Cristiana Capotondi (born 13 September 1980) is an Italian actress.

Early life and career

Capotondi was born in Rome to an Italian family of mixed Italian Catholic and Italian Jewish background (her maternal grandfather was Jewish).^[1][2] Growing up in Rome, she celebrated both Christian and Jewish holidays, such as Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, and visited both church and synagogue.^[3] She graduated from the Università La Sapienza in Rome with a degree in communication sciences.^[4][3]

Capotondi first gained popularity in a commercial for the Motta Maxibon ice cream. Her acting career began at the age of 13 in the Italian series Amico mio, aired by RAI.^[5]

Capotondi debuted in cinema in 1995 with the comedy Vacanze di Natale '95. Between 1993 and 2006 she worked mostly in television, starring in the series Orgoglio from 2004 to 2006. She gained additional exposure in the film Notte prima degli esami (2006), in which she starred as a main character alongside Nicolas Vaporidis. In 2009 Capotondi played Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the ZDF/Rai Uno/ORF co-production Sisi.^[5]

She was the spokeswoman of the 2011 Giro d'Italia.^[6]

Personal life

After a ten-year relationship with a man who was not part of the entertainment world, she dated colleagues Nicolas Vaporidis and Primo Reggiani.^[7] She dated entrepreneur and former TV presenter Andrea Pezzi from 2005 to 2021.^[8] She has a daughter, who was born in 2022.^[9]

Filmography

Films

Television