Sofia Villani Scicolone, better known by the name Sophia Loren is an Italian film actress. She was born on 20th September in 1934 in Rome, Italy. The early life of the actress was more in poverty. Her father (Riccardo Scicolone) was a construction engineer. His father refused to marry her mother due to which there was no financial support available. She still used to meet her father but was not frequently. She met her father only three times. When her father died in the year 1976, she forgave her for leaving her mother.
This was all about the past life, even with little to no financial support available, she managed to become one of the best actresses in Italy.
Personal life
Talking about her personal life, her mother was born in 1910 and passed in 1991. Loren was not the only child of her parents Her parents have another child which is her sister Maria. Further, she also had two half-brothers who were Giuliano and Giuseppe. The mother lived at her grandmother’s place along with the two daughters. The place was in Pozzuoli near Naples.
The second world war was the time when the livelihood changed a lot. There were frequent bombing in the area where they lived. Due to this, they shifted to Naples with their distant relatives. After the war was over, they came back to the original place at Pozzuoli. This was the time when her grandmother opened a pub in the living room. Loren used to work as a waitress as well as wash dishes whereas Maria used to sing. Her mother played the piano.
Exposure to the Audience
Before coming into the film industry, she participated in the Miss Italia contest. Loren entered here as Sofia Lazzaro at a very young age of 15 years old. She was assigned a second candidate. There were a total of 4 candidates representing the Lazio region.
She was selected as the top 3 contestants. Luckily, she won the award of Miss Elegance 1950. This is when she gains the confidence to appear in the film. This went further as she appeared in the 61st edition of Pagent as president of the jury. Later in 2012, she also won the 71st Miss Italia pageant.
Not just the pageant, she also used to work in Fooromanzi. It’s a pulp magazine in which there were many static photos to tell a romantic story.
In between all these, she joined the film industry. She started her career in the film industry in 1951. She was only 17 years old when she came into the film industry.
Sofia Lazzaro in Film Industry
She is now known by the name Sophia Loren but when she entered the film industry, she debuted as Sofia Scicolone and Sofia Lazzaro.
To learn more, she joined Centro Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. It’s a national film school in Italy. She then appeared in Quo Vadis which is by Mervyn LeRoy. The film was released in 1951 and she was just 17 years old. You won’t find her name in the film as she was as uncredit extra. These are the extra crew members who are not given any credits but get to a role in the film. The film featured many slave girls (as a scene) in which she was also one.
Later on, she got another film with credits. The film was Era Lui. Si! Si!. She was odalisque. Like mentioned earlier, she debuted as her original name here. So, here, the name was credited as Sofia Lazzaro. There are many films in which she played a very amazing role. Of course, all the roles were small and most of them included the credits too. One of the films where she worked well was La Favorita. Most of the movies she did were a comedy.
The Debut of Sophia Loren
She met a producer named Carlo Ponti in the year 1950. He changed her name and identity to Sophia Loren. This is when she got her first film as the name Sophia Loren. The name of the film was Aida. She got a lot of recognition due to this.
Not just the acclaim, she also fetched a led role in the two other movies. One of them was Two Nights With Cleopatra and her breakthrough role came with the next movie which was The Gold of Naples.
In the same year, there was one another film with the name “Too bad She’s bad” which was also released. There were many similar movies which were acting.
Some of the popular movies also include Luckily to Be a Woman, Boy on a Dolphin, The Pride and the Passion, Scandal in Sorrento, La Bella Mugnaia, and Legend of the Lost.
She was very much popular in all these films. However, internal fame came a little let.
International Film Actress
She signed a five-picture contract with Paramount Pictures late in 1958. This is when she got all the international fame.
The films were Desire Under the Films, Houseboat, and Heller in Pink Tights. Heller in the Pink Tights is the move in which she appeared as a blonde for the first time in her career. Later, she was also in Two women. That film earned her various awards including Cannes Film Festivals’ best performance prize and Academy Award for Best Actress. There was a total of 22 awards which she won for a single film “two-woman”.
Fun fact is that she didn’t appear in the award functions saying she is afraid of fainting at the award ceremony. Cary Grant called her telling about the Oscar Award. She had an affair with Cary Grant.
Late Career
When Sophia became a mother, she gradually started digging a lesser number of films as compared to before. She is starring in the upcoming movie (as of 2020) named “The Life ahead” which will stream on Netflix. The actress will be 86 years old at the time of the release. Her last film was 4 years back in 2016 which was a documentary film.
Our affiliate links and courses on photography
Go to www.picsartsolutions.com
For photography tips and tricks
For 12 ways to make money with photography
For courses other courses in photography
For a great way to make money with photography
Everything is very open with a very clear description of the issues.
It was really informative. Your website is useful.
Many thanks for sharing!
Appreciation to my father who informed me regarding this web site, this blog is actually awesome.