Sophia Loren Autograph

Profession:
(1934-) Italian actress, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 1960.

Year of Birth: 1934

Sophia Loren is an Italian actress and one of the most iconic figures in film history. She has appeared in dozens of films and television shows since the 1950s and has won numerous awards and accolades, including an Academy Award, five Golden Globe Awards, a Grammy Award, and a BAFTA Award. She was also named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2021.

Born Sofia Villani Scicolone on September 20, 1934, in Rome, Italy, Loren was the daughter of Romilda Villani, a piano teacher, and Riccardo Scicolone, a construction engineer. Her parents separated when she was two years old. Her father later married another woman and had two more children, Loren's half-siblings. She was raised in Pozzuoli, near Naples, and moved to Rome with her mother when she was 14.

Loren began her career as a model at the age of 14 and soon after appeared in her first film, Aida, in 1951. She went on to become one of the most popular and admired actresses in Italy, appearing in such films as The Pride and the Passion (1957), Two Women (1960), and Marriage Italian-Style (1964). Her performance in Two Women earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the first artist to win an Oscar for a foreign-language performance.

In the 1960s, Loren began appearing in American films, including It Started in Naples (1960), The Millionairess (1960), El Cid (1961), and Boy on a Dolphin (1957). She also starred opposite Marcello Mastroianni in a series of films, including Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (1963) and The Voyage (1974). She also appeared in The Cassandra Crossing (1976) and Prêt-à-Porter (1994).

In recent years, Loren has continued to appear in films and television shows, including Grumpier Old Men (1995), Nine (2009), and The Life Ahead (2020). She has also written several books, including her memoirs Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: My Life as a Fairy Tale (2011).

Loren has been honored with numerous awards throughout her career, including a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement, a BAFTA Fellowship, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2021. Her legacy as one of the most iconic figures in film history will live on for generations to come.