Monica Bellucci Breaks Down 5 of Her Most Defining Roles

Monica Bellucci began her career in front of the camera at age 16, first as a model and later as an actress. After making her film debut in the 1991 Italian comedy La Riffa, playing a beautiful but destitute widow, she became cinema's go-to Fellini-esque femme fatale. Over the years, however, she has proven her mettle in everything from arthouse indies to franchise blockbusters — just not very many comedies, as she is quick to point out. "I've done more dramatic films and sad stories," she says. "I don't know why. Because I'm brunette?"

But the alluring Bellucci is also funny.

When asked what role she is most often recognized for, the actress answers with a story: "I want to tell you something. I was in the airport in New York not long ago. Someone came up to me and he told me, 'Oh, I love you. I love your work so much. But you know, the role I love the most is Zorro.' He thought I was Catherine Zeta-Jones!" She keels over in a fit of giggles. "He said, 'Can you autograph this?' And I said, 'Yes. Okay.' I didn't have the courage to say, 'Listen, it wasn't me!'"

Now, she finally has the chance to prove it on-screen in Mafia Mamma, a mob comedy about a suburban mom who inherits her family's mafia empire. "When I received the script, I laughed out loud," Bellucci remembers. "So, for me, it was really a new experience."

"She's mesmerizing," director Catherine Hardwicke says. "Even when she would just talk to me, she would be whispering and saying these beautiful things in that Italian accent. Whatever she asked me, I'd be like, 'Of course!' She hypnotized me."

In conversation with A.frame, Bellucci reflects on five of the most defining roles of her more than 30 years on-screen. "I've done many films," she says, "but there are some of them that really created a special situation."