Maria Grazia Cucinotta

Maria Grazia Cucinotta (Italian: [maˈriːa ˈɡrattsja kutʃiˈnɔtta]; born 27 July 1968) is an Italian actress who has featured in films and television series since 1990. Internationally she is best known for her roles in Il Postino and The World Is Not Enough.

Early life

Cucinotta was born 27 July 1968 in Messina in Sicily, Italy. In a May 2019 interview with Il Giornale, she related how she was taunted as a young girl for the size of her breasts, and that at age 19, she nearly underwent breast reduction surgery, saying, "My mother saved me at 19 when I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life. I wanted to have a breast reduction. For me, it was too bulky. Like all the women in my family, I have a size 6. I considered it a nightmare, especially as a young girl when I felt the eyes on me and the jokes of adults. They told me my breasts weren't suitable for modelling. But I cancelled the operation. My mother said she'd failed as a parent if I'd had that operation. Luckily, Renzo Arbore later called me to work as a showgirl, and my life changed."

Career

After playing a few bit parts on television, her first movie role was in Michael Radford's critically acclaimed Il Postino (1994). Cucinotta played Beatrice Russo, the female love interest opposite Massimo Troisi. Despite the film being Cucinotta's first major role, Troisi had no doubt about her abilities, as Cucinotta later recalled:

He was a director and an actor who had the patience to teach me everything because I arrived at that audition recommended by a woman, Nathalie Caldonazzo, who was Massimo's girlfriend. That film changed my life. I'm happy that people still talk about him and that film with which he brought Italianness around the world.