Monica Vitti (born 3 November 1931) is an Italian actress noted for her frosty expressiveness and starring roles in films by Michelangelo Antonioni.
She was born Maria Luisa Ceciarelli in Rome. While a teenager she acted in amateur productions, then trained as an actor at Rome's National Academy of Dramatic Arts and at Pittman's College, where she played a teen in a charity performance of Niccodemi's La nemica. She toured Germany with an Italian acting troupe and her first stage appearance in Rome was for a production of Niccolò Machiavelli's La Mandragola.
Vitti's first film role was in Ettore Scola's "Ridere Ridere Ridere" (1954). In 1957 she joined Michelangelo Antonioni's Teatro Nuovo di Milano, later playing a leading role in his award winning, existentialist landmark film L'avventura (1960) as a detached and cool protagonist drifting into a relationship with her best friend's lover. With a screen presence that has been described as "stunning", Vitti is also credited with helping Antonioni raise money for the production and sticking with him through its difficult location shooting. She later received critical praise for starring roles in other Antonioni films including La notte, L'eclisse, and Il deserto rosso. Her only Hollywood effort was the title role in Modesty Blaise, a mod James Bond spoof with Terence Stamp (1966) which was a critical and commercial disappointment.
Vitti's later movie appearances have mostly been in Italian films without international distribution. Notable exceptions include Luis Buñuel's Le Fantôme de la liberté (1974). She starred with Barbara Bouchet in L'Anantra all'arancia a farcical sex comedy in 1975. In 1980 she was reunited with Antonioni after 15 years in his Il mistero di Oberwald. In 1989 she wrote, directed and starred in Scandalo segreto. Her image later appeared on an Italian postage stamp commemorating L'avventura. In 1993 Vitti was awarded the Festival Tribute at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival in France. She married Roberto Russo in 1995 after living with him since 1968.
The original titles are given. A few roles are uncredited bit parts or voice overs.
