Stefania Sandrelli

The recorded working language is Italian. The field of work recorded is acting. Distinctions recorded are Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and David di Donatello for Best Actress.

Sandrelli was born in Viareggio, Tuscany, into a middle-class family, the daughter of Florida and Otello Sandrelli (who died when she was eight years old), owners of a pension in Viareggio. As a girl, Sandrelli studied ballet and learned to play the accordion. Sandrelli had a brother, Sergio, seven years older, who had a successful music career and died in 2013.

She debuted in cinema at the age of 15 in Mario Sequi's film Gioventù di notte. In 1960, Sandrelli won the Miss Cinema Viareggio beauty contest, then was the cover girl of the magazine Le Ore, and had `her first opportunities to make films, appearing, among others, in Luciano Salce's The Fascist. Her film career was launched by Pietro Germi with Divorce Italian Style (1961); later, she worked three more times with Germi, in Seduced and Abandoned (1964), The Climax (1967), and Alfredo, Alfredo (1970). Sandrelli became in a short time a protagonist of the commedia all'italiana, appearing, among others, in Antonio Pietrangeli's I Knew Her Well, Mario Monicelli's Brancaleone at the Crusades, and Ettore Scola's We All Loved Each Other So Much. She also starred in several Bernardo Bertolucci's drama films, including The Conformist (1970) and 1900 (1976), and in several French productions. In 1980, she won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress thanks to her performance in Ettore Scola's La terrazza. In 1983, she relaunched her career with the Tinto Brass erotic film The Key. On 10 September 2005, she received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 62nd Venice International Film Festival. On 11 May 2012, she received the title of Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Sandrelli had a long relationship with Italian singer-songwriter Gino Paoli. Their daughter Amanda Sandrelli, born in 1964, is also an actress.