The following is a brief biography of Maria Grazia Cucinotta, written by her:
"I was born in Messina, Sicily, on July 27th, and am a Leo.
I started working as a model in Milan, during the summer holidays, when I was 16.
When I finished school, I abandoned modeling (I didn't like it because they only used my image, not my head) and auditioned in Rome for the TV program Indietro Tutta by Renzo Arbore: I was taken for the part of the odalisque. And that's how my television career began.
Meanwhile, I took acting and elocution lessons, to
… More get rid of my Sicilian accent, and was taken on by an acting agency, while, however, continuing to work on television in order to earn a living and therefore be able to study.
While movie auditions were almost always a failure, the ones for advertising went well and I started to shoot one advertisement after the other: they proved excellent to learn the techniques, meet international directors, and make myself known abroad.
The first person to believe in me and to be brave enough to invest in an unknown actress was Massimo Troisi who chose me for the movie Il Postino: this gave me the possibility to make myself known as an actress not only in Italy but all over the world.
That's when I started getting the first scripts; among these I chose I Laureati, by Leonardo Pieraccioni, which turned out to be enormously successful. Soon after, I shot Italiani, by Maurizio Ponzi, followed by the television movie Padre Papà for Canale 5.
Then I left for the States, to be present at the Oscars, where Il Postino received many nominations. When I returned to Italy I shot Il Sindaco, by Fabrizio Giordani, which will be released next fall.
I recently shoot my first American film, which is entitled Brooklyn State of Mind, by Frank Rainone, and is set in New York, in Brooklyn.
I have finished working on the new James Bond movie The World is Not Enough. What else do you need to know?"
