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Monica Bellucci

Monica Anna Maria Bellucci (born 30 September 1964) is an Italian actress and model who began her career as a fashion model before working in Italian, American and French films. Bellucci has an eclectic filmography in a range of genres and languages, and her accolades include the David di Donatello, Globo d'oro and Nastro d'Argento awards. In 2018, Forbes Italy named Bellucci one of the 100 most-successful Italian women.

Bellucci was represented by Elite Model Management and modelled for Dolce & Gabbana campaigns. She made her acting debut in the Italian television miniseries Vita coi figli (1991); she went on to play one of Dracula's brides in the horror film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) and then enrolled in acting classes. After appearing in Italian productions, she had her breakthrough role in The Apartment (1996), for which she received a César Award nomination for Most Promising Actress. Bellucci came to the attention of American audiences in Under Suspicion (2000) and gained greater international recognition as Malèna Scordia in Malèna (2000). Bellucci starred in the period drama Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) and the comedy Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002). She portrayed a rape victim in the controversial thriller Irréversible (2002), and Persephone in the 2003 science-fiction films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

Bellucci was praised for her portrayal of Mary Magdalene in the drama The Passion of the Christ (2004). She played a prostitute in How Much Do You Love Me? (2005) and Shoot 'Em Up (2007), and acted in diverse roles in other films, including The Whistleblower (2010), The Ages of Love (2011), and The Wonders (2014). Her role in Ville-Marie (2015) earned her the Dublin Film Critics' Circle Award for Best Actress. At the age of 50, Bellucci appeared in the James Bond film Spectre (2015), becoming the oldest Bond girl in the history of the franchise. She later appeared in films such as On the Milky Road (2016) and The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020). Bellucci's television appearances include the series Mozart in the Jungle (2016) and the original French version of Call My Agent! (2018). Bellucci made her stage debut in 2019 as Maria Callas in Letters and Memoirs.

Bellucci starred alongside her second husband Vincent Cassel in on-screen partnerships that spanned ten years. She has remained involved in modelling, and worked as a brand ambassador for luxury brands such as Cartier and Dior. Some media outlets have labelled Bellucci a sex symbol. Bellucci received the knight insignias of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2006 and of the Legion of Honour in 2016. She represents Italy as a permanent member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Early life
Monica Anna Maria Bellucci was born in Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy, on 30 September 1964. Her father Pasquale Bellucci owned a trucking company, and her mother Brunella Briganti was a housewife and amateur painter. Monica Bellucci is an only child because her parents did not want one another. Bellucci grew up in Selci-Lama, in the comune (municipality) of San Giustino on the banks of the Tiber River.

Bellucci received a Catholic education. She was an "intelligent child". According to her father, she was discreet and increasingly interested in fashion, and grew up "surrounded by love". Bellucci was introduced to modelling at age 13 when she posed for a photographer friend-of-the-family in Città di Castello. She was distant from other children her age, regularly made detours to get home after school, and did not spend time with them in the comune's public space. Bellucci's father said she complained everyone stared at her. Her father helped her to gain self-confidence.

Bellucci developed a taste for cinema, watching films by Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, Marcel Carné, and Jean-Luc Godard. Bellucci has said her personality largely reflects her upbringing: "Certainly a lot of positivity also depends on the climate in which my parents raised me".

1980s and 1990s
At age 16, Monica Bellucci was asked to pose for photography sessions by her father's friend, the director of a fashion agency. Having begun her modelling career, Bellucci periodically travelled to Milan and Paris while continuing her studies at Città di Castello. According to Bellucci: "I approached the adult universe very early" because she worked with models ten years older than herself. Bellucci said: "Modelling came to me naturally, and I loved pictures. I loved the world of image".

While hitchhiking, Bellucci met Piero Montanucci, a hairdresser from Città di Castello, who persuaded her to become his model. Bellucci, a student at the liceo classico, attracted attention wherever they went due to her striking appearance. She was considered a local model. Bellucci studied philosophy, literature, Latin and Greek. In 1983, Bellucci was dressed by Città di Castello-based fashion entrepreneur Pina Alberti and modelled at a fashion show at the Teatro degli Illuminati, the city's municipal theatre, as part of an event called Momento Donna, which Maria Giovanna Elmi hosted. Montanucci, her mentor at the time, accompanied Bellucci to the event. While in high school, Bellucci's father's friend allowed her to debut on the catwalk during a fashion show in Florence and at another in Milan.

Bellucci studied law at the University of Perugia, aiming to become a lawyer. She financed her studies by working as a model through her father's friend. After a friend of Bellucci encouraged her to apply to modelling agencies during her studies, she moved to Milan, one of Europe's fashion centres. Modelling agent Piero Piazzi saw Bellucci's arrival at the Elite Model Management agency and thought she could have been an actress. Piazzi had been critical in his assessment when he first saw Bellucci in 1987, telling her she was "not ready". Between 1988 and 1989, Elite signed Bellucci to a contract. In 1988, she featured on the cover of Elle France, photographed by Oliviero Toscani, and Vogue Spain.

Bellucci's work as a model for Elite required her to travel so she decided to leave university; she later said being a lawyer would not have suited her. She appeared in numerous international advertising campaigns, and Dolce & Gabbana recruited her as their muse. Bellucci's physical attributes aligned with the image the founders of Dolce & Gabbana wanted to portray. In 1989, Bellucci lived in New York and was already a millionaire. As a model, Bellucci was represented by Elite, and she worked in Milan, Paris, and New York.

In 1990, the French luxury house Dior used Bellucci's image and name for its Haute Couture line. She was photographed by Richard Avedon, and became the "protagonist" of Dolce & Gabbana's campaigns, "which elevated her to an icon of Mediterranean beauty". She also appeared in fashion parades for the luxury fashion house Fendi. In 1991, Bellucci was the brand ambassador for the cosmetics company L'Oréal. The same year, Bellucci appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which featured photographs of her in the Caribbean. Bellucci also appeared in advertisements for Givenchy, Nina Ricci, Yves Saint Laurent, Versace and other luxury brands. In 1992, Bellucci combined her work as a model with her acting debut. In 1993, she first met Giuseppe Tornatore when he directed her in a television advertisement for Dolce & Gabbana perfume.

Bellucci opted to follow her passion for cinema, turned to acting and stopped modelling full-time, although she remained active in the industry. The Italian luxury company Breil appointed Bellucci its brand ambassador and she starred in advertising campaigns. In the 1990s, Bellucci regularly modelled for calendars, beginning in 1997 at the age of 33 when Avedon photographed her for the Pirelli Calendar. In 1997, Bellucci became the brand ambassador and muse of Cartier jewellery. Nina Hald of the Danish newspaper Berlingske said: "Cartier chose for the first time to associate an actress closely with the house". Cartier accompanied Bellucci throughout her acting career, notably on red carpets, where she wore haute joaillerie (high jewellery) collections, and she worked as a model for opulent creations. Italian fashion photographer Fabrizio Ferri photographed Bellucci for the magazine Max calendar.

2000s
Monica Bellucci posed for the GQ calendar in 2000 and was photographed by Gian Paolo Barbieri. In 2004, while pregnant with her first child, Bellucci posed nude for the Italian cover of Vanity Fair in a protest against Italian laws that restricted access to in vitro fertilisation. That same year, Bellucci's status as the only actress who was contractually bound to Cartier was made public. In 2006, she was named brand ambassador for Dior and the face of a range of products until 2010. Dior 2006–2010 campaigns:
 * Cartier designed a collection of luxury diamond jewellery that was inspired by Bellucci and bore her name. It was first presented at a Cartier event in Dubai in 2007.
 * Cartier designed a collection of luxury diamond jewellery that was inspired by Bellucci and bore her name. It was first presented at a Cartier event in Dubai in 2007.
 * Cartier designed a collection of luxury diamond jewellery that was inspired by Bellucci and bore her name. It was first presented at a Cartier event in Dubai in 2007.

2010s and 2020s
Monica Bellucci's appearances in television advertisements include Martini Gold, a collaboration between Martini and Dolce & Gabbana, in 2010. She again posed semi-nude whilst pregnant for the cover of the April 2010 issue of Vanity Fair Italy. Cashmere goods manufacturer Éric Bompard appointed Bellucci as its brand ambassador for its winter 2011/2012 advertising campaign. In 2012, Bellucci was the face of an eponymous range of Dolce & Gabbana lipstick. She appeared in other seasonal fashion campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana. She was signed to Storm Management in London and D'Management Group in Milan.

Bellucci was chosen as the face of German cosmetics manufacturer Nivea for its 2018 and 2019 campaigns. In June 2018, Bellucci appeared in a fashion parade for Dolce & Gabbana when she opened the second day of Milan Fashion Week. According to Stefano Gabbana, Bellucci returned to the catwalk for the house for the first time since 1992. She also appeared on the catwalk for Dolce & Gabbana at the early 2019 Milan fashion week, along with Helena Christensen, Eva Herzigová, and Isabella Rossellini, who joined the influx of 1990s supermodels returning to the fashion spotlight.

Bellucci remained the "muse" and ambassador of the Cartier brand in the 2020s. Since 2000, Bellucci has appeared on national and international covers of Elle, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Maxim, Paris Match, Schön!, The Sunday Times Style, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, among others.

1990–1999: Early roles and breakthrough
In 1990, Italian director Carlo Vanzina noticed a photo of Monica Bellucci in a magazine and recommended her to Dino Risi, who was looking for a "new face" for his television miniseries Vita coi figli. Bellucci had never thought of becoming an actress and was surprised to be chosen for a role. Bellucci made her acting debut in Vita coi figli, a two-part television film that was broadcast in Italy in May 1991, in which she played Elda. The same year, Bellucci made her film debut in La Riffa, which Francesco Laudadio directed.

In 1992, Bellucci played one of the three brides of Dracula in the horror film Bram Stoker's Dracula. Roman Coppola saw a photograph of Bellucci in the Italian magazine Zoom and implored his father Francis Ford to offer her a film role. Francis Ford Coppola arranged a meeting with Bellucci in Los Angeles while she was in New York for a photography session. After talking with Coppola, Bellucci realised she would embark on an acting career. At Coppola's request, Bellucci stayed in Los Angeles during filming; she was apprehensive about the city and believed her English needed improvement. She decided her next acting work would be in Italy. Bellucci's role as a "sensual vampire" was her international film debut.

Following her minor role in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Bellucci returned to Italy and enrolled in acting classes. According to Bellucci:"I craved it ... I needed to act". Bellucci said a time when all of her friends were leaving the faculty was a challenging time. Bellucci had difficulty overcoming the prejudices related to her modelling and her physical appearance, and had to work to establish her credibility. For the next four years, Bellucci starred in Italian films but was ultimately dissatisfied due to the lack of opportunities, and she aspired to an international acting career. Bellucci appeared in the Emmy-winning biblical television miniseries Joseph (1995). In her view, the Italian film industry needed to invest more money to promote films internationally. Bellucci moved to France to improve her career prospects, and settled in Paris in 1995.

Bellucci's portrayal of Lisa in The Apartment (1996), a "moody" French film noir, earned her a César Award nomination for Most Promising Actress. This launched her career in France and strengthened her position as an actress. It was her first French-language film. Gavanndra Hodge of The Sunday Times stated that her "break-out role" was in the European arthouse film The Apartment. The BBC's Almar Haflidason described the film as "seductive" and "startling", giving it a rating of five stars. Bellucci's second French film was Jan Kounen's Dobermann (1997), in which she portrayed a mute Gypsy and had to learn sign language beforehand to embody her character. Recalling the filming process, she expressed an inclination for mise-en-scènes (stage settings) "that pass more through bodies than through words". At this point in her career, Bellucci made a significant impact on European audiences. Pierce Brosnan performed a screen test with Bellucci for the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) then requested she be given the role of Paris Carver but the studio stated only an American actress could be cast in the role. For her leading role as Giulia Giovannini in the Italian comedy-drama L'ultimo capodanno (1998), Bellucci received a Globo d'oro Award for Best Actress. The Apartment later won a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) for Best Film not in the English language, prompting film director Stephen Hopkins to take a close interest in Bellucci.

2000–2003: American films, Malèna, and Irréversible

In 2000, Monica Bellucci caught the attention of American audiences with her first English-language lead role in Hopkins' Under Suspicion, in which she starred opposite Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman. Hopkins cast Bellucci after watching her performance in The Apartment and retained her ideas to create the character Chantal Hearst. Garth Pearce, writing in The Times, noted her improved spoken English. Under Suspicion was selected as one of the 2000 Cannes Film Festival's closing films, marking her red-carpet debut at the annual event. After the film's release, Freeman said: "It's all there in her eyes. She has this quality that reminds me of Jeanne Moreau. There is a sense of having been there, that she's had a life." Variety listed Bellucci among "the ten young actresses to keep an eye on".

Bellucci returned to Italian cinema, portraying Malèna Scordia, an enigmatic, envied and coveted World War II widow whose life unfolds before a 13-year-old boy in the Tornatore-directed film Malèna (2000), which is set in Sicily. Los Angeles Times film critic Kevin Thomas said the film emphasises the seductive appeal of the film's protagonist Scordia, to whom Bellucci gave an "heroic" portrayal that was delivered with a few lines of dialogue. Writing for The Guardian, Mark Salisbury considered Bellucci's portrayal in the Oscar-nominated film her "breakout performance". Malèna brought Bellucci worldwide attention; it was her first international success and caused her to be "besieged by offers" from Hollywood when Miramax secured the film for US distribution. For the US release, ten minutes of explicit, erotic scenes from the film were censored.

Bellucci starred with Samuel Le Bihan and Vincent Cassel in Christophe Gans' Brotherhood of the Wolf, a 2001 French period drama film that is based on historical events involving the beast of Gévaudan that decimated the population of Lozère in 18th-century France. The Washington Post film critic Stephen Hunter found the film's stylistic approach too dense, obscuring Bellucci's "fabulous natural asset"; she played an "underused" role as a courtesan–papist spy. The film received positive responses from other critics. Brotherhood of the Wolf was a box-office success in France, where it attracted five million viewers and grossed US$70 million worldwide, including $11 million in the US, against a budget of about €32 million. The film earned Bellucci a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 2002 Saturn Awards. The filming of Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), in which Bellucci starred with Jamel Debbouze, which, with its light-hearted, comic atmosphere, was one of Bellucci's favourite cinematographic experiences. She portrayed the "prickly" Cleopatra, the queen of Ancient Egypt, in the comedy film, which was directed by Alain Chabat. The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw wrote Bellucci was "certainly talented enough ... to merit getting the role of Cleopatra in some serious treatment", but before then, she had to perform in a "funny mainstream commercial" French production. The film was a success, selling 14 million tickets in France at the time of its release and grossing more than $128 million worldwide.

In 2002, Bellucci co-starred with Cassel in Gaspar Noé's "violent" arthouse thriller Irréversible. The revenge film, which was filmed on Super 16 film using hand-held cameras, depicts Bellucci playing Alex, who is graphically raped for nine uninterrupted minutes in an underpass, a scene Bellucci had to film four times. Bellucci's "indelible scene" was filmed on the outskirts of Paris, in an area frequented by prostitutes. Bellucci and Cassel, who at the time were in a relationship, were some of "the country's biggest talents". Audiences at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival were outraged during the midnight premiere of Irréversible, with some calling it "unsustainable". Lisa Nesselson of Variety said Bellucci showed "responses to peril and joy [that are] particularly memorable". The film has been studied in film schools. Noé said he "has never seen an actress so charismatic ... with that much guts ... her performance is incredibly audacious". K. Austin Collins of Rolling Stone called Irréversible "one of the most controversial movies ever".

In 2003, Bellucci played Alessia in the Italian film Remember Me, My Love, which was directed by Gabriele Muccino and earned Bellucci the Nastro d'Argento award for Best Supporting Actress. Bellucci co-starred with Bruce Willis in Antoine Fuqua's Tears of the Sun (2003), an action-adventure film that is set during a civil war in Nigeria. Bellucci played Doctor Lena Kendricks, who is working for a humanitarian organisation in a village that is threatened by rebels. Film critic David Denby of The New Yorker said some of Bellucci's scenes were exaggeratedly stylised but praised the film's visual prowess. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan lauded Bellucci's "fierce" portrayal of Kendricks, who also had a "stereotypically fiery temperament". Tears of the Sun garnered mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office disappointment.

Bellucci successively portrayed the character Persephone in the two 2003 science fiction films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. She described her character as "dangerous, sensual with some sense of humor", recalling fond memories with Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, and Keanu Reeves throughout the filming process in Australia. Film critic Andrew Sarris of The New York Observer gave The Matrix Reloaded a positive review, grossing $742.1 million worldwide against a budget of $150 million. Alongside its release, Bellucci appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone Spanish edition. The Merovingian (Lambert Wilson) again accompanied Bellucci as her screen husband in The Matrix Revolutions, which received mixed reviews from critics. It grossed $427 million against a production and marketing budget of $185 million.

2004–2007: The Passion of the Christ and career progression
In Rome, before filming Tears of the Sun, Bellucci was notified a Mel Gibson film about Jesus was in production and she asked to meet with him about the role of Mary Magdalene. Bellucci's agent advised her against appearing in this film due to its potential failure because its distribution was undetermined at the time. Bellucci ignored her agent's suggestion and rejected another film offer. Gibson chose Bellucci for the role because they "liked each other". She wanted to portray the character as "strong and deep" but no-one believed the film would succeed. Eventually, Bellucci played an expressive Mary Magdalene in Gibson's Christian drama The Passion of the Christ (2004), which depicts the final hours of the life of Jesus Christ. The film includes dialogue in Aramaic and Latin, languages Bellucci had to quickly learn. The New York Times film critic A. O. Scott said Bellucci was the only exception to the "absence of identifiable movie stars". Expressing a similar opinion, Le Monde said in the film portraying afundamentalist view of the Gospel, Bellucci stands out from the cast list the most. According to film critic Paul Clinton, Bellucci "is excellent as Mary Magdalene". Catholics objected to Bellucci playing Magdalene. Film critic Roger Ebert described The Passion of the Christ as "the most violent film I have ever seen", adding he was "moved by the depth of feeling, by the skill of the actors" and gave a rating of four stars out of four. Overall, critics were divided in their responses to the film. The Passion of the Christ was a major commercial success with a worldwide gross of over $611 million against a budget of $30 million.

On 2 July 2005, Bellucci was awarded the European Golden Globe for cinema at Rome's 45th Globo d'oro ceremony. She said she appreciated acting in both American and European films. In Terry Gilliam's fantasy adventure film The Brothers Grimm (2005), Bellucci played the 500-year-old Mirror Queen, starring opposite Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. Gilliam later said: "[i]mmediately she comes on-screen, it seems to me the whole film lifts up into another realm, a realm of sex and sensuality and danger". San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle said Bellucci convincingly portrayed her character, whose centuries-old age appeared to him to be discordant with her "allure". She also voiced Cappy for the French version of the 2005 animated film Robots. Bellucci had a leading role in Bertrand Blier's French romantic comedy How Much Do You Love Me?, which also starred Gérard Depardieu. Bellucci portrayed Daniela, the most beautiful prostitute in Pigalle, Paris, whom a lottery-winning office worker offers to pay to live with him. A journalist at Le Monde called the film "a hymn to the beauty of Monica Bellucci", and said it is neither Blier's best film nor his most failed. Nesselson commented Bellucci was optimally used in the film because she stimulates the viewer's senses and intellect.

In 2006, Bellucci starred alongside Daniel Auteuil in Paolo Virzì's period comedy-drama Napoleon and Me as baroness Emilia, who has a turbulent relationship Martino (Elio Germano). The film depicts Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile to Elba from 1814 to 1815. Author Mark Feeney said Bellucci does not take "things too seriously" in the film. Bellucci said she declined to play a role in the blockbuster 300 and instead appeared in the film d'auteur (auteur film) The Stone Council. Bellucci was cast after the initial announcement of Sophie Marceau for the lead role in the thriller. The Stone Council was adapted from the eponymous novel by Jean-Christophe Grangé. The film differs by character names; the book's female hero is called Diane Thiberge whereas Bellucci starred as Laura Siprien, a tormented adoptive mother who is confronted by killers who want to steal her child. Sébastien Le Fol of Le Figaro wrote that she "delivers one of her best performances on the big screen" with a muted sex appeal. Bellucci's hair was cut short for the film, a preferred style of French cinema hairstylist John Nollet, who also styled Bellucci on the sets of Brotherhood of the Wolf and Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra.

Bellucci starred opposite Paul Giamatti and Clive Owen in Michael Davis' action thriller Shoot 'Em Up, which was released in the US in September 2007. Bellucci portrayed Donna Quintano, who teams up with Owen's character Mr Smith to protect a baby during a bloody fight. Bellucci's character is another prostitute with a different approach than that of her character in How Much Do You Love Me?; Bellucci said she felt empathy for female sex workers, who she believes retain "faith in humanity". She was fond of this sort of paradox and tried to highlight this virtue in her portrayals of characters of all types but noted she could explore the opposite spectrum. Richard James Havis of the South China Morning Post wrote: "It's the latest in a slew of extreme roles". Bellucci dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of Shoot 'Em Up, saying it was a frequent practice for her to accomplish each film three times.

Bellucci continued to work in French film productions and starred alongside Auteuil in Alain Corneau's The Second Wind, a remake of the critically acclaimed Jean-Pierre Melville's 1966 gangster film of the same title. Bellucci portrayed Manouche, a tenacious character who has affection for an escaped convicted gangster. Bellucci had the idea of dyeing her hair blonde to adhere to the style of female film noir characters of the 1950s and 1960s. Thierry Jousse, a critic for Libération, wrote Bellucci was alone in a "fatally virile" context but she got through it "to the point of becoming the spectator's compass and the flesh of a film that sometimes lacks it". In November 2007, Le Monde reported on the commercial failures of The Second Wind and The Stone Council.

2008–2017: Continued international work

Bellucci felt a "visceral" need to regularly act in Italian films. In 2008, she co-starred in Marco Tullio Giordana's Wild Blood with Luca Zingaretti. The historical panorama examines the fate of Luisa Ferida (Bellucci) and Osvaldo Valenti (Zingaretti), leading actors during the Italian fascism period. Author Barry Forshaw called Bellucci "charismatic" and author Gino Moliterno praised her performance as "extremely powerful". Next, Bellucci played Alba in the Italian film The Man Who Loves, where she was enamoured with Pierfrancesco Favino's character Roberto through a cinematic flashback.

On 5 March 2009, Bellucci received a World Actress Award at the Women's World Award in Vienna. The same year, Bellucci co-starred with Marceau in the thriller Don't Look Back, a sequel to In My Skin, both of which were directed by Marina de Van. The film depicts Marceau's character seeing changes around her and noticing her body transform into Bellucci's. J.B. Morain of Les Inrockuptibles said Bellucci's physical attitude and "attention to others have never been so well filmed". Variety's Derek Elley said Bellucci "looks elegant and mystified", although both film critics noted the clumsily written dialogue. Bellucci reunited with Reeves in Rebecca Miller's romantic comedy-drama The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009), which co-stars Winona Ryder and Robin Wright. Bellucci portrayed Gigi Lee, the former wife of a successful publisher Herb (Alan Arkin). She next appeared in a cameo role in Tornatore's autobiographical film Baarìa, a family saga traversing several generations that was filmed in Bagheria, Sicily.

In 2010, Bellucci portrayed Laura Leviani in Larysa Kondracki's biopic drama thriller The Whistleblower, which was primarily filmed in Romania and depicts a vast human trafficking network that was discovered in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999. Hélène Delye of Le Monde described Bellucci's character as a "grizzled, stubborn, insensitive civil servant". The Whistleblower received a mixed critical reception. Bellucci made three films in seven months; these were Giovanni Veronesi's The Ages of Love, Philippe Garrel's A Burning Hot Summer, and Bahman Ghobadi's Rhino Season. In the third segment of the comedy anthology film film The Ages of Love (2011), Bellucci starred opposite Robert De Niro, who played a divorced American art-history professor living in Rome who falls in love with Bellucci's character Viola. De Niro was delighted to work with Bellucci, saying she had "worked her magic" on him and that he had accepted the role because he wanted to act alongside her. It was filmed two months after the birth of Bellucci's second child. An improvised scene shows De Niro performing a striptease in front of Bellucci, which echoes in reverse a sequence in the 1963 film Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, in which Sophia Loren stripteased for Marcello Mastroianni. For her role in Rhino Season (2012), Bellucci learnt to speak Farsi (Persian). Journalist Helen Barlow of SBS Australia said Bellucci "brought her natural poise and grace" to the character and "surprises with a stoic minimalist performance".

In 2014, Bellucci appeared in Alice Rohrwacher's The Wonders as Milly Catena, host of a televised contest. In the film, which combines autobiographical aspects with fiction, Bellucci's character is depicted as a Pagan priestess wearing elaborate clothes and surrounded with ancient figures. The Wonders was critically acclaimed and won the Grand Prix Award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. In 2015, Bellucci starred as Sophie Bernard in the Canadian drama film Ville-Marie, which was directed by Guy Édoin. The film traces the journey of Bernard, a European actress visiting Montreal for a film shoot and trying to reconcile with her son. Bellucci stated Édoin had offered her "one of the most beautiful roles" of her career and described a stimulating fear of embodying Bernard's character that emotionally affected her. The film garnered generally positive reviews and Bellucci's performance was unanimously praised. For her portrayal of Bernard, Bellucci received the Best Actress Award from the Dublin Film Critics' Circle at Dublin International Film Festival.

At 50, Bellucci became the oldest Bond girl at that time in the James Bond film franchise, playing Lucia Sciarra in Sam Mendes' Spectre (2015). Bellucci was initially sceptical about Mendes' project but he argued casting a mature woman in a James Bond film would be innovative. Bellucci felt gratified to have been the first to portray a role she defined as a "James Bond lady". Spectre was released to mixed reviews from critics though the British press responded more positively. The film grossed $880 million worldwide against a $250–300 million production budget. Guy Lodge of Variety called Bellucci "[o]ne of the most restlessly globe-trotting stars in world cinema" who does not want national borders or age brackets to dictate her filmography. In 2016, Bellucci had a guest role in the third season of the American comedy-drama streaming television series Mozart in the Jungle, an adaptation of Blair Tindall's memoir Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music, portraying Alessandra, an opera singer and latest collaborator of New York symphony orchestra conductor] Rodrigo (Gael García Bernal). Variety's Nick Vivarelli called Bellucci the "Italian actress with international star power".

Bellucci portrayed Nevesta in the film On the Milky Road (2016), a romance that is set during the 1990s Bosnian War and whose lead role was played by the film's director Emir Kusturica. Bellucci said: "I decided to be an actress, not a politician, I recount political choices through my artistic choices." Kusturica asked Bellucci to learn her dialogue in the Serbian language. She had to adapt to challenging production conditions in a "land of beauty and violence"; Kusturica suffered "great [mental] pain" during filming, which spanned four summers. The Hollywood Reporter's Neil Young said the Golden Lion-nominated film's approach lacks nuance while Bellucci performed "admirably well" and kept her "dignity intact" in a physically demanding role. Her performance in the film earned her the Nastro d'Argento europeo (European Silver Ribbon Award), which was held on 1 July 2017 at the ancient theatre of Taormina in Sicily. In 2017, Bellucci appeared in the third season of Mark Frost and David Lynch's television series Twin Peaks. The same year, Bellucci received the honorary Donostia Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

2018–present: Recent career

In 2018, Monica Bellucci had a leading role in the Australian comedy science-fiction horror film Nekrotronic, playing a necromancer and demonic soul-eater. In his appraisal of the film, Stephen Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter said Bellucci portrayed her "diva" character through an "operatic camp-vamp" performance but that her acting style would be best suited to films by Tim Burton and Guillermo del Toro. Also in 2018, Bellucci appeared in the third season of the France 2 comedy television series Dix pour cent (Ten Percent), playing herself with self-mockery. The well-received show was initially renamed Call My Agent! after its Netflix purchase. In Claude Lelouch's film The Best Years of a Life (2019), which is set in Normandy, Bellucci had a cameo role as Elena, the daughter of Jean-Louis Duroc (Jean-Louis Trintignant). The film garnered positive critical responses.

Following his documentary film Maria by Callas (2017), writer and director Tom Volf proposed to Bellucci his project based on his book Maria Callas: Lettres & Mémoires, which includes the writings of opera singer Maria Callas. Following the film, Bellucci made her theatrical debut at the Marigny Theatre in Paris held from 27 November to 6 December 2019 in Maria Callas: Letters and Memoirs, a one-woman show Volf directed. In the show, Bellucci recited letters alone on stage and wore two dresses that had belonged to Callas. Bellucci has intermittently performed the show over a number of years. Maria Callas: Letters and Memoirs visited European theatres, including Venice's Teatro Goldoni and Athens's Odeon of Herodes Atticus, with an orchestra that attracted 4,000 people each night. In 2020, Bellucci starred as Soraya in the Oscar-nominated film The Man Who Sold His Skin, which Kaouther Ben Hania directed. Time film critic Stephanie Zacharek said Soraya, a "frosty, willowy blond", is acted by "a deviously silky-smooth Monica Bellucci".

In 2021, at the 66th David di Donatello ceremony, Bellucci received a David Special Award for her career achievements. She co-starred as part of an ensemble cast including Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce in Martin Campbell's action thriller Memory (2022), in which she played Davana Sealman, an unscrupulous real-estate magnate. She was initially interested in the duality of the antagonist's persona she would play and wanted to avoid typecasting based on her physical appearance, which she had experienced in the past. According to Entertainment Weekly critic Leah Greenblatt Memory is "wrapped in leaden dialogue and B-movie cliché" and Bellucci appears "blasé". In 2022, Bellucci performed Maria Callas: Letters and Memoirs at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, Chatelet Theatre in Paris, and at venues in Istanbul and Los Angeles.

In January 2023, at 58, Bellucci performed the play at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. In 2023, recalling Irréversible, Bellucci told The New York Times her "days of acting in transgressive movies are behind her" because she is a mother. In 2023, Bellucci entered talks to star in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as Delores, Betelgeuse's ex-wife and the movie's villain. She won the Nastro d'Argento Award for Protagonist of the Year in Documentaries 2024 for her interpretation of Callas in Letters and Memoirs.

Film industries
Bellucci was mistress of ceremonies at the 56th Cannes Film Festival, presiding over the opening and closing ceremonies that were held on the Promenade de la Croisette from 14 to 25 May 2003. From 17 to 28 May 2006, she was a jury member at the 59th Cannes Film Festival. In 2009, alongside filmmakers from Europe and the US, and 70 other industry names, Bellucci signed a petition to support film director Roman Polanski, who had been arrested in connection with his 1977 sexual abuse charges while on his way to Zurich Film Festival. Bellucci was also master of ceremonies at the 70th Cannes Film Festival, which took place from 17 to 28 May, where she was in charge of opening and closing one of the major international film events.

In 2017, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invited Bellucci to become a permanent member representing Italy, becoming one of the voting jurors who award the annual Academy Awards (Oscars). From 26 to 30 September 2018, Bellucci chaired the judging panel of the 29th Dinard British Film Festival. Bellucci was due to be chairwoman of the 15th Crystal Globe Awards, which was scheduled for 14 March 2020 at the Wagram auditorium in Paris, but the ceremony was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Charities and patronages
In 2008, Bellucci supported a fundraising campaign for a centre for children with cancer located in Prima Porta, Italy. The campaign was initiated by the Associazione Genitori Oncologia Pediatrica (AGOP) (Association of Parents in Pediatric Oncology). In 2010, Bellucci became patron of Paroles de Femmes (Words of Women), an apolitical, secular French association promoting equality between men and women in society. In March 2010, she organised the Nuit des Femmes (Women's Night), an assemblage of female politicians, researchers, doctors, lawyers, writers, painters, and business leaders, to assess the progression of women's rights in France. The funds raised went towards the building of centres of accommodation, reintegration and support for single mothers in precarious situations. In 2010, Rizzoli and La Martinière Groupe published a book prefaced by Tornatore that described Bellucci's modelling and acting careers through photographs taken by Peter Lindbergh and Helmut Newton. All proceeds from the book's sales were donated to AGOP and Words of Women. She donated €10,000 to the City of Cannes to fund a solidarity campaign to support recovery efforts following the deadly floods of October 2015 in the Alpes-Maritimes region. Bellucci is also a patron of the association SOS Autism France.

Foreign relations of Italy
According to Corriere della Sera's Stefano Montefiori, Bellucci is regarded as a sort of ambassador of Italy to the French population. She has been involved in state dinners chaired by the President of France and organised as part of visits by foreign heads of state. On 21 November 2012, Bellucci attended a state dinner French President François Hollande hosted at the Elysée Palace in Paris during the visit of President of Italy Giorgio Napolitano and his ministers. On 5 July 2021, Bellucci was invited to a state dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée Palace in honour of Italian President Sergio Mattarella and his daughter Laura.

Public image

In 2001, Bellucci was pictured nude with caviar on her breasts on the cover of Esquire's Desire issue. In their reviews of Malèna (2000), Thomas wrote in Los Angeles Times Bellucci "has the impact of the great Italian stars", and Paul Tatara of CNN International called her a "world-class bombshell". In 2002, AskMen named her number one on the "Top 99 Most Desirable Women". Bellucci was included in Empire's list of "Sexiest Women". In 2003, Chris Campion of The Daily Telegraph stated: La Bellucci' is Italy's national sweetheart and an icon of European cinema". On 23 November 2004, Bellucci pressed the button triggering the Christmas illuminations on the Champs-Élysées avenue that consisted of 45 km of electric garlands descending from the Place de l'Étoile towards Place de la Concorde, in the presence of the First Deputy Mayor Anne Hidalgo. Bellucci was the first-ever foreign public figure invited by the City of Paris and the Champs-Élysées Committee to inaugurate this annual celebration. Bellucci was named the "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" in 2004 and 2007 in an Ipsos survey of 1,002 people in France that was commissioned by TF1.

In April 2005, the Grévin Museum in Paris unveiled a wax statue of Bellucci. In The Times, Pearce called Bellucci "arguably the world's most beautiful actress", saying she has the propensity to specialise in playing "[u]gly scenes", which is exemplified by the rape scene in Irréversible (2002). In 2005, Salisbury wrote in The Guardian Bellucci represents an "international object of desire" and said: "[i]n person, as on screen, Bellucci radiates a rare, otherworldly beauty". Based on Bellucci's projected image and her work for Cartier, Kommersant described her as the "type of diva whose fame depends little on her roles". According to Blier, Bellucci is "completely relaxed with her image and with her own sense of modesty as well"; Blier compared her to Ava Gardner and "the stars of yesteryear". On 9 May 2008, L'Obs reported on a survey of 1,003 people conducted by the Superior Audiovisual Council as part of Europe Day, where Bellucci was the second-most-popular European personality (excluding France) of the French.

In 2011, Bellucci was ranked fourth in Los Angeles Times Magazine's list of the "50 most beautiful women in film". She was voted number one on NRJ 12's list of "100 sexiest stars of 2011", which was based on a nationwide survey conducted in France that included American and French actresses, models, singers, female athletes and television presenters. In 2012, Bellucci said she had never undergone cosmetic procedures, saying: "I don't like the idea of having my face retouched and, frankly, I think it's quite dangerous for an actress. ... Compared to a plastic face, I prefer wrinkles." On 10 April 2016, the agency Karin Models, which represented Bellucci, opened an official Instagram account for her. Instagram censored a photograph Fred Meylan imaged in 2016 showing Bellucci swimming on her back in a pool, and body parts were hidden in yellow pixels.

Christophe Narbonne of Première magazine wrote: "Behind the advertising muse, the image of the (re)incarnated Italian diva and the globalised sexual icon, we sometimes forget Monica Bellucci the out-of-norm actress, collector of a pile of international cult auteurs". De Morgen wrote: "most roles fit Bellucci like a glove", while Christophe Carrière of L'Express said others of "variable geometry" compose her filmography. In 2018, Bellucci was included in Forbes Italy's list of "Successful women: the 100 winning Italian women". Bellucci's physical characteristics have led her inclusion in lists of all-time beauties and sex symbols compiled by magazines such as Esquire Japan and Men's Health in the US and Australia.

The press call Bellucci a style icon. Bellucci is associated with the wearing of high-value jewellery and an "unwavering commitment" to Cartier, Boucheron and Chopard; Naomi Pike of British Vogue referred to her as "A Modern Day Liz Taylor", and said when dressed in diamonds, "few contemporary Hollywood stars can rival Italian actor Monica Bellucci". Federico Roberto Antonelli, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in China, said: "everyone dreams of Malèna Monica Bellucci". In 2021, Vogue France ranked Bellucci fourth in its list of the "most beautiful Italian actresses of all time". Media consider Bellucci an Italian sex symbol. Rolling Stone Italy included Bellucci in its list of "10 greatest sex symbols of the 1990s". She takes a "peaceful" attitude towards ageing and mainly believes in pasta, wine, and a little pilates for her "beauty regime", and is not addicted to exercise and dieting. In 2023, Bellucci said having been "objectified" during her film career did not bother her and that she was aware she had made the most of her body for specific roles. Elisabeth Vincentelli wrote for The New York Times in 2023 that Bellucci has achieved a "reputation as a symbol of European glamour and sophistication" that is "firmly established".

Personal life
Monica Bellucci's first marriage was with Italian photographer Claudio Carlos Basso. In a 2006 interview, Bellucci said she met Basso in 1987, when he recruited her for a photography session; she was 23 and he was five years older. Bellucci and Basso married in Monte-Carlo on 3 January 1990. They divorced a year later.

Bellucci was in a relationship with Italian actor Nicola Farron for several years. Farron said they met in 1990 on the set of Vita coi figli. Farron said he felt "an overwhelming passion" for Bellucci. Their relationship became unstable because other men increasingly lusted after Bellucci and the couple separated in 1995.

Bellucci and French actor Vincent Cassel met in 1995 on the set of their film The Apartment. They married in Monaco at the beginning of August 1999. Bellucci and Cassel have two daughters, Deva (born 12 September 2004) and Léonie (born 21 May 2010), both of whom were born in Rome. Film critic Jason Solomons wrote Bellucci and Cassel were "the golden couple of European cinema". The couple acted together in nine films between 1996 and 2006. In March 2013, Bellucci reflected on the evolution of their marriage when she and Cassel often lived separately in Italy, France, Brazil and England. The couple's separation by "mutual agreement" was announced on 26 August 2013 and they later divorced.

In October 2013, Bellucci said she had almost always been in a relationship since the one with her first boyfriend at the age of fourteen.

In 2019, Bellucci was in a relationship with the French sculptor and former model Nicolas Lefebvre. They had been dating since 2017. Lefebvre, who was then aged 36, and Bellucci made their relationship "official" in early March 2019 during a Chanel show at the Grand Palais in Paris. Bellucci told Italian magazine F about the end of their relationship, which was reported by other media in early July 2019.

In February 2023, Paris Match reported Bellucci and American filmmaker Tim Burton were in a relationship that began in October 2022. In June 2023, Bellucci confirmed she was in a relationship with Burton. They made their first public appearance at the Rome Film Festival in October 2023.

Besides her native Italian, Bellucci is fluent in French and English, and is proficient in Portuguese and Spanish. After her divorce from Cassel, Bellucci lived with her daughters in England, France, and Italy. By 2015, she had decided to live in France. Bellucci said: "I am entirely Italian. Everything about me is Italian", and that "Paris is part of my history". Bellucci said she votes in Italy, not in France, and she does not have French nationality. She owns houses in Rome and Lisbon, and in 2023, she purchased a villa on the Greek island of Paros.

According to Bellucci, she has moved away from her religious roots; she said: "I come from a Catholic religion, but I'm not Catholic". She has called herself an agnostic.

In 2018, French tax authorities investigated Bellucci for non-declaration of a safe and bank accounts in Switzerland that were linked to an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). The French authorities tried to recover French taxes for the tax years 2011 to 2013 because they suspected tax evasion; Bellucci's lawyer stated she lived in the UK and not Paris. In September 2021, Bellucci said being "up to date with my tax obligations both in France and abroad". The results of the investigation into her Swiss bank accounts remain undisclosed. Following the investigation, Bellucci was named in the Pandora Papers, a massive data leak from offshore entities of high-profile figures, that was published in October 2021.

In 2018, Forbes valued Bellucci's wealth at $45 million, ranking her as the third-richest Italian actor.

Acting credits and accolades
Monica Bellucci has developed her acting career by alternating low-budget arthouse and auteur films with big-budget films in the European and American industries.

Bellucci has received honours from the French and Italian governments. In 2006, French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy conferred her with the knight insignia of the Order of Arts and Letters. In 2016, French President François Hollande presented her with the knight insignia in the National Order of the Legion of Honour at the Elysée Palace. In 2020, Mayor Dario Nardella awarded Bellucci the Key to the City of Florence.

title: Monica Bellucci


text:
Linda Evangelista

Linda Evangelista (born May 10, 1965) is a Canadian fashion model. She is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential models of all time, and has been featured on over 700 magazine covers. Evangelista is primarily known for being the longtime "muse" of photographer Steven Meisel, as well as for the phrase: "We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day."

Evangelista's modelling career began in 1984 when she signed with Elite Model Management after having moved from her native Canada to New York City. Upon the suggestion of photographer Peter Lindbergh, Evangelista had her hair cut short in 1988.

Described as the "chameleon" of the fashion industry, and as a key figure among the five supermodels (Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford). Evangelista was one of the most famous women in the world during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.

Unlike her colleagues, Evangelista chose not to diversify into other ventures outside of modelling. She retired from her career in 1998 and made a comeback three years later, this time working only sporadically. Her achievements as a model led to her being voted as "The Greatest Supermodel of All Time" by the viewers of the television show Fashion File in 2008.

Early life
Evangelista was born on May 10, 1965, in St. Catharines, to a working-class Catholic family. She is the second of three children of Marisa and Tomaso "Tom" Evangelista (1940–2014), who were Italian emigrants from Pignataro Interamna. Her father, who immigrated to Canada in 1957, worked for General Motors,  and her mother was a bookkeeper. Evangelista has an older brother, Jim, and a younger brother, Danny. She attended a self-improvement course in a modelling school at the age of 12, where she was taught things such as poise and etiquette, and she was advised to attend a modelling course. She attended Denis Morris Catholic High School.

As a teenager, Evangelista started modelling locally in her hometown. In 1981, she took part in the Miss Teen Niagara beauty pageant. While she did not win the pageant, she caught the eye of a representative from Elite Model Management.

At the age of 16, she flew to Japan to model there, but an unpleasant experience involving nudity during an assignment made her want to stop modelling altogether. She returned to Canada, and two years went by before she decided to try her hand at modelling again.

1984–1987: Early career
Evangelista moved to New York City in 1984 upon signing with Elite, where she met the modelling agent John Casablancas, who compared her likeness to the model Joan Severance. Elite then moved Evangelista to Paris,   where she launched her international high-fashion career at the age of 19. Her first major fashion magazine cover was for the November 1984 issue of L'Officiel. Subsequently, she appeared on the covers and in the pages of a variety of international publications, including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Elle, W, Marie Claire, Allure, Time, Interview, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Cigar Aficionado, and i-D. She appeared on a total of more than 700 covers worldwide.

In 1985, Evangelista began working with Karl Lagerfeld, the head designer of the fashion house Chanel, to whom she would become a muse. On the subject of Evangelista, Lagerfeld once uttered, "There is not another model in the world as professional as she is." Evangelista became one of the first editorial models to successfully cross over into the realm of runway modelling, with her agent Piero Piazzi successfully booking her to walk for fashion designer Gianni Versace, for whom she became a muse. She first appeared in a Versace ad campaign in 1987. She also modelled for various other fashion brands such as Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Gianfranco Ferré, Ralph Lauren, Yves Saint Laurent, Azzedine Alaïa, Oscar de la Renta, Giorgio Armani, Thierry Mugler, Claude Montana, Donna Karan, Jil Sander, Jean Paul Gaultier, Alberta Ferretti, Isaac Mizrahi, Escada, Calvin Klein, Salvatore Ferragamo, Max Mara, Perry Ellis, Chloé, Comme des Garçons, Bill Blass, and Herve Leger. She has represented a diverse array of other companies and non-fashion brands like Visa, American Express, Pizza Hut, De Beers, and Elizabeth Arden.

In 1986, Evangelista met the photographer Steven Meisel, with whom she forged a friendship. From that point on, they began working together on many professional collaborations, and Evangelista became Meisel's muse in the process. Starting in 1987, Evangelista began to appear in advertisements and commercials for Revlon's "The Most Unforgettable Women in the World" campaign, which was photographed by Richard Avedon. She has also been photographed by Peter Lindbergh, Irving Penn, Francesco Scavullo, Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber, Gian Paolo Barbieri, Patrick Demarchelier, Paolo Roversi, Norman Parkinson, Arthur Elgort, Gilles Bensimon, Ellen von Unwerth, Sante D'Orazio, and Nick Knight among others.

1988–1992: Supermodel career
It was Lindbergh who, in the autumn of 1988, suggested to Evangelista that she cut her hair short after seeing her try on a short wig for a photoshoot. Consequently, she got a short gamine haircut from the French hairstylist Julien d'Ys. The following day, she was photographed by Lindbergh, which resulted in a now-famous photograph known as "the white shirt picture". Initially, the haircut was not well received by the fashion industry, and Evangelista was cancelled from 16 fashion shows. By the spring of 1989, her haircut was the look of the season. The haircut was referred to as "The Linda", and it inspired the creation of a wig called "The Evangelista".

Evangelista became known as one of the five supermodels, a group of star models who reached the pinnacle of success during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The supermodels were considered more famous than most actresses and singers of that time. In addition, Evangelista, along with Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell comprised a triumvirate that was dubbed "The Trinity". They were joined by Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz for the cover of the January 1990 issue of British Vogue, which was photographed by Lindbergh. The cover itself was said to have "defined the supermodel era". Upon seeing the cover, singer George Michael chose to cast them in the music video for his song "Freedom! '90". In May of that year, Evangelista was chosen as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People. She also appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show where she served as a judge for an Elite model search competition, and chose Leslie Bibb as the winner, who later became an actress.

In an interview printed in the October 1990 issue of Vogue, Evangelista said: "We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day." That statement is now thought of as the most famous quote in modelling history, and it has been described as "the 'Let them eat cake' of the 20th century". Also in October 1990, Evangelista stunned the fashion world by having the hairstylist Oribe dye her naturally brown hair platinum blonde. Months later, she had her hair dyed a shocking shade of red known as "technicolor red". Throughout most of her modelling career, Evangelista was referred to as the fashion industry's "chameleon" for the way that she constantly reinvented herself with various hairstyles and ever-changing hair colours that inspired hair trends. In terms of her looks, she was likened to Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, and Gina Lollobrigida.

In 1991, it was rumoured that the fashion house Lanvin paid Evangelista $20,000 to walk in their haute couture show for the spring/summer season, an amount that was considered excessive. Model Tyson Beckford recounted in an interview that Evangelista was instrumental in getting higher rates for models. That April, Evangelista waived her runway fee as an act of support for fashion designer Anna Sui's debut collection, and instead accepted clothing as payment. Two months later, she attended Valentino's 30th Anniversary Gala in Rome, Italy with Meisel. In September 1991, Time featured a cover story on the supermodels. The following month, in an article for Vogue, fashion journalist Suzy Menkes described Evangelista as "the world's star model". Evangelista then starred in the 1991 documentary Models: The Film, directed by Lindbergh. And, an episode of the MTV show House of Style devoted a segment to Evangelista, which was filmed in Paris.

During the latter part of 1991 and throughout 1992, Evangelista was seen on several different billboards for the fashion brand Kenar, in the center of Times Square. The billboards were done in conjunction with Ads Against AIDS, which was a campaign created by the advertising industry to raise awareness about tackling the disease. The most talked about and most controversial of those billboards was one that showed Evangelista seated among seven older Sicilian women. It was said that the image, which got dubbed "Beauty and the Seven Beasts" by Richard Johnson in the New York Post, promoted a negative depiction of Italian women. Nonetheless, limited edition prints of the image were sold for $1,000 a piece, to benefit Ads Against AIDS. Also, the image was chosen as one of the "20 most important fashion photographs ever" by the International Center of Photography. Kenneth Zimmerman, president of Kenar, said of Evangelista, "She has increased our sales dramatically." He further added, "Linda was our Michael Jordan. We chose her because we wanted a star, and of the four or five star models, she is number one."

In April 1992, Evangelista and several other supermodels appeared on the cover of the 100th anniversary issue of Vogue, which remains to this day as the magazine's highest-selling issue. She then appeared in the music video for George Michael's "Too Funky" song, in which she parodied her modelling persona. In July 1992, she was on the cover of Canadian fashion magazine Flare, which was an issue honouring Canada's 125 years as a nation. She was also said to have started the trend for thin eyebrows, which later coincided with the arrival of the Neo-Hippie fashion trend in the fall of 1992. Her cover for the September 1992 issue of Harper's Bazaar  is now seen as "iconic", and it was ranked #9 on the American Society of Magazine Editors' list of the "Top 40 Magazine Covers of the Last 40 Years" in 2005. Toward the end of 1992, her name was immortalized in RuPaul's song, "Supermodel (You Better Work)".

1993–1998: Later career and retirement
Evangelista made headlines in 1993 when she travelled to Australia with Claudia Schiffer for a 5-day tour, which included a news conference and a televised fashion show, as part of the grand opening of a department store. In October 1994, Evangelista was one of several models on the cover of Vogue Italia′s 30th anniversary issue. She then appeared in the feature film Prêt-à-Porter. In 1995, the hairstylist Garren of New York changed Evangelista's look by giving her an asymmetrical bob similar to mod hairstyles of the 1960s. That same year, she took part in Thierry Mugler's 20th anniversary fashion show. Evangelista later landed an endorsement deal with Clairol worth over $5 million. She also starred in the fashion documentary Unzipped. Additionally, she was a presenter at the Miss World 1995 competition.

In 1996, Evangelista was one of the ten subjects of Lindbergh's book 10 Women, on whose cover she appeared. She was also seen in the fashion documentary Catwalk. She was also the cover model for the inaugural issues of Vogue Taiwan and Vogue Korea. And, she landed a $7.75 million contract with Yardley of London. Eventually, she made the choice to retire from modelling in 1998, and settled on the French Riviera, where she spent the next two years.

2001–Present: Return to modelling
In 2001, Evangelista made a noteworthy return to the modelling world, and appeared on the cover of the September issue of Vogue. Also in 2001, she helped to revive the "What Becomes a Legend Most?" ad campaign for Blackglama furs, which hadn't been seen in six years. Rocco Laspata, the photographer of the campaign, described Evangelista as "the Maria Callas of modeling". Then, in 2002, she was in the ad campaign for Versace's fall/winter collection. The next year, she was back on the high-fashion runways, walking for Versace and Dolce & Gabbana. Furthermore, she closed Chanel's fall/winter 2003 haute couture show wearing a white wedding gown. In 2004, she appeared in the spring/summer ad campaigns for both NARS Cosmetics and Fendi. She also walked the runway for Jean Paul Gaultier's debut collection at Hermès. That summer, she was featured in Ann Taylor's 50th anniversary ad campaign, photographed by Annie Leibovitz.

In 2006, Evangelista appeared on the cover of the book In Vogue: The Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine along with model Kristen McMenamy, photographed by Meisel. In August of that year, Evangelista made the cover of Vogue, becoming the first model to appear on that magazine's cover in more than a year. Her final runway appearance was in 2007, when she participated in the 60th anniversary fashion show for the Christian Dior brand. That year, she signed a multiple-year exclusive contract as the brand ambassador for the cosmetics giant L'Oreal Paris.

In May 2008, she made an appearance at the Cannes film festival where she posed for photographers on the red carpet along with fellow beauty Aishwarya Rai. Evangelista was then photographed by Meisel for the Prada fall/winter 2008 campaign. She also appeared in the September 2008 issue of Vanity Fair for a feature story on the supermodels titled "A League of Their Own". In 2009, the Metropolitan Museum of Art held an exhibition called The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion which paid tribute to several fashion models including Evangelista, and she was on the cover of the exhibition's accompanying book. In 2010, she was chosen to star in the ad campaign for the revamped Talbots brand.

Evangelista was photographed by Lagerfeld for Chanel's spring 2012 eyewear ad campaign. In May 2012, Evangelista was on the cover of Vogue Italia after a three-year hiatus from the magazine. She was then featured in the book Vogue: The Editor's Eye as one fashion's model-muses. That November, she was on the cover of the 35th anniversary issue of Fashion magazine. A few months later, the Spanish fashion brand Loewe chose her to represent its newest fragrance Aura.

In June 2013, she attended the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards show, where she presented fashion journalist Tim Blanks with the Media Award. She was photographed by Lagerfeld for the July 2013 cover of Vogue Germany, where she was styled to look like vintage actress Anna Magnani, and posed with Lagerfeld's pet cat Choupette. Also that month, she was on the cover of Vogue Italia for an issue that celebrated the 25th anniversary of Franca Sozzani's tenure as the magazine's editor-in-chief.

In 2014, Evangelista was present at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. She appeared in the fall/winter 2014 ad campaign for the fashion brand Moschino, photographed by Meisel. She was also one of several models on the cover of Vogue Japan's September 2014 issue, which marked the magazine's 15th anniversary. And, she was on the cover of the September 2014 issue of Harper's Bazaar, which has been described as "Harper's biggest ever". Moreover, she was one of 50 models on the September 2014 cover of Vogue Italia, the magazine's 50th anniversary issue. Evangelista has remained the recordholder for the most Vogue Italia covers. She was also chosen to represent Dolce & Gabbana's new line of makeup. In October 2014, it was announced that Evangelista had signed on to be a guest judge on the ninth season of the reality television series Australia's Next Top Model.

Evangelista was chosen by Canadian department store Hudson's Bay as the face of the spring 2015 campaign for its luxury clothing section called The Room. The campaign was photographed by Pamela Hanson. In June 2015, Evangelista was a chairwoman for the FiFi Awards, where she presented the awards for both men's and women's prestige fragrance of the year. In October 2015, Evangelista appeared on the cover of a book showcasing the work of hat designer Philip Treacy titled Philip Treacy: Hat Designer. The cover photograph of Evangelista was mentioned by Treacy as being "the most precious thing I own". Also in October, Evangelista starred in the campaign for Moschino's newest fragrance Fresh, photographed by Meisel.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of British Vogue, a photograph of Evangelista originally taken in 1991 was chosen as the cover image for the book Vogue 100: A Century of Style, released in February 2016. In April 2016, Evangelista appeared on the cover of Zoo Magazine's 50th issue, photographed by singer and friend Bryan Adams. Also that month, Evangelista appeared on the cover of the book Age of the Supermodel, which features photographs taken by photographer Donna DeMari during the haute couture collections in Paris in 1991. Evangelista worked as fashion stylist for a photo spread titled "A Model Journey" in the September 2016 issue of Harper's Bazaar, which was based on her early years as a model. In September 2016, Evangelista reunited with Turlington and Campbell to appear in a campaign for the Elephant Crisis Fund. In November 2016, Evangelista was named Creative Director and Vice President of the Erasa Skin Care brand.

Evangelista is featured in the four-part Apple TV+ docuseries The Super Models. Premiered on September 20, 2023, the series also features Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington and is directed by Roger Ross Williams and Larissa Bills.

Cultural impact
Decades after uttering the comment about working for no less than $10,000 a day, the quote continued to be referenced in the media,   being mentioned as late as July 2017. Evangelista herself has said, "I saw a movie, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and there's a line in it where Brad Pitt says he won't get out of bed for less than half a million dollars. That's my line! Only now it's a half million and it's a man saying it." Over the years, various different T-shirts emblazoned with the $10,000 a day quote have been sold, and there is even an embroidered pillow containing the quote. The G Hotel in Galway, Ireland, includes a presidential suite that was named in honour of Evangelista, with its interiors designed by Treacy. The September 1991 issue of Vogue had a photo spread titled "Wild At Heart" that featured Evangelista, photographed by Lindbergh. One of the images from that spread is known as "The Wild Ones", and a platinum-palladium print of the image was sold at a Sotheby's auction for over $30,000. In October 2012, a picture of Evangelista and McMenamy that was photographed by Meisel for Vogue's October 1992 issue was sold at a Phillips auction for $86,500. In May 2016, a 1988 picture of Evangelista and five other models that was photographed by Lindbergh sold at a Sotheby's auction for $118,462. A 1996 photograph of Evangelista, titled "Linda Kissing Linda", which was originally featured in a Kenar advertisement, was selected by the Guggenheim Museum as "an example of the epitome of androgyny".

Evangelista influenced a number of female celebrities as either an inspiration or as a beauty icon. Among them are Victoria Beckham, Martha Stewart, models Candice Swanepoel, Kylie Bax, Kendall Jenner and Elsa Benítez, model-turned-actress Angie Harmon, and singer Rihanna.

Evangelista has drawn praise and accolades from many of the fashion industry's elite. Philip Treacy said, "Linda is the ultimate model of the past 50 years". Karl Lagerfeld once described Evangelista as "the most famous of all", and "the best model in the world", explaining, "Because she's a true model, pure and simple. She doesn't pretend or aspire to do anything else. She's just brilliant at what she does." Designer Stefano Gabbana said of Evangelista, "Linda is the model. If you talk about models of the sixties and seventies, the first name is Veruschka. In the eighties and nineties, it's Linda." David Bonnouvrier, one of the founders of DNA Model Management said, "Linda is the model of all time, to its strictest definition. She could be out of a Cecil Beaton picture, she could be out of a Guy Bourdin picture." Sozzani, the editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, recounted that she would receive letters from readers concerned about "what would happen to the magazine if Linda got sick. Because it was all about Linda Evangelista. Her face had the most possibilities." Sozzani additionally stated, "For me, she is the model, not only for her beauty, but her attitude, her intelligence."

Meisel, to whom Evangelista is his "muse", considers her "extraordinarily photogenic". Fashion designer John Galliano has said that "inspiration hasn't been the same without her. She is an enormous influence on all the photographers and stylists." In his book Face Forward, the late makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin said of Evangelista, "I first worked with Linda in the early eighties and have yet to meet another model who was more involved in every aspect of her work. Her specialties were knowing what was best for her hair, makeup, styling, and lighting -- and Linda was always right. It was mind-boggling. Many of the unforgettable images of this haunting beauty were, in great degree, due to her involvement." This sentiment was echoed by fashion stylist Paul Cavaco, who described Evangelista as "the greatest collaborator of all time."

Evangelista was referred to as "the supermodel’s supermodel" by Marcus Chang of T: The New York Times Style Magazine. According to Shane Watson of The Evening Standard, "Of all the supermodels, Linda was most responsible for elevating the job into an art form, pushing up the fees, piling on the expectations and generally ensuring that by the end of the Eighties the world of the top model had become as lucrative, glamorous and shrouded in enigma as that of the Hollywood star".

Activism and awards
Evangelista is an activist for HIV/AIDS research and awareness, as well as for breast cancer research and awareness. She was one of the icons in the Viva Glam campaign for the Mac AIDS Fund. In October 2013, she was the host of amfAR's Inaugural Inspiration Gala in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Evangelista also supports the Elton John AIDS Foundation and is an advocate for LGBT concerns.

In 1996, she was the recipient of VH1's Fashion Awards Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented to her by Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue. In June 2003, she received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. In 2005, she was named as a World Fashion Icon by the Women's World Awards in Leipzig, Germany. In March 2008, she was chosen as "The Greatest Supermodel of All Time" by a viewer poll for the CBC Television show Fashion File.

Relationships
In 1987, Evangelista married Gérald Marie, who was the head of Elite Model Management's Paris office. They were divorced in 1993. She also dated actor Kyle MacLachlan, whom she first met on a photoshoot for Barneys New York in 1992. The couple became engaged in 1995 but broke up in 1998. Afterward, she dated French football player Fabien Barthez. She became pregnant but miscarried, six months into the pregnancy. The couple broke up in 2000, reunited in 2001, and then officially ended their relationship in 2002.

Child support case
In October 2006, Evangelista gave birth to a son, Augustin James, refusing to name his father, sparking rumours. While pregnant, she appeared on the August 2006 cover of Vogue. In late June 2011, Evangelista filed court papers that revealed her son was fathered by billionaire Frenchman François-Henri Pinault, whom Evangelista had dated for four months in late 2005 and early 2006. Pinault later married actress Salma Hayek. After several court appearances aimed at establishing a child-support agreement, on August 1, 2011, Evangelista formally filed for a child support order in Manhattan Family Court, seeking $46,000 in monthly child support from Pinault. It was reported that if granted, this amount "would probably be the largest support order in the history of the family court". A heavily publicized child support trial began on May 3, 2012, and included testimony from both Pinault and Evangelista, with Evangelista's attorney claiming that Pinault had never supported the child. Several days into the trial, on May 7, 2012, Evangelista and Pinault reached an out-of-court settlement.

Religion
In a 1997 interview, Evangelista said that she was a practicing Roman Catholic and that her favourite book was the Bible.

Failed cosmetic procedure and lawsuit
In September 2021 Evangelista explained why she had withdrawn from public life and not been working. Five years previously she had undergone the cosmetic fat removal procedure cryolipolysis, under the brand name CoolSculpting, but that this had done the opposite with the complication paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH). Evangelista initiated legal action against CoolSculpting's owner Zeltiq Aesthetics, a subsidiary of Allergan, seeking $50million in damages for emotional distress and lost income. Evangelista settled the case in July 2022.

Health issues
In 2023, Evangelista revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2018. She received chemotherapy and underwent a bilateral mastectomy; the cancer returned in 2022 in her pectoral muscle for which she also received chemotherapy.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Linda Evangelista


text:
Mr. Olympia

Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest in the open division at Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend—an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually and is sanctioned by the IFBB Professional League. Joe Weider created the contest to enable the amateur Mr. Universe winners to continue competing and to earn money. The first Mr. Olympia was held on September 18, 1965, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York City, with Larry Scott winning his first of two straight titles. The equivalent female title is Ms. Olympia.

The record number of wins is eight each by Lee Haney (1984–1991) and Ronnie Coleman (1998–2005). Derek Lunsford currently holds the title.

In addition to the Mr. Olympia title in the Open division, other male divisions include the 212 division since 2012, the Men's Physique division since 2013, and the Classic Physique division since 2016.

The film Pumping Iron (1977) featured the buildup to the 1975 Mr. Olympia in Pretoria, South Africa, and helped launch the acting careers of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, and Franco Columbu.

As well as the Ms. Olympia title, female titles include Fitness Olympia and Figure Olympia for fitness and figure competitors. All four contests occur during the same weekend. From 1994 to 2003, and again in 2012, a Masters Olympia was also crowned. Globally, a version with amateur competitors is also presented, the Mr. Olympia Amateur.

1960s
The 1965 and 1966 Mr. Olympia were won by Larry Scott, a famous bodybuilder of the time. Scott retired after his 1966 victory, and to date is the only Mr. Olympia champion to have never lost a Mr. Olympia competition.

Harold Poole holds two Mr. Olympia distinctions : one is that he is the youngest ever competitor to have participated in the Olympia—in 1965 he competed in the first Mr. Olympia at the age of 21; the other is that he was the only man to compete in all three of the initial Mr. Olympia contests.

The 1967 Mr. Olympia, won by Sergio Oliva, heralded a new era in bodybuilding competition. At 5 ft 10 ins and 240 lbs Oliva, nicknamed "The Myth", displayed an unforeseen level of muscle mass and definition, including a "V" shape of a large and a well-formed upper-body that tapered down to a narrow waist.

Oliva would go on to win the Mr. Olympia competition in 1967, 1968 (uncontested), and 1969—where he would defeat Arnold Schwarzenegger four to three, marking Schwarzenegger's only loss in a Mr. Olympia competition.

With the emergence of a performance enhancing drug called Dianabol in 1958, bodybuilders began experimenting more with the idea of unnatural ways to improve their physiques as well as intensify their training regimens. Dianabol was affordable, and the 1960's became a free-for all in terms of experimentation with many kinds of performance enhancing drugs. These steroids were not only used by bodybuilders, but also by Olympic athletes and NFL players. For example, Schwarzenegger and players on the Pittsburgh Steelers used performance enhancing drugs in the 1960's to 70's to improve both their physiques and performances.

1970s
Schwarzenegger defeated Oliva at the 1970 Mr. Olympia after finishing second the year before, and also won in 1971 (being the only competitor). He defeated Oliva again in 1972, and went on to win the next three Mr. Olympia competitions, including the 1975 edition, which was highlighted in the 1977 docudrama Pumping Iron and featured other notable bodybuilders such as Lou Ferrigno, Serge Nubret, and Franco Columbu, who would go on to win the 1976 and 1981 competitions.

From 1974 until 1979, a dual weight division system was used, splitting competitors into two categories: "Heavyweights" (over 200lbs) and "Lightweights" (under 200lbs). The winners of each division would then compete against each other to decide an overall champion.

After winning the 1975 competition, Schwarzenegger announced his retirement from competitive bodybuilding; this was also depicted in Pumping Iron.

Frank Zane won the 1977, 1978, and 1979 competitions. 1976 was the first year the Sandow trophy was awarded.

1980s
In 1980, Schwarzenegger came out of retirement to win the Olympia yet again, after a five-year hiatus. Schwarzenegger (who was supposedly training for his "Conan" movie) had been a late entry into the competition, and his competitors did not know of his intentions to compete. This seventh victory was especially controversial, as most fellow competitors and observers felt that he lacked both muscle mass and conditioning, and shouldn't have won over Chris Dickerson or Mike Mentzer. Several athletes vowed to boycott the contest the following year, and Mentzer retired for good.

The following year, Franco Columbu was victorious for the second time. Chris Dickerson won his only title in 1982, making him the first openly gay Mr. Olympia, and Samir Bannout won his only title in 1983. Then in 1984 Lee Haney won the first of 8 straight Mr. Olympia titles.

1990s
Haney retired from competitive bodybuilding after his last Mr. Olympia victory in 1991. Having placed second to Haney the previous year, Dorian Yates won the competition six straight times from 1992 until 1997. Dorian is given credit for revolutionizing the sport during his reign as Mr. Olympia by combining larger mass than seen before with what was dubbed "granite hardness".

In the 1990s, the use of growth hormones by bodybuilders was reported, and they started to appear in competitions with an increasing physical size. Writing for Men's Health in 2016, journalist Lou Schuler questioned whether Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman competed "naturally" or used hormones.

Yates retired from competitive bodybuilding after his 1997 victory, having accumulated several injuries. Ronnie Coleman, who placed 9th in 1997, surprised everyone with a much improved physique in 1998, winning the first of 8 consecutive titles.

In 1994, a separate Masters Olympia competition for professional bodybuilders was created, to compete at the highest levels in their later years.

2000s

Ronnie Coleman won the Mr. Olympia competition eight consecutive times, tying the record set by Lee Haney. Coleman, nicknamed "The King", is widely regarded as the greatest bodybuilder in Olympia history and began the mass monster era. Coleman returned in 2006 to try to beat the record for Olympia wins but was unable even to defend his title, instead placed second to Jay Cutler, who won his first title after four consecutive years of finishing second to Coleman. Cutler successfully defended his title in 2007. Coleman came in fourth place and announced his retirement from competition, ending one of the biggest rivalries in the competition's history.

In 2008, Dexter Jackson defeated Jay Cutler and became Mr. Olympia. In 2009, Jay Cutler returned and regained the title.

2010s
In 2010, Cutler returned to claim his fourth Mr. Olympia title, becoming the fifth competitor in Olympia history to win the title more than three times. In 2011, Phil Heath defeated Cutler for the title, beginning a winning streak that lasted until 2018. From 2012 to 2014, the Olympia was dominated by the rivalry between Kai Greene and Heath, with Heath winning all three and Greene placing second.

Starting in 2016, a new division called Classic Physique was introduced. Danny Hester was the inaugural champion in Classic Physique division.

Heath won his seventh-consecutive Mr. Olympia in 2017, with Mamdouh Elssbiay taking second. With his 2017 win, Heath tied Arnold Schwarzenegger for second most Olympia victories, behind Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman who won eight.

Shawn Rhoden defeated Phil Heath in 2018, snapping Heath's streak of seven victories. The 2019 Mr. Olympia was won by Brandon Curry.

Starting in 2018, a new division called Wheelchair Olympia was added.

2020s
In 2020 Phil Heath returned for an attempted record-tying eighth title, but Mamdouh Elssbiay won the Olympia for his first title. Elssbiay won for the second time in 2021. Hadi Choopan took home the title in 2022. Derek Lunsford was victorious at the 2023 contest, with Hadi Choopan taking second and 2019 Mr. Olympia Brandon Curry placing fourth.

Qualifying
The IFBB selects Olympia contestants from among the highest-placed competitors at various qualifying competitions, collectively referred to as the Olympia Qualifying Season. The qualifying season for each Olympia runs for a year, and ends a few months before the competition. Under updated qualifying rules announced by the IFBB in 2019, to qualify for most divisions at the Olympia an IFBB athlete must meet one of the following criteria:

 * Place in the top three in their division at the previous Olympia
 * Win any of the IFBB qualifying contests
 * Rank among the top three in total points awarded for second through fifth place at qualifying competitions

For certain divisions with more than 25 qualifying competitions, slightly different rules are used: The previous Olympia winner is automatically qualified, plus the winner of each qualifying competition and the top five in total points.

The IFBB Professional League also has the discretion to extend special invitations to other competitors.

Men's Open
A total of 274 bodybuilders have represented 47 nations across 59 competitions as of 2023.

Mr. Olympia Amateur
Mr. Olympia Amateur is a competition that globally awards the best amateur competitors with an IFBB Pro Card, bringing them closer to competing in the main Mr. Olympia. According to the official website as of March 2022, the event is presented in regions with a specific organization around the world: India, Pakistan, Eastern Europe, Beijing (China), Spain, Portugal, Brazil, South Korea, Italy, Japan, South America, Las Vegas (USA).

title: Mr. Olympia