Veronica De Laurentiis (born 13 January 1950) [1] is an Italian-American author and actress. She is the daughter of Silvana Mangano and Dino De Laurentiis, and sister of film producer Raffaella De Laurentiis. At the age of eighteen, she was cast in the film Waterloo , starring Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer. The film was produced by her father. She then retired from acting following the birth of her first child, Giada De Laurentiis, in 1970.
Shortly after her third child was born, she and her then-husband, Alex De Benedetti, left Italy for the United States. She has lived briefly in Florida and New York and for many years in Los Angeles.
Four years after the birth of her fourth child, she divorced. In order to support herself and her four children, she opened a fashion design studio where for 12 years she successfully designed women's clothing under her own label.
After remarrying, she closed her business and enrolled in a two-year intensive acting course. She is now a working actress and a best-selling author. Her memoir Rivoglio La Mia Vita (Claim My Life) was on the Italian bestseller list within a week. Veronica now tours Italy speaking openly about rape, abuse and the importance of breaking the silence as a tool for healing and change.
Her second book Riprenditi La Tua Vita — Le otto chiavi di Veronica (Take Back Your Life — Veronica's eight keys), was published in Italy May 2009.
She is the founder of the Associazione Veronica De Laurentiis, a foundation to stop domestic violence.
In March 2008, she was chosen to play the role of the "mater dolorosa" in the Italian show "D'Ambra Grigia E Canfora" directed by Raffaele Curi and produced by Fondazione Alda Fendi. In August of the same year, she starred in the movie Pandemia directed by Lucio Fiorentino which was released in 2012. [2] She is also developing two television shows in Italy, a documentary and a one-woman show.
With her second husband, producer Ivan Kavalsky, she has homes in Los Angeles and Rome.
In addition to her first child, Giada, [3] her other three children with Alex De Benedetti are Dino De Laurentiis (also a producer, like his grandfather), who died of melanoma in 2003, actor Igor De Laurentiis, and film makeup artist Eloisa De Laurentiis. She has appeared on occasion on Giada's cooking shows.
Melissa Sue Anderson is an American-Canadian actress. She began her career as a child actress after appearing in several commercials in Los Angeles. Anderson is known for her role as Mary Ingalls in the NBC drama series Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983), for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
Anne Bancroft was an American actress and director. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Cannes Film Festival Award. She is one of 24 thespians to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.
Silvana Mangano was an Italian film actress. She was one of a generation of thespians who arose from the neorealist movement, and went on to become a major female star, regarded as a sex symbol for the 1950s and '60s. She won the David di Donatello for Best Actress three times – for The Verona Trial (1963), The Witches (1967), and The Scientific Cardplayer (1973) – and the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress twice.
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer and businessman who held both Italian and American citizenship. Following a brief acting career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he moved into film production; alongside Carlo Ponti, he brought Italian cinema to the international scene in the post-World War II period. He produced or co-produced over 500 films, with 38 of his Hollywood films receiving Academy Award nominations. He was also the creator and operator of DDL Foodshow, a chain of Italian specialty foods stores.
Mary Kay Bergman, also credited as Shannen Cassidy, was an American voice actress and voice-over teacher. She was the official voice of the Disney character Snow White from 1989 to 1999 and the lead female voice actress on South Park from the show's debut in 1997 until her death. She was also the voice actress of Claudette and Laurette in Beauty and the Beast, Dr. Blight in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Katie in Family Dog, and Daphne Blake from 1997 to 1999. Throughout her career, Bergman performed voice work for every aspect in media, including over 400 television commercials.
King Kong is a 1976 American monster adventure film produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by John Guillermin. It is a modernized remake of the 1933 film about a giant ape that is captured and taken to New York City for exhibition. It stars Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and Jessica Lange in her first film role, and features mechanical effects by Carlo Rambaldi and makeup effects by Rick Baker who also played the title character. It is the fifth entry in the King Kong franchise.
Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg was a Swedish actress active in American and European films, known for her beauty and curvaceous figure. She became prominent in her iconic role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita (1960). Ekberg worked primarily in Italy, where she became a permanent resident in 1964.
Giada Pamela De Laurentiis is an Italian American chef, entrepreneur, writer, and television personality. She was the host of Food Network's program called Giada at Home. She also appears regularly as a contributor and guest co-host on NBC's program entitled Today. De Laurentiis is the founder of the catering business GDL Foods. She is a winner of the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Host and the Gracie Award for Best Television Host. She was also recognized by the International Hospitality Institute as one of the Global 100 in Hospitality, a list featuring the 100 Most Powerful People in Global Hospitality.
Nights of Cabiria is a 1957 drama film co-written and directed by Federico Fellini. It stars Giulietta Masina as Cabiria, a prostitute living in Rome. The cast also features François Périer and Amedeo Nazzari. The film is based on a story by Fellini, who expanded it into a screenplay along with his co-writers Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli and Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Food Network Star is a reality television series that aired from June 5, 2005 to August 5, 2018. It was produced by CBS EYEtoo Productions for seasons 1–8 and by Triage Entertainment for seasons 9-14. It aired on the Food Network in the United States. Prior to season seven, the series was known as The Next Food Network Star.
Marymount High School is an independent, Catholic, all-girls, college-preparatory high school located in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It sits on Sunset Boulevard across from the University of California, Los Angeles campus at 10643 Sunset Boulevard. The school's main administration building, chapel and auditorium are listed as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments.
Everyday Italian is a Food Network show hosted by Giada De Laurentiis. In the show, De Laurentiis taught viewers about traditional Italian cuisine with American influences.
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) was an entertainment production company and distribution studio founded by Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis. The company is notable for producing Manhunter, Blue Velvet, the horror films Near Dark and Evil Dead II, King Kong Lives, and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, as well as distributing The Transformers: The Movie.
Giada's Weekend Getaways is a show on the Food Network that ran from 2007 to 2008. The show follows chef Giada De Laurentiis around the U.S. for "3 day weekend adventures." The show begins Friday afternoon, as Giada arrives at her destination. She may begin with a light dinner, appetizer, and a cocktail. The bulk of the show happens on Saturday, beginning with a breakfast, some sight-seeing or activity, lunch, followed by another round of activity and finishes off with dinner, in which she goes all out, dresses up and has a night on the town. The show wraps up on Sunday with brunch and one last activity. As of 2012 the show was rerun on the Cooking Channel.
Raffaella De Laurentiis is an Italian film producer. Films that she has produced include Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, Dune, Prancer, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, all films in the Dragonheart series, The Forbidden Kingdom and Kull the Conqueror.
De Laurentiis is an Italian surname. Notable people with this surname include:
Lorella De Luca was an Italian film, television, and voice actress. One of the most recognized ingénues of Italian cinema during the mid-to-late 1950s, she is best known for having played naive young girls in dramas and comedies.
Renee C. Missel is a Canadian-born film producer and former photojournalist who has been active since the 1970s. She is a voting member of the Motion Picture Academy, and serves as a judge for the MPAA Nicholl Screenplay competition, MPAA International Oscar Shorts competition, and the UCLA Samuel Goldwyn writing competition.
Silvia Mazzieri is an Italian actress, especially known for her appearances in RAI television series.
Federico De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer. The son of film producer Dino De Laurentiis, he was the executive producer of his father's produced film King Kong (1976) and he produced two films on his own: King of theGypsies (1978) and She Dances Alone (1981). In 1981, De Laurentiis was killed in the mid-air collision of two light planes while he was shooting a documentary in Alaska.