Monica Bellucci (born September 30, 1964) is an Italian supermodel and actress, born in Citta di Castello, Italy. She is married to fellow actor Vincent Cassel, with whom she has starred in several films and with whom she had a daughter, called Deva. Initially pursuing a career as a lawyer, Monica decided to start modeling in order to help pay for her tuition while at the University of Perugia . But the glamorous life of a model tempted Monica away from her law studies.

In 1988, Monica moved to one of Europe's fashion centers — Milan, where she signed with Elite Model Management. By 1989, Monica was becoming prominent as a model in Paris and across the Atlantic, in New York City. She posed for Dolce & Gabbana and French ELLE, amongst others. In that year, Monica made the transition to acting — a very popular trend that models Laetitia Casta, Jaime King and Estella Warren have also successfully followed — and began taking acting classes.

Some of her acting roles have included the movies Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), L'Appartement (1996), Malèna (2000), Le pacte des loups (The Brotherhood of the Wolf) (2001), Astérix et Obelix: Mission Cleopatre (2002), Irréversible (2002), Tears of the Sun (2003), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003). In her newest film, the Mel Gibson-directed movie The Passion of the Christ, she stars as Mary Magdalene.

She speaks Italian, French and English fluently, and has acted in all these languages, as well as Aramaic in The Passion of the Christ.

External links

• Monica Bellucci's biography from her site.