Biography

Ornella Muti (Francesca Romana Rivelli) was born in Rome on 9 March 1955. Her father was a Neapolitan journalist and her mother an Estonian sculptress. She has three children, Naike, Andrea and Carolina who live with her. Today, she has under her belt a hundred or so films and dozens of series made throughout the world. Amongst the many awards that she has received, are the “Nastri d’Argento” in 1988 and in 1989 and the “Grolla d’Oro”, the crowning achievement of her career in 1998.

In Italy, she made her debut in cinema at just 14 years of age. Damiano Damiani made her the heroine of his film “La moglie più bella”. A year later, in 1971, she starred in several films made in Italy (“Il sole nella pelle” and “Un posto ideale per uccidere” by Umberto Lenzi) and in Spain (“Un solo grande amore” and “Experiencia prematrimonial”(“Esperienze prematrimoniali”)).

In 1974, Ornella Muti got her first big hit with “Come Home and Meet my Wife” (“Romanzo Popolare”) by Mario Monicelli. Alongside Ugo Tognazzi, who played the Milanese labourer Basletti, she played an unforgettable “Vincenzina”. Other masterpieces followed: “Pure as a Lily” (“Come una rosa al naso”) by Franco Rossi; “The Bishop’s Bedroom” (“La stanza del vescovo”) and “First Love” (“Primo amore”), both by Dino Risi, then “The Last Woman” (“L'ultima donna”) by Marco Ferreri, in 1976, with Gérard Depardieu. In 1978, “The New Monsters“ (“I nuovi mostri”) by Monicelli-Risi-Scola, was selected from the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars.

With Ferreri, she also made “Tales of Ordinary Madness” (“Storie di ordinaria follia”) in 1981, and “The Future is Woman” (“Il futuro è donna”) in 1984. The same year, she played the role of Odette, the impossible love interest in Proust’s “Swann in Love” (“Un amour de Swann”) by Volker Schlondorff where she played opposite Jeremy Irons, Fanny Ardant and Alain Delon. These films made her an icon of transalpine cinema abroad, in the U.S. and above all in France. She is unforgettable in the role of the flamboyant and treacherous Princess Aura in “Flash Gordon” by Mike Hodges, included in the list of 100 films to be saved in the U.S. Without forgetting the Italian-style comedies with Adriano Celentano (“The Taming of the Scoundrel” (“Il bisbetico domato”), “Madly in Love” (“Innamorato pazzo”)), Renato Pozzetto (“Nobody’s Perfect” (“Nessuno è perfetto”) and “Rich and Poor” (“Un povero ricco”).