Valeria Golino Biography

VALERIA GOLINO

Date of Birth: October 22, 1966

Born in Naples, Italy, Valeria Golino moved with her mother at the age of eight to Athens, Greece when her parents split up. At the age of 14, Valeria began modeling and when she was 16, she made her acting debut in an Italian film directed by Lina Wertmüller. The next year she appeared in her first American film, Blind Date (1984), filmed in Athens. Her next American film was the hilarious Detective School Dropouts (1985), playing the role of Caterina.

While still in her teens, Valeria won a Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival and a Silver Ribbon for Best Actress from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists for her role in Storia d’amore (1986).

After several more Italian films, Valeria moved to Los Angeles, where she landed a role in Big Top Pee Wee (1988) and played Tom Cruise’s girlfriend in the Best Picture Oscar-winning film Rain Man (1988).

She returned to Italy frequently to work in films such as Acque di primavera (1990) starring Timothy Hutton and La Putain du roi (1990), starring Timothy Dalton. Other memorable films include Hot Shots (1991), Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Escape from L.A. (1996) and Frida (2002).

For her role in the Italian film Respiro (2003), Valeria won a Best Actress award at the Mons International Festival of Love Films and a Silver Ribbon for Best Actress from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.

She continued to work steadily in English, French and Italian films over the next 10 years. She also occasionally appears on TV, including several episodes of the Italian version of the series In Treatment in 2013.

She is also an award-winning director, with her debut feature film Miele (Honey) (2013) winning the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival. More recently, in 2018, her second film, Euforia (Euphoria) was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival for Un Certain Regard Award and the Queer Palm Award.

At the 2014 Los Angeles Italian Film Awards, she won a Lifetime Achievment Award.

As an actress, she played the starring role in the drama Par Amour (2015) and played the Countess in the romantic drama Portrait de la jeune fille en feu/Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019).

On more than one occasion, Valeria has dated her fellow actors, including former fiancé Benicio Del Toro from 1988 to 1992, Fabrizio Bentivoglio from 1993 to 2001, Andrea Di Stefano from 2002 to 2005 and since 2006, she's been in a longterm relationship with Riccardo Scamarcio. The last three men are Italian.

Multilingual, Valeria speaks Italian, Greek, English and French.

Filmography:

Respiro (2003)
Frida (2002)
L’inverno (2002)
Hotel (2001)
To Tama (2000)
Controvento (2000)
Ivansxtc (2000)
Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000)
Spanish Judges (1999)
Harem Suare' (1999)
Alexandria Hotel (1998)
Side Streets (1998)
L’albero delle pere (1998)
Le acrobate (1997)
Danza della fata confetto (1996)
Escoriandoli (1996)
Il Fratello minore (1996)
An Occasional Hell (1996)
I Sfagi tou kokora (1996)
Escape from L.A. (1996)
Submission (1995)
Four Rooms (1995)
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Immortal Beloved (1994)
Come due coccodrilli (1994)
Clean Slate (1994)
Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)
Puerto escondido (1992)
Year of the Gun (1991)
The Indian Runner (1991)
Hot Shots! (1991)
La putain du roi (1990)
Tracce di vita amorosa (1990)
Acque di primavera (1989)
Rain Man (1988)
Big Top Pee-wee (1988)
Paura e amore (1988)
Figlio mio infinitamente caro (1987)
Gli occhiali d'oro (1987)
Dernier été à Tanger (1987)
Storia d'amore (1986)
Detective School Dropouts (1985)
Piccoli fuochi (1985)
Blind Date (1984)
Sotto... sotto... strapazzato da anomala passione (1984)
Scherzo del destino in agguato dietro l'angolo come un brigante da strada (1983)