Sophia Loren

Sophia met Carlo Ponti, Sr when she was 15 years old, and he 37. They married on April 9, 1966 and had two sons, Carlo Jr. and Edoardo.

In 1999, she filed lawsuits against 76 adult websites for uploading altered nude photos of her.

She along with Penelope Cruz and Hillary Swank posed scantily dressed for the 2007 Pirelli Calender.

Sophia was born on September 20, 1934 in Rome, Italy. She was the first illegitimate child of Riccardo Scicolone and Romilda Villani, the second being her sister Maria.

Romilda was a struggling actress and received no support from Riccardo, and thus the family lived in extreme poverty. They lived with her grandmother in Pozzuoli.

When Sophia was hit by shrapnel during the World War II, the family shifted to Naples only to return after the war.

In order to pay their bills, they opened a pub where her mother would play the piano, Maria sang and Sophia waited on tables.

As a teenager she entered the Miss Italia 1950 beauty pageant and was one of the finalists. After this she enrolled in acting classes and moved to Rome with her mother.

Sophia's first role was in the film 'Quo Vadis' (1951) as an extra. After this, she started modelling for magazines and became quite known in Italy.

For her first starring role in 'Aida' (1953) she received critical acclaim. But her breakthrough movie was 'The Gold in Naples'(1954), directed by Vittorio De Sica.

From 1954 to 1957 she did many movies including 'Too Bad She's Bad' (1954), 'Scandal in Sorrento' (1955), 'Lucky to Be a Woman' (1956), 'Boy on a Dolphin' (1957), 'Legend of the Lost' (1957) and 'The Pride and the Passion'(1957).

The confirmation of her being an international star came when Paramount Pictures signed a five-picture deal with her in 1958. Some of the movies in the deal were 'Desire Under the Elms' (1958), 'Houseboat' (1958) and 'Heller in Pink Tights'(1960).

She acted in Vittorio De Sica's movie 'Two Women' which was released in 1961. The story was about a mother who tries to protect her daughter in war-ravaged Italy. She was to be cast as the daughter, but instead chose the role of the mother. She received a lot of awards for the movie.

She gave her finest performance in the film 'Two Women' which is a story about a mother trying her best to protect her daughter in war-torn Italy. The film had a lot of similarities with her own life and her heartrending portrayal of a helpless mother earned her a lot of critical acclaim and respect in the film fraternity.