Sophia Loren (b.1934,) born Sofia Villani Scicolone, is an Italian-born French film star. In an acting career that has spanned over 50 years and 100 films, she has earned every significant acting honor in the international film community.
Born in Rome, Loren grew up in Pozzuoli, near Naples. She participated in beauty competitions in her teens; at age 16, she met film producer Carlo Ponti who groomed her for stardom and later become her husband.
Loren appeared in small roles in many films and attracted attention for her first starring role in Aida (1953,) and La Donna del Fiume (1955; Woman of the River.) She then moved to America and starred in such celebrated movies as The Millionairess (1960,) Marriage Italian Style (1964,) Two Women (1961,) Arabesque (1966,) and Grumpier Old Men (1995.)
Loren published her biography, Sophia—Living and Loving: Her Own Story, in 1979. In 1982, she spent a month in prison for tax evasion.
More: Wikipedia (via CC-BY-SA license) • READ: Works by Sophia Loren
Getting ahead in a difficult profession — singing, acting, writing, whatever — requires avid faith in yourself. You must be able to sustain yourself against staggering blows and unfair reversals. When I think back to those first couple of years in Rome, those endless rejections, without a glimmer of encouragement from anyone, all those failed screen tests, and yet I never let my desire slide away from me, my belief in myself and what I felt I could achieve
—Sophia Loren
Topics: Accomplishment, Talent
Sex appeal is fifty percent what you’ve got and fifty percent what people think you’ve got.
—Sophia Loren
Topics: Confidence, Sex
Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. You must be able to sustain yourself against staggering blows. There is no code of conduct to help beginners. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.
—Sophia Loren
Topics: Faith
A woman’s dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.
—Sophia Loren
Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.
—Sophia Loren
There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap into this source, you will truly have defeated age.
—Sophia Loren
After all these years, I am still involved in the process of self-discovery. It’s better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.
—Sophia Loren
Topics: Failure, Discovery, Mistakes
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Federico Fellini Italian Filmmaker
- Audrey Hepburn Belgian-born British Actor
- Meryl Streep American Actor
- Elizabeth Taylor English Actor
- Ingrid Bergman Swedish Actor
- Luciano Pavarotti Italian Musician
- Fred Astaire American Actor
- Richard Burton Welsh Actor
- Metastasio Italian Poet
- Woody Allen American Film Actor, Director