Claudia Cardinale

Claudia Cardinale (born April 15, 1938) is an actress born in Tunis, Tunisia to Italian parents.

Claudia Cardinale was born Claude Josephine Rose Cardin. She had her break into films after winning a Tunisian beauty contest in 1957. She made her film debut in Goha (1958) and later that year had a role in the minor international success I Soliti ignoti. Her early career was largely managed by producer Franco Cristaldi. Throughout the 1960s she appeared in many Italian or Italian co-financed films including Luchino Visconti's Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963), Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1963), Federico Fellini's 8½ and Sergio Leone's epic Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

Claudia Cardinale became an international superstar with a mix of breathtaking beauty, a throaty distinct voice and impressive dramatic skills. One has to watch her Italian and French movies to really appreciate her dramatic prowess.

She attempted halfheartedly to break into the US market but was let down by her lack of interest in leaving Europe for extended periods of time. Her Hollywood films include Circus World (1964), The Pink Panther (1964) and The Hell With Heroes (1968).

Claudia Cardinale has proved herself to be one of Europe's most successful and endurable movie stars. She has appeared in more good European movies than most of her contemporaries. Her performance in Visconti's underrated " Sandra/Of A Thousand Delights" is mesmerizing playing a Holocaust survivor with an incestuous relationship with her brother. In Comencini's "La Storia", Cardinale plays a widow raising a son during WW2. It is a heartbreaking film with a stellar performance by Cardinale. Other great performances by Cardinale include Valerio Zurlini's "Girl With A Suitcase" and Mauro Bolognini's "Libera".

Cardinale remains active in European cinema, her later films include Qui comincia l'avventura (1975), Fitzcarraldo (1982), La Storia (1985) and Un homme amoureux (1987)

She has been married only once to the producer Franco Cristaldi but has been living with film director Pasquale Squitieri since 1975, and has two children (Claudia Jr from Squitieri and her eldest son Patrick born out of wedlock from a mysterious Frenchman when the actress was only 18 and who was adopted by Cristaldi later on).

Claudia Cardinale is a liberal with strong political convictions. (She is a leftist involved in pro-women and pro-gay issues.) She has also frequently stated that she is proud of her Arab heritage (she was born in Tunis) and is involved in many humanitarian causes. She currently calls Paris her home.

Claudia Cardinale's fascinating life can be read in her autobiography "Moi Claudia, Toi Claudia" which unfortunately is not available in English.