Monica Bellucci is an Italian actress who found success in France after starting out as a model. Her luscious curves and Italian accent are as famous as the films she has starred in. Here’s a look back at France’s favorite Italian MILF.
Monica Bellucci: childhood and modelling beginnings
Monica Bellucci was born on September 30, 1964 in Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy. She grew up in a modest commune before studying law in Perugia. Our beautiful brunette is fluent in 3 languages (Italian, French and English) and a little Spanish, which will stand her in good stead for future film roles. At first, she began modeling to pay for her studies. In high school, a friend of her father’s arranged for her to walk the catwalk. She took her first fashion photos in 1987 and joined the prestigious Elite agency in Milan 2 years later. She appeared in several international advertising campaigns and was spotted by Dolce & Gabbana, who were looking for a Mediterranean beauty to embody their style.
Her acting debut in France
But she soon tired of modeling and decided to embark on an acting career, first taking acting classes. She hoped to make it into the cinema. The Italian beauty starred in her first Italian TV film, before landing her first major role in La Riffa in 1991. Monica Bellucci also played a small role in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula in 1992. After several other films in Italy, she settled in France in 1995.
Her role in Gilles Mimouni’s 96 film L’appartement earned her a César nomination in the Best New Actress category. It was also on the set of this film that she met her future husband Vincent Cassel, with whom she would go on to star several times (in Doberman, Irréversible and Agents secrets). She also starred in several major French productions, including Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra and The Wolf Pact. She was also master of ceremonies at the 56th Cannes Film Festival in 2003.
Monica Bellucci’s Hollywood career
Like Angelina Jolie, Monica Bellucci has also made a name for herself in Hollywood, starring in the American remake of Garde à Vue (Suspicion) and alongside Bruce Willis in Les larmes du soleil. She also appeared in the last 2 installments of the Matrix saga. She then appeared in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm. After a stint as a member of the jury at the 59th Cannes Film Festival, she starred in Shoot’em Up: Let the Game Begin with Clive Owen and returned to European productions with Le deuxième souffle, where she appeared as a blonde alongside Eric Cantona and Michel Blanc.
Back to Europe
She returned to Cannes several times to support various films in which she starred, and closed her Hollywood career with a role in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice with Nicolas Cage. She was then cast in several European and international films. She starred in an Italian romance, a French drama, an Iranian drama and a Quebec drama. She also returned to Hollywood to make a high-profile appearance as the James Bond Girl in the British blockbuster 007 Spectre (at the age of 50). In 2017, she joined the cast of David Lynch’s third season of Twin Peaks.
Her private life
Monica Bellucci first married Italian photographer Claudio Basso in 1990. She divorced him the following year. She met Vincent Cassel on a film set in 1996, and married him on August 2, 1999. At the age of 39, she gave birth to their first child on September 12, 2004, followed 6 years later by a second on May 21, 2010. After 17 years together and 14 years of marriage, the couple officially announced their separation in 2013.
Here are her most beautiful photos, proving that she has earned her title as France’s favorite Italian MILF.
