Monica Bellucci

Monica Anna Maria Bellucci  Italian pronunciation: ; born 30 September 1964 is an Italian actress and model. She began her career as a fashion model, modelling for Dolce & Gabbana and Dior, before making a transition to Italian films and later American films and French films.

Bellucci played a Bride of Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola’s gothic romance film Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) and Malèna Scordia in the Italian-language romantic drama Malèna (2000). She was in the controversial Gaspar Noé arthouse horror film Irréversible (2002), and portrayed Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson’s biblical drama The Passion of the Christ (2004).

In the 2003 science-fiction films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, she played Persephone. In the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, she became the oldest Bond girl in the history of the franchise.

Early life

Bellucci was born 30 September 1964 in Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy, as the only child of Brunella Briganti and Pasquale Bellucci, and grew up in Lama of San Giustino.

Career

Modeling

Monica Bellucci began modelling at age 13 by posing for a local photo enthusiast. In 1988, Bellucci left the Faculty of Law at the University of Perugia, and 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 Bellucci on the cover and in an article on the five senses.

In 2003, she was featured in Maxim. Men’s Health also named her one of the “100 Hottest Women of All-Time”, ranking her at No. 21. AskMen named her the number one most desirable woman in 2002. According to two national newspapers, she is considered an Italian sex symbol.

In 2004, while pregnant with her daughter Deva, Bellucci posed nude for the Italian Vanity Fair in protest against an Italian law that restricts the provision of fertility treatment to heterosexual couples and excludes single women or same-sex couples, restricts surrogacy and research using human embryos, forbids sperm and egg donation, and limits the number of embryos created with in-vitro techniques to three. She posed pregnant and semi-nude again for the magazine’s April 2010 issue. From 2006 to 2010 Bellucci was the face of a range of Dior products.

In 2012, she became the new face of Dolce & Gabbana. She is managed by Elite+ in New York City. Bellucci is signed to D’management Group in Milan and also to Storm Management in London. Bellucci also posed for GQ Italia in February 2016.

Bellucci walked the runway for the Spring 2019 Milan Fashion Week for Dolce and Gabbana. Joining her included Isabella Rossellini, Eva Herzigová, and Helena Christensen, continuing the influx of 90s supermodels returning to the spotlight of fashion.

Acting

Bellucci’s film career began in the early 1990s. She played some minor roles in La Riffa (1991) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). In 1996, she was nominated for a César Award for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Lisa in The Apartment and strengthened her position as an actress. She became known and popular with worldwide audiences, following her roles in Malèna (2000), Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001), and Irréversible (2002).

She has since played in many films from Europe and Hollywood like Tears of the Sun (2003), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Passion of the Christ (2004), The Brothers Grimm (2005), Le Deuxième souffle (2007), Shoot ‘Em Up (2007), Don’t Look Back (2009), and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010).

She was supposed to be seen portraying Indian politician Sonia Gandhi in the biopic Sonia, originally planned for release in 2007, but it has been shelved. Bellucci dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film Shoot ‘Em Up (2007). She 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.

At 50, she became the oldest Bond girl ever in the James Bond film franchise, playing Lucia Sciarra in Spectre (2015). Three years later, she appeared in the Australian film Nekrotronic.

Personal life

Bellucci married Italian photographer Claudio Carlos Basso in 1990; they divorced after 18 months.

She met French actor Vincent Cassel on the set of their 1996 film The Apartment. They married in 1999 and have two daughters, Deva (born 2004) and Léonie (born 2010). The couple announced their divorce on 26 August 2013.

In the documentary movie The Big Question, about the film The Passion of the Christ, Bellucci 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.”

Bellucci is fluent in Italian, French and English and has also acted in Persian.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
1990	Vita coi figli	Elda
1991	The Raffle	Francesca
1992	Bram Stoker’s Dracula	One of Dracula’s brides
1992	Ostinato Destino	Marina/Angela
1994	Briganti – Amore e libertà	Costanza
1994	The Heroes	Deborah
1995	Snowball	Melina
1995	Bits and Pieces
1995	Joseph	Pharaoh’s wife
1996	The Apartment	Lisa
1996	Sorellina e il principe del sogno	Princess
1997	Stressati
1997	Dobermann	Nat the Gypsy
1997	Mauvais genre	Camille
1997	Come mi vuoi	Nellina
1998	Le Plaisir	Girl
1998	Compromise	Monique
1998	Kaputt Mundi	Giulia Giovannini
1998	A los que aman	Valeria
1999	Comme un poisson hors de l’eau	Myrtille
1999	Méditerranées	Marguerite
2000	Under Suspicion	Chantal Hearst
2000	Franck Spadone	Laura
2000	Malèna	Malèna Scordia
2001	Brotherhood of the Wolf	Sylvia
2002	Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre	Cleopatra
2002	Irréversible	Alex
2003	Remember Me, My Love	Alessia
2003	Tears of the Sun	Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks
2003	The Matrix Reloaded	Persephone
2003	The Matrix Revolutions	Persephone
2004	The Passion of the Christ	Mary Magdalene
2004	Secret Agents	Barbara/Lisa
2004	She Hate Me	Simona Bonasera
2005	The Brothers Grimm	The Mirror Queen
2005	How Much Do You Love Me?	Daniela
2006	Sheitan	La belle vampiresse
2006	Napoleon and Me	Baroness Emilia Speziali
2006	The Stone Council	Laura Siprien
2007	Heartango	L’inafferrabile
2007	Manual of Love 2	Lucia
2007	Shoot ‘Em Up	Donna Quintano
2007	Le deuxième souffle	Manouche
2008	Sanguepazzo	Luisa Ferida
2008	L’uomo che ama	Alba
2009	Don’t Look Back	Jeanne
2009	The Private Lives of Pippa Lee	Gigi Lee
2009	Baarìa – La porta del vento	Bricklayer’s girlfriend
2009	Omaggio a Roma	Tosca
2010	The Whistleblower	Laura Leviani
2010	The Sorcerer’s Apprentice	Veronica
2010	Rose, c’est Paris	L’esprit de gala
2011	Manuale d’amore 3	Viola
2011	A Burning Hot Summer	Angèle
2012	Rhino Season	Mina
2013	Des gens qui s’embrassent (People who kiss)	Giovanna
2014	The Wonders	Milly Catena
2014	Na Quebrada	Paola
2015	Ville-Marie	Sophie
2015	Spectre	Lucia Sciarra
2016	On the Milky Road	Nevesta
2016	Mozart in the Jungle	Alessandra
2018	Nekrotronic	Finnegan
2019	The Best Years of a Life	Elena
2019	Spider in the Web	Angela
2020	The Man Who Sold His Skin	Soraya Waldy
2020	Radical Eye: The Life and Times of Tina Modotti	Tina Modotti

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Mozart in the Jungle	Alessandra	Guest role; 5 episodes
2017	Twin Peaks	Herself	Episode: “Part 14”
2018	Call My Agent!	Herself	2 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2003	Enter the Matrix	Persephone
2004	Prince of Persia: Warrior Within	Kaileena

Dubbing roles

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2003	Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas	Marina	French dub
2005	Robots	Cappy	French dub

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated Work	Result
1997	César Awards	Best Promising Actress	The Apartment	Nominated
2001	European Film Awards	Audience Award for Best Actress	Malèna	Nominated
2003	Saturn Award	Best Supporting Actress	Brotherhood of the Wolf	Nominated
2003	Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists	Silver Ribbon for Best Supporting Actress	Ricordati di me	Won
2003	Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award	Best Female	The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions	Nominated
2003	David di Donatello Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Ricordati di me	Nominated
2003	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Female Breakout Star	The Matrix Reloaded and Tears of the Sun	Nominated
2004	MTV Movie Awards	Best Kiss	The Matrix Reloaded	Nominated
2005	Globo d’oro	European Golden Globe		Won
2005	Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists	Silver Ribbon for Best Supporting Actress	The Passion of the Christ	Nominated
2007	Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists	Silver Ribbon for Best Supporting Actress	N	Nominated
2017	San Sebastian Film Festival	Honorary Donostia Award		Won
2017	Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists	European Nastro D’Argento	On the Milky Road	Won
2020	Magritte Award	Honorary Magritte Award		Won