Monica Guerritore

Monica Guerritore (born 5 January 1958) is an Italian film, theatre, and television actress.

Biography

Guerritore was born in Rome to a Neapolitan father and a Calabrian mother. She had her first small part in Vittorio De Sica's Una breve vacanza, at the early age of 13. After her official debut at just sixteen years of age under the direction of Giorgio Strehler in The Cherry Orchard, she tied herself romantically and artistically to film and theatre director Gabriele Lavia, acting in his theatrical performances mostly strong female characters like Jocasta, Lady Macbeth and Ophelia.

Miss Julie in Strindberg's drama. The couple separated in 2001, during the rehearsals of Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage in which she played Marianne. Guerritore continued her work with other directors, like Giancarlo Sepe, in Madame Bovary, Carmen, and The Lady of the Camellias.

Beside the stage career, Guerritore works on television and film, starting in 1976 along Marcello Mastroianni in Signore e signori, buonanotte. In 1977, she plays the title role in first RAI colour TV play Manon Lescaut; significant performances were in Salvatore Samperi's The Dark Side of Love (1985) and in Mauro Bolognini's The Venetian Woman (1986).

She stayed far away from television for 17 years and came back on screen RAI in 1997 with the title role in Costanza, and in 1999 in Mario Caiano's L'amore oltre la vita. In 2004, she played Ambra Leonardi in Amanti e segreti, and in 2006 she played Ada Sereni in Gianluigi Calderone's Exodus.

Lavia directed her in many movies, often erotically toned, including Scandalous Gilda (1985), Evil Senses (1986) and a Sicilian film by Giovanni Verga, La lupa (1996). In theatre, she also wrote and directed Giovanna d'Arco (2004–2006), and Dall'Inferno all'Infinito (2008).^{[citation needed]} In 2007, she played a part in Ferzan Özpetek's A Perfect Day (Un giorno perfetto), and in 2008 she took part to Ivano De Matteo's La bella gente. She has performed Saint Monica in Christian Duguay's Sant'Agostino.

Guerritore portrayed Anna Di Gastoni in the 2018 film My Big Gay Italian Wedding. In 2024, she starred as Gabriella de Rosa in the Netflix Italian series Deceitful Love. Guerritore's first feature film as a director, Anna [it], about Anna Magnani premiered at the Rome Film Festival on 9 October 2025, and was released in Italy on 6 November 2025.

Filmography

Films

Television