Claudia Gerini

Claudia Gerini (Italian: [ˈklaudja dʒeˈriːni]; born 18 December 1971) is an Italian actress and singer.

Life and career

Gerini was born in Rome, Italy, in 1971. When she was 13 she won the 1985 Miss Teenager beauty contest. Her acting debut came a year later in La ballata di Eva. She then had various roles in films including Roba da Ricchi (1987), directed by Sergio Corbucci. In 1990, when she was 19, she appeared on the popular TV show Non è la Rai. Gerini's first major role was in Pasquale Pozzessere's Il padre e il figlio (1994).

She later moved to Paris to learn French for several months, frequently travelling between Italy and France while still studying sociology at university. At 22 she returned to Italy and got a role as protagonist in Angelo e Beatrice, a theatrical work by Francesco Apolloni presented on stage at the Theater Coliseum in Rome, where director and actor Carlo Verdone noticed her. The encounter with Verdone produced Viaggi di nozze (1995), her breakthrough role with the broader Italian public for which she abandoned her sociology studies. The following year, she again worked with Verdone in I'm Crazy About Iris Blond. Both films were Christmas box-office successes.

Gerini later collaborated with Leonardo Pieraccioni, Massimo Ceccherini, Antonio Rezza and Antonello De Leo.

She has said Los Angeles is one of her favourite cities and has frequented it for many years. She lived there when she was 25 to be with her boyfriend, and later, when the father of her daughter, Linda, singer-songwriter Federico Zampaglione of the pop group Tiromancino, was recording a studio album there.

In Spain she starred in Desafinado by M. G. Pereira and La playa de Los Galagos by M. Camus.