Sophia Loren

Background

Sophia Loren, born Sofia Villani Scicolone in Rome, Italy, on September 20, 1934, is an Italian film actress who rose from humble beginnings in postwar Naples to become widely regarded as one of the most beautiful women and its most famous movie stars. Her first film role was as an extra in the American production of Quo Vadis? (1951), where she was one of many slave girls. Scicolone was transformed into Sophia Loren under the tutelage of producer Carlo Ponti, who later became her husband. Her career began with a series of low-budget comedies before she gained critical and popular attention with Aida (1953), in which she lip-synced Renata Tebaldi in the title role.

Loren was nominated for a second Academy Award in 1965 for her performance in Marriage, Italian Style, opposite Marcello Mastroianni. Such exposure undoubtedly helped her win an Academy Award for Best Actress in Two Woman (1960), making her the first actor to win an Oscar for a non-English language role. Two other De Sica films featured her comedic talents with another Italian film icon, Marcello Mastroianni: Leri, Oggi, and Domani (1963, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow), which won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Her best late-career performance, again with Mastroianni, was for director Ettore Scola in Una Giornata particolare (1977, A Special Day). Her subsequent work included the television film Courage (1986), as well as the feature films Prêt-à-Porter (1994), directed by Robert Altman and Nine (2009). Loren was the first female celebrity to launch her perfume, Sophia, in 1981, and a line of eyewear soon followed.

Loren met her husband Carlo Ponti, when she was 15 and he was 37. They wed but had to annul the marriage since Ponti was not legally divorced from his wife. They, however, continued to live together, and in 1965, they became French citizens after their application was approved. Ponti then obtained a divorce, allowing him to marry Loren on April 9, 1966. The couple remained together until Ponti died in 2007. The couple had two sons. Loren is a grandmother of four.