Elvis Presley & Sophia Loren: The Shocking Truth!

Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone, or Sophia Loren, Dama di Gran Croce OMRI, born in Rome on 20th September 1934, is an Italian film actress and singer. After being encouraged to enroll in acting lessons following a beauty pageant, Loren began her film career in 1950, aged fifteen. She appeared in several bit parts and minor roles during the first half of the decade, until her five-picture contract with Paramount in 1956 launched her international career. Her best known film appearances around this time include The Pride and the Passion, Houseboat, and It Started in Naples.

However, her talents as an actress went unrecognized, until her performance as Cesira in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women, when Loren's performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1962, the first artist to win an Oscar for a foreign-language performance. She holds the record for having won six David di Donatello Awards for Best Actress, for her performances in Two Women; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow; Marriage Italian Style, for which she was nominated for a second Oscar; Sunflower; The Voyage; and A Special Day. After starting a family in the early 1970s, Loren chose to make only occasional film appearances, before in later years, having appeared in American films such as Grumpier Old Men and Nine.