Valeria Golino

Biography

The second child of an Italian germanist and a Greek painter, Valeria Golino grew up in Naples until her parents parted. After three years in Athens with her mother and another three in Naples with her father, she began to work as a model. She left high school after her first movie and didn't study performing arts at all. In 1985 she got the leading role in _Piccoli fuochi (1985)_ (qv) by 'Peter Del Monte' (qv) and the next year won the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival for _Storia d'amore (1986)_ (qv). After some European co-productions (_Dernier été à Tanger (1987)_ (qv), _Gli occhiali d'oro (1987)_ (qv), _Paura e amore (1988)_ (qv)) she began to work in Hollywood (_Big Top Pee-wee (1988)_ (qv)). She soon gained prominent roles in _Rain Man (1988)_ (qv), _Hot Shots! (1991)_ (qv) and _Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)_ (qv). Now she works in the US (_Clean Slate (1994)_ (qv), _An Occasional Hell (1996)_ (qv)), Europe (_La putain du roi (1990)_ (qv), _Immortal Beloved (1994)_ (qv)) and in Italy. too, especially with young directors (_Come due coccodrilli (1994)_ (qv), _Le acrobate (1997)_ (qv), _L'albero delle pere (1998)_ (qv)). In 1994 she produced and acted in _I sfagi tou kokora (1996)_ (qv) by Greek director 'Andreas Pantzis' (qv). Her voice is more appreciated in Hollywood (where she took speech therapy) than in Italy (where she is sometimes dubbed); in "The Slaughter of the Cock" she acts as a deaf and dumb woman. She speaks four languages: Italian, Greek, French and English. Her brother is a musician and their uncle Enzo Golino is a famous journalist.