Monica Bellucci

Birthday: 30 September, 1968

Birth city: Citta di Castello, Perugia, Italy

Height: 5' 10 (177 cm)

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 is expecting a child in late 2004.

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 and 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 done successfully — and began taking acting classes.

Some of her acting roles have included the movies Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), L'Appartement (1996), Malena (2000), 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 Christ, she stars as Mary Magdalene.

She speaks Italian, French and English fluently, and has acted in all these languages.

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