The Most Famous

ACTORS from Italy

This page contains a list of the greatest Italian Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 13,578 Actors, 220 of which were born in Italy. This makes Italy the birth place of the 9th most number of Actors behind Japan, and Germany.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Italian Actors of all time. This list of famous Italian Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Italian Actors.

1. Sophia Loren (b. 1934)

With an HPI of 78.33, Sophia Loren is the most famous Italian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 100 different languages on wikipedia.

Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (Italian: [soˈfiːa vilˈlaːni ʃʃikoˈloːne]; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( lə-REN, Italian: [ˈlɔːren]), is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Encouraged to enroll in acting lessons after entering a beauty pageant, Loren began her film career at age 16 in 1950. She appeared in several bit parts and minor roles in the early part of the decade, until her five-picture contract with Paramount in 1956 launched her international career. Her film appearances around this time include The Pride and the Passion, Houseboat, and It Started in Naples. During the 1950s, she starred in films as a sexually emancipated persona and was one of the best known sex symbols of the time. Loren's performance as Cesira in the film Two Women (1960), directed by Vittorio De Sica, won her the Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the first performer to ever win an Oscar for a non-English-language performance. She holds the record for having earned seven David di Donatello Awards for Best Actress: Two Women; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963); Marriage Italian Style (1964, for which she was nominated for a second Oscar); Sunflower (1970); The Voyage (1974); A Special Day (1977) and The Life Ahead (2020). She has won five special Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award), a BAFTA Award, a Laurel Award, a Grammy Award, the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1991, she received the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievements. In 1999, the American Film Institute named her one of the greatest stars of American film history. At the start of the 1980s, Loren chose to make rarer film appearances. Since then, she has appeared in films such as Prêt-à-porter (1994), Grumpier Old Men (1995), Nine (2009), and The Life Ahead (2020). Loren was appointed Knight of the Legion of Honour in France in July 1991, and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (OMRI) in June 1996.

2. Bud Spencer (1929 - 2016)

With an HPI of 77.23, Bud Spencer is the 2nd most famous Italian Actor. His biography has been translated into 66 different languages.

Carlo Pedersoli (31 October 1929 – 27 June 2016), known professionally as Bud Spencer, was an Italian actor, professional swimmer and water polo player. He was known for action-comedy and spaghetti Western roles with his long-time film partner and friend Terence Hill. Spencer and Hill appeared in 18 films together. In his youth, Bud Spencer was a successful athlete and swimmer for Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Oro. and for Società Sportiva Lazio Nuoto. He obtained a law degree and registered several patents. Spencer also became a certified commercial airline and helicopter pilot, and supported and funded many children's charities, including the Spencer Scholarship Fund.

3. Gina Lollobrigida (1927 - 2023)

With an HPI of 76.00, Gina Lollobrigida is the 3rd most famous Italian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 73 different languages.

Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida OMRI (4 July 1927 – 16 January 2023) was an Italian actress, model, and photojournalist. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. Dubbed "the most beautiful woman in the world", at the time of her death she was among the last surviving high-profile international actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. As her film career slowed, Lollobrigida established a second career as a photojournalist. In the 1970s she achieved a scoop by gaining access to Fidel Castro for an exclusive interview. Lollobrigida continued as an active supporter of Italian and Italian-American causes, particularly the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2008 she received the NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala. In 2013, she sold her jewellery collection and donated the nearly US$5 million from the sale to benefit stem-cell therapy research. She won the Henrietta Award at the 18th Golden Globe Awards.

4. Terence Hill (b. 1939)

With an HPI of 75.89, Terence Hill is the 4th most famous Italian Actor. His biography has been translated into 57 different languages.

Terence Hill (born Mario Girotti; 29 March 1939) is an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer. He began his career as a child actor and gained international fame for starring roles in action and comedy films, many with longtime film partner and friend Bud Spencer. During the height of his popularity, Hill was among Italy's highest-paid actors. His most widely seen films include comic and standard spaghetti Westerns, some based on popular novels by German author Karl May about the Wild West. Of these, the most famous are Lo chiamavano Trinità (They Call Me Trinity, 1970); ...continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità (Trinity Is Still My Name, 1971), the highest grossing Italian film at that time; and Il mio nome è Nessuno (My Name Is Nobody, 1973), co-starring Henry Fonda. Hill also went on to a successful television career in Italy, most notably playing the title character in the long-running Rai 1 series Don Matteo from 2000 until 2022.

5. Marcello Mastroianni (1924 - 1996)

With an HPI of 75.42, Marcello Mastroianni is the 5th most famous Italian Actor. His biography has been translated into 80 different languages.

Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (28 September 1924 – 19 December 1996) was an Italian actor. He is generally regarded one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20th-century, who played leading roles for many of the country's top directors, in a career spanning 147 films between 1939 and 1996, garnering many international honours including two BAFTA Awards, two Best Actor awards at the Venice and Cannes film festivals, two Golden Globes, and three Academy Award nominations. Born in the province of Frosinone and raised in Turin and Rome, Mastroianni made his film debut in 1939 at the age of 14, but did not seriously pursue acting until the 1950s, when he made his critical and commercial breakthrough in the caper comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street (1959). He became an international celebrity through his collaborations with director Federico Fellini, first as a disillusioned tabloid columnist in La Dolce Vita (1960), then as a creatively-stifled filmmaker in 8½ (1963). Excelling in both dramatic and comedic roles, he formed a notable on-screen duo with actress and sex symbol Sophia Loren, co-starring with her in eight films between 1954 and 1994. Despite international acclaim, Mastroianni largely shunned Hollywood, and remained a quintessentially Italian thespian for the majority of his career. He was the first actor to receive an Academy Award nomination for a non-English language performance, and was nominated for Best Actor three times – Divorce Italian Style (1961), A Special Day (1977), and Dark Eyes (1987). He was one of only three actors, the others being Jack Lemmon and Dean Stockwell, to win the prestigious Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor twice. Mastroianni's contributions to Italian art and culture saw him receive multiple civil honours, including the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, the highest-ranking knighthood of the country.

6. Yves Montand (1921 - 1991)

With an HPI of 72.60, Yves Montand is the 6th most famous Italian Actor. His biography has been translated into 63 different languages.

Ivo Livi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈiːvo ˈliːvi]; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), better known as Yves Montand (French: [iv mɔ̃tɑ̃]), was an Italian-born French actor and singer. He is said to be one of France's greatest 20th-century artists.

7. Giulietta Masina (1921 - 1994)

With an HPI of 71.05, Giulietta Masina is the 7th most famous Italian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 47 different languages.

Giulia Anna "Giulietta" Masina (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈljetta maˈziːna]; 22 February 1921 – 23 March 1994) was an Italian film actress best known for her performances as Gelsomina in La Strada (1954) and Cabiria in Nights of Cabiria (1957), for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. Cinema historian Peter Bondanella described Masina's work as "masterful" and "unforgettable", and Charlie Chaplin, with whose work Masina's is often compared, called her "the actress who moved him most". Both La Strada and Nights of Cabiria won Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and were described as having been "inspired" by Masina's "humanity".

8. Roberto Benigni (b. 1952)

With an HPI of 70.93, Roberto Benigni is the 8th most famous Italian Actor. His biography has been translated into 73 different languages.

Roberto Remigio Benigni (Italian: [roˈbɛrto beˈniɲɲi]; born 27 October 1952) is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. He gained international recognition for writing, directing and starring in the Holocaust comedy drama film Life Is Beautiful (1997), for which he received the Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best International Feature Film. Benigni was the first actor to win the Best Actor Academy Award for a non-English language performance. Benigni made his acting debut in 1977's Berlinguer, I Love You, which he also wrote, and which was directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci. Benigni's directorial debut was the 1983 anthology film Tu mi turbi, which was also the acting debut of his wife, Nicoletta Braschi. He continued directing and also starring in the comedic films Nothing Left to Do But Cry (1984), The Little Devil (1988), Johnny Stecchino (1991), The Monster (1994), the award-winning film Life Is Beautiful (1997), Pinocchio (2002), and The Tiger and the Snow (2005). Benigni acted in the Jim Jarmusch films Down by Law (1986), Night on Earth (1991) and Coffee and Cigarettes (2003). He also acted in Blake Edwards' Son of the Pink Panther (1993), Woody Allen's To Rome with Love (2012), and Matteo Garrone's Pinocchio (2019).

9. Monica Bellucci (b. 1964)

With an HPI of 70.93, Monica Bellucci is the 9th most famous Italian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 84 different languages.

Monica Anna Maria Bellucci (Italian: [ˈmɔːnika belˈluttʃi]; 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. She 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 included her in their list 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 horror 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. She also played Delores in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024). 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.

10. Ornella Muti (b. 1955)

With an HPI of 68.79, Ornella Muti is the 10th most famous Italian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 57 different languages.

Francesca Romana Rivelli (born 9 March 1955), professionally known as Ornella Muti, is an Italian actress. Among the best-known Italian actresses, in her career, she has worked across various genres, working alongside Italian directors such as Damiano Damiani, Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi, Marco Ferreri, Carlo Verdone, Ettore Scola, Francesca Archibugi, Paolo Virzì, Umberto Lenzi, Francesco Nuti and many others. Outside of Italy, she is best known for her role as Princess Aura in the science fiction cult film Flash Gordon (1980).

People

Pantheon has 253 people classified as Italian actors born between 1496 and 1995. Of these 253, 147 (58.10%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Italian actors include Sophia Loren, Terence Hill, and Roberto Benigni. The most famous deceased Italian actors include Bud Spencer, Gina Lollobrigida, and Marcello Mastroianni. As of April 2024, 33 new Italian actors have been added to Pantheon including Rodolfo Gucci, Paolo Bonacelli, and Leopoldo Trieste.