Italian Directors and Actors

1. Alberto Sordi

One of Italy's most captivating and talented cinematic comedy stars, Italian veteran Alberto Sordi was known for satirizing his country's social mores in pungent black comedies, farcical tales and grim drama. He, along with peers Vittorio Gassman, Ugo Tognazzi and Nino Manfredi, arguably represent ...

2. Claudia Gerini

Actress | The Passion of the Christ

Claudia Gerini was born in Rome, where she did classical studies and dance training. Her acting career began when an advertising agency cast her in several commercials.

Claudia Gerini has had a long movie career in Italy and abroad, working with actors and directors like Sergio Castellito, Giuseppe ...

3. Claudio Santamaria

Actor | Casino Royale

Claudio Santamaria is born in Rome. His career begins on the big screen in 1998, but his big break arrives in 2001, when Gabriele Muccino casts him for "L'Ultimo Bacio". Throughout the years he appears in many movies and in 2005 he wins the Nastro D'Argento for Best Actor for "Romanzo Criminale" ...

4. Gabriele Lavia

Actor | Profondo rosso

Gabriele Lavia is one of the most important figures on the Italian stage scene. He devoted his work also to cinema, creating characters for some famous Italian horror movies like David Hemmings friend in "Profondo Rosso", the journalist of "Zeder". He also directed some movies like "Scandalosa ...

5. Gian Maria Volontè

Actor | Per un pugno di dollari

Born in Milan in 1933, Gian Maria Volontè studied in Rome at the National Dramatic Arts Academy, where he obtained his degree in 1957. He began working in theatre and television, where he was soon noticed as one of the most promising actors of his generation. After several supporting appearances in...

6. Giancarlo Giannini

Actor | Quantum of Solace

Giancarlo Giannini is an Oscar-nominated Italian actor, director and multilingual dubber who made an international reputation for his leading roles in Italian films as well as for his mastery of a variety of languages and dialects.

He was born August 1, 1942, in La Spezia, Italy. For 10 years he ...

7. Luca Zingaretti

Actor | Alla luce del sole

One of the most beloved Italian actors in Italy and in the world, he has worked with great directors in the theatre, where he debuted with Ronconi, and in cinema - Risi, the Taviani Brothers, Faenza, Luchetti, Avati, Giordana among others. In television, he gave life to Il Commissario Montalbano ...

8. Luigi Lo Cascio

Actor | La meglio gioventù

Born in Palermo, Sicily on the 20th of October, 1967. Following the family tradition, enrolled into Medicine with the intention of becoming a psychiatrist. Began performing with a group of street actors in his native Palermo. In 1989 received a small part in a theatrical production ("Waiting for ...

9. Massimo Troisi

Actor | Il postino

His acting career started when he was 15 in a theatre (Centro Teatro Spazio). In 1969 he founded the group "I saraceni" (later renamed "La smorfia") with Enzo Decaro and Lello Arena. He became famous to the TV audience between 1976 and 1979 with two TV programs "Non Stop" and "Luna Park". First ...

10. Kim Rossi Stuart

Actor | Vallanzasca - Gli angeli del male

Kim Rossi Stuart was born on October 31th, 1969 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He began acting at the age of 5 along with his father Giacomo Rossi Stuart in The Murri Affair (1974). Kim's mother, Klara Müller, is an ex-top model. Kim has 3 sisters, 2 of them actresses like him: Loretta Rossi Stuart and ...

11. Margherita Buy

Actress | Mia madre

Margherita Buy was born on January 15, 1962 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for Mia madre (2015), The Ignorant Fairies (2001) and Days and Clouds (2007). She was previously married to Sergio Rubini.

12. Marcello Mastroianni

Actor | La dolce vita

Marcello Mastroianni was born in Fontana Liri, Italy in 1924, but soon his family moved to Turin and then Rome. During WW2 he was sent to a German prison camp, but he managed to escape and hide in Venice. He debuted in films as an extra in Marionette (1939), then started working for the Italian ...

13. Michele Riondino

Actor | Palazzina Laf

Michele Riondino was born on March 14, 1979 in Taranto, Puglia, Italy. He is an actor and director, known for Palazzina Laf (2023), Dormant Beauty (2012) and The Past Is a Foreign Land (2008).

14. Pierfrancesco Favino

Actor | World War Z

Pierfrancesco Favino was born on August 24, 1969 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor and producer, known for World War Z (2013), Rush (2013) and Angels & Demons (2009).

15. Ornella Muti

Actress | Flash Gordon

Ornella Muti was born on March 9, 1955 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress, known for Flash Gordon (1980), Oscar (1991) and The Most Beautiful Wife (1970). She was previously married to Federico Fachinetti and Alessio Orano.

16. Riccardo Scamarcio

Actor | John Wick: Chapter 2

Riccardo Scamarcio was born on November 13, 1979 in Trani, Apulia, Italy. He is an actor and producer, known for John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), Loose Cannons (2010) and Tre metri sopra il cielo (2004).

17. Sergio Rubini

Actor | The Passion of the Christ

Sergio Rubini was born on December 21, 1959 in Grumo Appula, Puglia, Italy. He is an actor and director, known for The Passion of the Christ (2004), The Station (1990) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). He was previously married to Margherita Buy.

18. Valeria Golino

Actress | Rain Man

Valeria Golino is an Italian actress and film director. She is known to English-language audiences for her role in Rain Man, Big Top Pee-wee and the two Hot Shots! films, especially the olive-in-the-belly-button scene. The second child of an Italian germanist and a Greek painter, Valeria Golino ...

19. Stefano Accorsi

Actor | Le fate ignoranti

Stefano Accorsi got his diploma from the School of Theater in Bologna. He divides his time between theater, cinema, and television. Currently he is the Artistic Director of the Theater Foundation of Tuscany. He was appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts ...

20. Totò

Actor | Guardie e ladri

'Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio' was a descendant of the 'Comneno di Bizanzio' and also one of the most popular Italian film stars in history. His genre was undoubtedly the comedy where he achieved world fame. From 1917 he was an actor...

21. Ugo Tognazzi

Actor | La Cage aux folles

Among others of Ugo Tognazzi's superb, award-winning performances of his prolific career, this excellent Italian character star has been widely cherished for his classic comedy role of gay cabaret owner Renato Baldi, opposite Michel Serrault's hilariously mincing drag queen partner Alban, in La ...

22. Vittorio Gassman

Actor | Sleepers

Vittorio Gassman studied theatre in his youth and was quite a good basketball player. He debuted on stage in 1943 and soon felt home in all classical theatre works. Since 1946 he also worked at the movies and his first big role there was the criminal in Bitter Rice (1949). This fixed him to his ...

23. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

Actress | La pazza gioia

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi was born on November 16, 1964 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for Like Crazy (2016), Il est plus facile pour un chameau... (2003) and Human Capital (2013).

24. Nino Manfredi

Actor | Per grazia ricevuta

Nino Manfredi was born on March 22, 1921 in Castro dei Volsci, Lazio, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for Between Miracles (1971), Bread and Chocolate (1974) and Café Express (1980). He was married to Erminia Ferrari Manfredi. He died on June 4, 2004 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

25. Dario Argento

Writer | Profondo rosso

Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other ...

26. Federico Fellini

Writer | Le notti di Cabiria

The women who both attracted and frightened him and an Italy dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII - inspired the dreams that Fellini started recording in notebooks in the 1960s. Life and dreams were raw material for his films. His native Rimini and characters like Saraghina (the ...

27. Elio Petri

Writer | Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto

Elio Petri was born on January 29, 1929 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), We Still Kill the Old Way (1967) and His Days Are Numbered (1962). He was married to Paola Pegoraro. He died on November 10, 1982 in Rome, Lazio,...

28. Marco Tullio Giordana

Director | Romanzo di una strage

Marco Tullio Giordana was born on October 1, 1950 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy (2012), One Hundred Steps (2000) and The Best of Youth (2003).

29. Sergio Leone

Writer | Once Upon a Time in America

Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in ...

30. Michelangelo Antonioni

Writer | Blow-Up

Together with Fellini, Bergman and Kurosawa, Michelangelo Antonioni is credited with defining the modern art film. And yet Antonioni's cinema is also recognized today for defying any easy categorization, with his films ultimately seeming to belong to their own distinctive genre. Indeed, the ...

31. Roberto Rossellini

Writer | Roma città aperta

The master filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, as one of the creators of neo-realism, is one of the most influential directors of all time. His neo-realist films influenced France's nouvelle vague movement in the 1950s and '60s that changed the face of international cinema. He also influenced American ...

32. Roberto Benigni

Actor | La vita è bella

Roberto Benigni was born on October 27, 1952 in Manciano La Misericordia, Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Life Is Beautiful (1997), The Tiger and the Snow (2005) and Down by Law (1986). He has been married to Nicoletta Braschi since December 26, 1991.

33. Vittorio De Sica

Director | Ladri di biciclette

Vittorio De Sica grew up in Naples, and started out as an office clerk in order to raise money to support his poor family. He was increasingly drawn towards acting, and made his screen debut while still in his teens, joining a stage company in 1923. By the late 1920s he was a successful matinee ...

34. Bernardo Bertolucci

Writer | Il conformista

Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director whose films were known for their colorful visual style, was born in Parma, Italy. He attended Rome University and became famous as a poet. He served as assistant director for Pier Paolo Pasolini in the film Accattone (1961) and directed The Grim Reaper (...

35. Giuseppe Bertolucci

Writer | Berlinguer ti voglio bene

Giuseppe Bertolucci was born on February 24, 1947 in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Berlinguer: I Love You (1977), Segreti segreti (1985) and The Sweet Sounds of Life (1999). He was married to Lucilla Albano. He died on June 16, 2012 in Diso, Puglia, Italy.

36. Paolo Virzì

Writer | La prima cosa bella

Paolo Virzì was born on March 4, 1964 in Livorno, Tuscany, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for The First Beautiful Thing (2010), Tutta la vita davanti (2008) and Like Crazy (2016). He has been married to Micaela Ramazzotti since January 17, 2009. They have two children. He was previously ...

37. Michele Placido

Actor | La piovra

Michele Placido was born on May 19, 1946 in Ascoli Satriano, Puglia, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for La piovra (1984), Romanzo Criminale (2005) and Un eroe borghese (1995). He has been married to Federica Vincenti since August 14, 2012. They have one child. He was previously married to ...

38. Giovanni Anzaldo

Actor | Razzabastarda

Giovanni Anzaldo was born on November 12, 1987 in Rivalta di Torino, Piedmont, Italy. He is an actor and director, known for The Mongrel (2012), Fuoco amico: Tf45 - Eroe per amore (2016) and Sullo stress del piccione (2017).

39. Gabriele Salvatores

Director | Nirvana

Salvatores attended school in the Lombard metropolis. He started doing theater there. After graduating from high school, Salvatores enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Milan in 1968. He then studied at the Accademia d''arte drammatica, a drama school at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano....

40. Maya Sansa

Actress | Buongiorno, notte

Born in Rome in 1975, Maya Sansa is of Italian and Iranian descent. According to her interview (Io Donna magazine), Maya met her father for the first time when she was 15; until then, she had been living in Rome with her mother. As a teenager she moved to London, where she lived for many years ...

41. Jasmine Trinca

Actress | The Gunman

Jasmine Trinca was born on April 24, 1981 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress and director, known for The Gunman (2015), The Son's Room (2001) and Fortunata (2017).

42. Toni Servillo

Actor | La grande bellezza

Actor and director Toni Servillo was born in Afragola in 1959. In 1977 Servillo founded the Teatro Studio in Caserta for whom he directed 'Propaganda' (1979), 'Norma' (1982), 'Billy il bugiardo' (1983) and 'Guernica' (1985), amongst others. In 1986 he collaborated with the Falso Movimento group, ...

43. Alessio Boni

Actor | La meglio gioventù

Alessio Boni was born on July 4, 1966 in Sarnico, Lombardy, Italy. He is an actor and director, known for The Best of Youth (2003), The Tourist (2010) and The Girl in the Fog (2017).

44. Paolo Sorrentino

Writer | È stata la mano di Dio

Director and screenwriter Paolo Sorrentino was born in Naples in 1970, and and became an orphan when he lost both of his parents at the age of 16. At the age of 25, after studying for a few years at the Faculty of Economics and Business in University of Naples Federico II, he decided to work in the...

45. Daniele Luchetti

Director | Il portaborse

Daniele Luchetti was born on July 26, 1960 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for The Yes Man (1991), Mio fratello è figlio unico (2007) and It's Happening Tomorrow (1988).

46. Elio Germano

Actor | Il giovane favoloso

Elio Germano was born on September 25, 1980 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Leopardi (2014), Nine (2009) and Mio fratello è figlio unico (2007).

47. Fabrizio Gifuni

Actor | Il capitale umano

Fabrizio Gifuni was born on July 16, 1966 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Human Capital (2013), Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy (2012) and Hannibal (2001). He has been married to Sonia Bergamasco since 2000. They have two children.

48. Daria Nicolodi

Actress | Phenomena

Daria Nicolodi was born on June 19, 1949 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She was an actress and writer, known for Phenomena (1985), Deep Red (1975) and Tenebrae (1982). She died on November 26, 2020 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

49. Pupi Avati

Writer | Gli amici del bar Margherita

Pupi Avati was born on November 3, 1938 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for Gli amici del bar Margherita (2009), Giovanna's Father (2008) and The Story of Boys & Girls (1989). He has been married to Amelia Turri since 1964. They have three children.

50. Massimiliano Gallo

Actor | È stata la mano di Dio

Massimiliano Gallo was born on June 19, 1968 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He is an actor and director, known for The Hand of God (2021), Loose Cannons (2010) and Il silenzio grande (2021). He has been married to Shalana Santana since December 3, 2022. They have two children.

51. Ennio Fantastichini

Actor | Mine vaganti

Ennio Fantastichini was born on February 20, 1955 in Gallese, Lazio, Italy. He was an actor, known for Loose Cannons (2010), Open Doors (1990) and Napoléon (2002). He died on December 1, 2018 in Napoli, Campania, Italy.

52. Flavio Bucci

Actor | Suspiria

Flavio Bucci was born on May 25, 1947 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He was an actor, known for Suspiria (1977), Ligabue (1977) and Property Is No Longer a Theft (1973). He was married to Micaela Pignatelli. He died on February 18, 2020 in Passoscuro, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

53. Mario Martone

Director | L'amore molesto

Mario Martone was born on November 20, 1959 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for L'amore molesto (1995), The King of Laughter (2021) and Capri-Revolution (2018). He has been married to Ippolita Di Majo since 2010. They have one child.

54. Filippo Scotti

Actor | È stata la mano di Dio

Filippo Scotti (Gravedona, 22 December 1999) is an Italian actor, protagonist of the film It was the hand of God presented at the Venice Film Festival 2021, with which he won the Marcello Mastroianni Award as best emerging actor.

He began his acting career in 2010, when he enrolled in various ...

55. Alba Rohrwacher

Actress | Hungry Hearts

Alba Rohrwacher was born on February 27, 1979 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress, known for Hungry Hearts (2014), The Wonders (2014) and I Am Love (2009).

56. Luigi Comencini

Writer | Voltati Eugenio

Luigi Comencini was born on June 8, 1916 in Salò, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Voltati Eugenio (1980), Everybody Go Home! (1960) and Bread, Love and Dreams (1953). He was married to Giulia Grifeo. He died on April 6, 2007 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

57. Matteo Garrone

Director | Dogman

Matteo Garrone was born in Rome in 1968. He is the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone, and a photographer. In 1996 he won the Sacher d'Oro, an award sponsored by Nanni Moretti, with the short film Silhouette (1996), that became one of the three episodes of his first feature film Land in Between ...

58. Marco Ferreri

Writer | Storie di ordinaria follia

Marco Ferreri was born on May 11, 1928 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981), L'udienza (1972) and El cochecito (1960). He was married to Jacqueline Ferreri. He died on May 9, 1997 in Paris, France.

59. Liliana Cavani

Director | L'ospite

Liliana Cavani was born on January 12, 1933 in Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. She is a director and writer, known for L'ospite (1971), Dove siete? Io sono qui (1993) and The Night Porter (1974).

60. Luchino Visconti

Writer | Il gattopardo

Born in his ancestral palazzo, situated in the same Milanese square as both the opera house La Scala and the Milan Cathedral, Luchino Visconti (1906 - 1976) was raised under the auspices of aristocratic privilege, theater and Catholicism. This triangulation of monuments would create an equally ...

61. Pietro Germi

Writer | Il ferroviere

Pietro Germi was born on September 14, 1914 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Railroad Man (1956), Divorce Italian Style (1961) and The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966). He was married to Olga D'Aiello and Anna Bancio. He died on December 5, 1974 in Rome, ...

62. Roldano Lupi

Actor | Maciste nell'inferno di Gengis Khan

Roldano Lupi was born on February 8, 1909 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor, known for Hercules Against the Barbarians (1964), The Story of the Count of Monte Cristo (1961) and The Mongols (1961). He died on August 13, 1989 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

63. Antonio Pietrangeli

Writer | Io la conoscevo bene

Antonio Pietrangeli was born on January 19, 1919 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for I Knew Her Well (1965), The Visit (1963) and March's Child (1958). He was married to Margherita Ferroni. He died on July 12, 1968 in Gaeta, Lazio, Italy.

64. Asia Argento

Actress | Land of the Dead

Asia Argento was born in Rome, Italy, into a family of actors and filmmakers, both occupations which she has herself pursued. She made her debut when she was only nine years old in Sergio Citti's Sogni e bisogni (1985). In 1988 she had the leading role in Cristina Comencini's first film, Zoo (1988)...

65. Nanni Moretti

Producer | La stanza del figlio

Nanni Moretti was born on the 19th of August, 1953. He lives in Rome, where since he was a kid he devotes himself to his two passions: cinema and water-polo. In 1970 he also played in water-polo first division in Italy, and in the junior National team. In those years he was also very committed in ...

66. Giovanna Mezzogiorno

Actress | Vincere

Giovanna Mezzogiorno was born on November 9, 1974 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress and director, known for Vincere (2009), Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) and Facing Windows (2003). She has been married to Alessio Federico Fugolo since October 24, 2009. They have two children.

67. Marco Bellocchio

Writer | Il traditore

Marco Bellocchio is one of the most consistent and most adventurous of today's Italian directors-an achievement all the more remarkable given that he made his feature debut almost fifty years ago. Over those years, he has amassed a body of films that encompasses a large number of original ...

68. Gabriele Muccino

Director | Seven Pounds

Gabriele Muccino was born on May 20, 1967 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Seven Pounds (2008), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) and The Last Kiss (2001). He has been married to Angelica Russo since December 22, 2012. They have one child. He was previously married to ...

69. Laura Morante

Actress | La cerise sur le gâteau

Laura Morante was born on August 21, 1956 in Santa Fiora, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for Cherry on the Cake (2012), The Son's Room (2001) and Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981). She has been married to Francesco Giammatteo since October 3, 2004. She was previously married ...

70. Giorgio Pasotti

Actor | Abbi Fede

Giorgio Pasotti is an Italian actor who debuts in theatre as a protagonist aside Stefania Rocca in the theatrical show "Le Poligraphe" by Robert Lepage. He then appears in the film "I Piccoli Maestri" directed by Daniele Luchetti based on Luigi Meneghello's novel, and in Gabriele Muccino's ...

71. Vittoria Puccini

Actress | Elisa di Rivombrosa

Vittoria Puccini was born on 18 November 1979 in Florence, Italy. After graduating from high school, she first appeared on screen in Sergio Rubini's TV movie Tutto l'amore che c'è (2000) and in other minor titles, and finally became a star on Italian TV, playing the title character in Elisa ...

72. Lilli Carati

Actress | Senza buccia

Lilli Carati was born on September 23, 1956 in Varese, Lombardy, Italy. She was an actress, known for Skin Deep (1979), A Lustful Mind (1986) and L'alcova (1985). She died on October 20, 2014 in Besano, Lombardy, Italy.

73. Fernando Di Leo

Writer | Milano calibro 9

Fernando Di Leo was born on January 11, 1932 in San Ferdinando di Puglia, Puglia, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Caliber 9 (1972), Killer contro killers (1985) and Shoot First, Die Later (1974). He was married to Maria Pia Conte. He died on December 1, 2003 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

74. Carlo Lizzani

Director | Banditi a Milano

Carlo Lizzani was born on April 3, 1922 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Violent Four (1968), Chronicle of Poor Lovers (1954) and Celluloide (1996). He was married to Edith Bieber. He died on October 5, 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

75. Pasquale Festa Campanile

Writer | Il gattopardo

Pasquale Festa Campanile was born on July 28, 1927 in Melfi, Basilicata, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Leopard (1963), Rocco and His Brothers (1960) and The Four Days of Naples (1962). He was married to Anna Salvatore. He died on February 25, 1986 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

76. Enrico Maria Salerno

Writer | Anonimo veneziano

Enrico Maria Salerno was born on September 18, 1926 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for The Anonymous Venetian (1970), Seasons of Our Love (1966) and It Happened in '43 (1960). He died on February 28, 1994 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

77. Sabrina Ferilli

Actress | La grande bellezza

Daughter of the former speaker of the Italian Communist Party's delegation at the Lazio's Regional Council, Sabrina Ferilli never kept secret her leftism. Firm and stubborn, she did not care about the first unsuccessful attempts to come on to the stage. Her stubbornness was rewarded in the 1990, ...

78. Maria Sole Tognazzi

Director | Viaggio sola

Maria Sole Tognazzi was born on May 2, 1971 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is a director and assistant director, known for A Five Star Life (2013), Me, Myself & Her (2015) and Passato prossimo (2003).

79. Francesca Archibugi

Writer | Mignon è partita

Francesca Archibugi was born on May 16, 1960 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is a writer and director, known for Mignon è partita (1988), Questione di cuore (2009) and Il grande cocomero (1993). She is married to Battista Lena. They have three children.

80. Giuseppe Piccioni

Writer | Fuori dal mondo

Giuseppe Piccioni was born on July 2, 1953 in Ascoli Piceno, Marche, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for Not of This World (1999), Light of My Eyes (2001) and The Shadow of the Day (2022).

81. Roberto Zibetti

Actor | Stealing Beauty

Roberto Zibetti was born on March 11, 1971 in Summit, New Jersey, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Stealing Beauty (1996), Pasolini (2014) and Addio fottuti musi verdi (2017).

82. Ennio Morricone

Composer | The Hateful Eight

A classmate of director Sergio Leone with whom he would form one of the great director/composer partnerships (right up there with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, Fellini & Rota), Ennio Morricone studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he specialized in trumpet. His first ...

83. Roberto Faenza

Writer | Jona che visse nella balena

Roberto Faenza was born on February 21, 1943 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for Look to the Sky (1993), Escalation (1968) and I Viceré (2007).

84. Giuliano Montaldo

Writer | L'industriale

Born in 1930 in Genoa. Still a young student in 1950 when director Carlo Lizzani gave him a role in the film Achtung Banditi!. Following this experience he traveled to Rome where, after acting in film and theater, he became the assistant director to Lizzani, Gillo Pontecorvo, Sergio Leone, ...

85. Vittorio Mezzogiorno

Actor | Cerro Torre: Schrei aus Stein

Vittorio Mezzogiorno was born on December 16, 1941 in Cercola, Campania, Italy. He was an actor, known for Scream of Stone (1991), La piovra (1984) and Il giocattolo (1979). He was married to Cecilia Sacchi. He died on January 7, 1994 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.

86. Serge Reggiani

Actor | Il gattopardo

The notably gifted, multi-talented actor, chanteur, poet and painter Serge Reggiani was born in Reggio Emilia, a town in northern Italy, in 1922. His father, a highly visible anti-fascist, fled his Mussolini-dictated homeland due to his fervent political activities and emigrated to France in order ...

87. Umberto Orsini

Actor | La caduta degli dei (Götterdämmerung)

Umberto Orsini was born on April 2, 1934 in Novara, Piedmont, Italy. He is an actor, known for The Damned (1969), Emmanuelle 3 (1977) and Solomon (1997).

88. Lucia Bosè

Actress | La signora senza camelie

Lucia Bosè was born on January 28, 1931 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. She was an actress, known for The Lady Without Camelias (1953), Death of a Cyclist (1955) and Story of a Love Affair (1950). She was married to Luis Miguel Dominguín. She died on March 23, 2020 in Segovia, Segovia, Castilla y León, ...

89. Gina Lollobrigida

Actress | Notre-Dame de Paris

Gina Lollobrigida was born on July 4, 1927 in Subiaco, Italy. Destined to be called "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World", Gina possibly had St. Brigid as part of her surname. She was the daughter of a furniture manufacturer, and grew up in the pictorial mountain village. The young Gina did some ...

90. Sofia Loren

Actress | O Olho Mágico do Amor

Sofia Loren is known for O Olho Mágico do Amor (1982) and Torno Sabato (2000).

91. Monica Bellucci

Actress | Malèna

Monica Anna Maria Bellucci was born on September 30, 1964 in the Italian village of Città di Castello, Umbria, the only child of Brunella Briganti and Pasquale Bellucci. She originally pursued a career in the legal profession. While attending the University of Perugia, she modeled on the side to ...

92. Claudio Caligari

Director | Non essere cattivo

Claudio Caligari was born on February 7, 1948 in Arona, Novara, Piedmont, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Don't Be Bad (2015), Toxic Love (1983) and The Scent of the Night (1998). He died on May 26, 2015 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

93. Giuseppe Tornatore

Director | La migliore offerta

Giuseppe Tornatore was born on May 27, 1956 in Bagheria, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for The Best Offer (2013), Cinema Paradiso (1988) and The Legend of 1900 (1998). He is married to Roberta Pacetti.

94. Clara Calamai

Actress | L'adultera

Clara Calamai was born on September 7, 1909 in Prato, Tuscany, Italy. She was an actress, known for L'adultera (1946), Deep Red (1975) and Obsession (1943). She was married to Leonardo Bonzi. She died on September 21, 1998 in Rimini, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

95. Laura Chiatti

Actress | Il caso dell'infedele Klara

Laura Chiatti was born on July 15, 1982 in Castiglione del Lago, Perugia, Umbria, Italy. She is an actress, known for Il caso dell'infedele Klara (2009), Ho voglia di te (2007) and Our Country (2006). She has been married to Marco Bocci since July 5, 2014. They have two children.

96. Valerio Zurlini

Writer | Cronaca familiare

Valerio Zurlini was born on March 19, 1926. During his law studies in Rome, he started working in the theatre. In 1943, he joined the Italian resistance. Zurlini became a member of the Italian Communist Party. He filmed short documentaries in the immediate post-war period and in 1954 directed his ...

97. Anna Galiena

Actress | Le mari de la coiffeuse

Anna Galiena was born on December 22, 1949 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress, known for The Hairdresser's Husband (1990), Black Angel (2002) and Senza pelle (1994).

98. Nino Castelnuovo

Actor | Les parapluies de Cherbourg

Francesco 'Nino' Castelnuovo was born to humble beginnings in Lombardy, the second of four brothers. His working life began with a series of stints in various jobs, including house painting, as a mechanic and as a sales agent, after which he decided to take drama classes at the Piccolo Teatro in ...

99. Elsa Martinelli

Actress | Hatari!

Elsa Martinelli was born in the central Tuscan city of Grosseto into a struggling family, one of eight siblings. She had to earn her keep from the age of twelve, delivering groceries in Rome. Looking older than her years suggested, she then did some part-time work as a barmaid. Aged sixteen and ...

100. Mario Bava

Cinematographer | Ecologia del delitto

Italian director Mario Bava was born on July 31, 1914 in the coastal northern Italian town of Sanremo. His father, Eugenio Bava (1886-1966), was a cinematographer in the early days of the Italian film industry. Bava was trained as a painter, and when he eventually followed his father into film ...