lottery-winning office worker offered to pay her to live with him.
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Le Monde wrote that it was "a hymn to the beauty of Monica Bellucci" and pointed out that it was neither Blier's best film nor his most failed.
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In 2006, Monica Bellucci continued to star in French film productions and made a cameo appearance as a vampire in Kim Chapiron's Sheitan, while Cassel played Joseph.
70.
Monica Bellucci starred alongside Daniel Auteuil in Paolo Virzi's historical comedy-drama Napoleon and Me.
71.
Monica Bellucci portrayed baroness Emilia who had a turbulent relationship with the character named Martino, played by Elio Germano, in the film depicting Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile to Elba from 1814 to 1815.
72.
Author Mark Feeney remarked that Monica Bellucci did not take "things too seriously" in the film.
73.
Monica Bellucci replaced Sophie Marceau, who had first been chosen for the lead role in the thriller film The Stone Council based on the commercially successful book by Jean-Christophe Grange.
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The film differed by character names as the book's heroine was Diane Thiberge, whereas Monica Bellucci was Laura Siprien, a tormented adoptive mother confronted by killers who wanted her child.
75.
Monica Bellucci starred opposite Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti in the action thriller film Shoot 'Em Up by Michael Davis, released in the US in September 2007.
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Monica Bellucci played Donna Quintano, a prostitute, who teamed up with Owen's character, Mr Smith, to protect a baby amid a bloody settling of scores.
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Monica Bellucci was fond of this sort of paradox and sought to highlight this virtue in her portrayals of characters of all types but noted that she could explore the opposite spectrum.
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Monica Bellucci dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film, saying it was a frequent practice for her to accomplish each film three times.
79.
Monica Bellucci next starred alongside Auteuil in Alain Corneau's The Second Wind, a crime remake of the critically acclaimed 1966 film of the same title.
80.
Monica Bellucci portrayed Manouche, a tenacious character enamoured of a gangster who escaped prison, and they ran away together.
81.
Monica Bellucci had the idea of dyeing her hair blond to adhere to the style of film noir main characters played by former French actresses.
82.
Liberation wrote that Monica Bellucci was alone in a "fatally virile" context, but she managed to get through it "to the point of becoming the spectator's compass and the flesh of a film that sometimes lacks it".
83.
Monica Bellucci has a "visceral" need to act regularly in films from her native country.
84.
Monica Bellucci portrayed Luisa Ferida in a relationship with Osvaldo Valenti, played by Zingaretti, a couple of leading actors during the Italian fascism period.
85.
That same year, Monica Bellucci co-starred with Marceau in the thriller Don't Look Back, a sequel to In My Skin, both directed by Marina de Van.
86.
Monica Bellucci reunited with Reeves in Rebecca Miller's romantic comedy-drama The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, featuring Robin Wright and Winona Ryder.
87.
Monica Bellucci portrayed Gigi Lee, the former wife of a successful publisher, Herb, played by Alan Arkin.
88.
Monica Bellucci appeared in a cameo role in Tornatore's autobiographical film Baaria, a family saga traversing several generations and shot in Bagheria, Sicily.
89.
Helene Delye of Le Monde described Monica Bellucci's character as a "grizzled, stubborn, insensitive civil servant".
90.
Monica Bellucci shot three films in seven months including, Giovanni Veronesi's The Ages of Love, Philippe Garrel's A Burning Hot Summer, and Bahman Ghobadi's Rhino Season.
91.
De Niro was delighted to collaborate with Monica Bellucci, saying she had "worked her magic" on him and admitting that he had accepted the role because he wanted to play alongside her.
92.
Monica Bellucci's character was depicted in a pagan priestess style, wearing elaborate clothes with ancient figures surrounding her.
93.
In 2015, Monica Bellucci had the leading role of Sophie Bernard in the Canadian drama film Ville-Marie directed by Guy Edoin.
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Monica Bellucci said Edoin had offered her "one of the most beautiful roles" of her career, describing a stimulating fear of embodying Bernard's character that affected her emotionally.
95.
The film garnered generally positive reviews, and Monica Bellucci's performance was unanimously praised.
96.
Monica Bellucci was initially sceptical about Mendes' project, but he argued that a mature woman in a James Bond film would be innovative.
97.
Monica Bellucci felt gratified to have been the first to portray what she called a "James Bond lady".
98.
The Hollywood Reporters Neil Young felt the Golden Lion-nominated film's approach lacked nuance, while Monica Bellucci performed "admirably well" and kept her "dignity intact" in a physically demanding role.
99.
In 2017, Monica Bellucci was cast in the third season of David Lynch and Mark Frost's television series Twin Peaks.
100.
Monica Bellucci has developed her acting career by alternating films d'auteur with blockbusters.
101.
In 2019, Monica Bellucci played the role of Elena, the daughter of Jean-Louis Duroc and played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, in Claude Lelouch's The Best Years of a Life.
102.
Monica Bellucci continued interpreting Maria Callas' Letters and Memoirs and brought it to London at Her Majesty's Theatre, Paris at Chatelet Theater, and Istanbul, Los Angeles and Monaco.
103.
In 2023, Monica Bellucci entered talks to star in Beetlejuice 2.
104.
Monica Bellucci was mistress of ceremonies of the 56th Cannes Film Festival, presiding over the opening and closing ceremonies held on the Croisette from 14 to 25 May 2003.
105.
Monica Bellucci returned to her role of mistress of ceremonies at the 70th Cannes Film Festival, in charge of opening and closing one of the major international film events, which took place from 17 to 28 May 2017.
106.
In 2017, Monica Bellucci was invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be a permanent member representing Italy, becoming one of the voting juries responsible for awarding the annual Academy Awards.
107.
Monica Bellucci was to be chairwoman of the 15th Crystal Globe Awards, scheduled for 14 March 2020 at the Wagram auditorium in Paris, but the ceremony was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
108.
In 2010, Monica Bellucci became patron of Paroles de Femmes, an apolitical and secular association promoting equality between men and women in society.
109.
Monica Bellucci is a patron of the SOS Autism France association.
110.
Monica Bellucci has been involved in French state dinners known for being official dinners chaired by the President of the French Republic and organised as part of foreign heads of state visits.
111.
In 2001, Monica Bellucci appeared on the cover of Esquires Desire issue.
112.
In 2004 and 2007, Monica Bellucci was voted "the most beautiful woman in the world" based on a survey of 1000 people in France commissioned by TF1.
113.
Also dubbed "Bella Monica Bellucci", she was called "arguably the world's most beautiful actress" by The Times staff writers.
114.
On 9 May 2008, the news magazine L'Obs reported on a survey of 1,003 people conducted by the Superior Audiovisual Council as part of Europe Day, where Monica Bellucci was the second of the European personalities favourite of the French.
115.
In 2011, Monica Bellucci was ranked fourth in Los Angeles Times Magazines list of the 50 most beautiful women in film.
116.
At the age of 20, Monica Bellucci married Italian photographer Claudio Carlos Basso; they divorced after six months.
117.
From 1989 to 1995, Monica Bellucci had a relationship with Italian actor Nicola Farron.
118.
Monica Bellucci met French actor Vincent Cassel on the set of their film The Apartment.
119.
Monica Bellucci told Italian magazine F about the end of their relationship, announced by the media in early July 2019.
120.
Monica Bellucci lived with Cassel and their daughters in Italy, France, Brazil, and England.
121.
Monica Bellucci has houses in Rome and Lisbon in the neighbourhood of Saint George's Castle.
122.
Monica Bellucci is fluent in the Italian, French, and English languages and has proficiency in Portuguese and Spanish.
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Monica Bellucci has emphasised that she has moved away from her religious roots: "I come from a Catholic religion, but I'm not Catholic".
124.
Knight of the Order of Arts and LettersIn 2006, Monica Bellucci was conferred with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Minister of the Interior and future President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, at the Elysee Palace.