Giulietta Masina, a renowned Italian actress, was born in San Giorgio di Piano. During her teenage years, she resided with a widowed aunt in Rome, where she nurtured a passion for the theater and pursued a degree in Philosophy. Her early career began on the radio with the program "Terzoglio" (1942),a series about the adventures of newlyweds Cico and Pallina, scripted by Federico Fellini. This series brought her immense success, and the following year, she married Fellini, becoming the muse for many of his films.
Masina made her cinema debut in "Without Pity" (1948),directed by Alberto Lattuada, but it was her subsequent films that solidified her reputation: "Behind Closed Shutters" (1951),directed by Luigi Comencini, "Variety Lights" (1950),which marked Fellini's directorial debut, and "Europe '51" (1952),directed by Roberto Rossellini. Her artistic partnership with her husband truly flourished with the Oscar-winning "La Strada" (1954),followed by "The Swindle" (1955) and the widely acclaimed "Nights of Cabiria" (1957),which won an Oscar and earned her the Best Female Performance award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Masina went on to play many memorable roles in films such as "Fortunella" (1958),directed by Eduardo De Filippo; "The Wild Wild Women" (1959),directed by Renato Castellani; and later in "Juliet of the Spirits" (1965) and "Ginger & Fred" (1986),both directed by Fellini.
From 1966 to 1969, she hosted the immensely popular radio show "Lettereaperte a Giulietta Masina" and starred in the television series "Eleonora" (1973),directed by Silverio Blasi, and "Camilla" (1976),directed by Sandro Bolchi, based on the novel "Un invernofreddissimo" (1966) by Fausta Cialente.
Giulietta Masina passed away in Rome in 1994, just a few months after the death of her husband.
