Sophia Loren's Real Name: Sofia Villani Scicolone

Quick answer: Sophia Loren's documented original name is Sofia Villani Scicolone. Encyclopaedia Britannica records that she was born on September 20, 1934, in Rome, Italy, and that she rose from poverty in postwar Naples to become Italy's most famous movie star. She won the Academy Award for best actress for Vittorio De Sica's La ciociara (1960; Two Women) (Britannica; Encyclopedia.com).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress heading is "Loren, Sophia, 1934-," with the variant "Scicolone, Sofia, 1934-." Britannica lists her also as Sofia Scicolone and Sofia Villani Scicolone. An Encyclopedia.com profile says she was born as Sofia Scicolone on September 20, 1934, in Rome, the child of Romilda Villani and Riccardo Scicolone, and grew up in Pozzuoli, near Naples. Britannica notes her poverty-stricken origins in postwar Naples. Before cinema work, Sofia Scicolone changed her last name to Lazzaro for the fotoromanzi, pulp magazines that told romantic stories with still photographs. Her first film role was as an extra, one of many slave girls, in the American production Quo Vadis? (1951). Under the tutelage of producer Carlo Ponti, later her husband, she was transformed into Sophia Loren.

Career highlights

Her career began in low-budget comedies before Aida (1953), in which she lip-synched the singing of Renata Tebaldi, brought wider attention. Britannica points to her earthy charisma in De Sica's L'oro di Napoli (1954; The Gold of Naples). With Ponti's help she increased her international visibility in Hollywood films opposite major stars including Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra in The Pride and the Passion (1957), Alan Ladd in Boy on a Dolphin (1957), and Paul Newman in Lady L (1965). Other titles on Britannica's list include It Started in Naples (1960), with Gable, and El Cid (1961). (The same list includes Houseboat with Grant; this page omits that film's year, which some summaries have given incorrectly.) That exposure, Britannica says, helped her win the Academy Award for best actress for Two Women, as the courageous mother of a teenage girl during World War II. The Encyclopedia.com profile notes that her career has covered more than 50 years and more than 100 films and that her work has earned virtually every major international acting award.

Name notes for searchers

Sofia Villani Scicolone is the documented original name; she also worked as Sofia Lazzaro before becoming known worldwide as Sophia Loren. Searchers looking for the star of Two Women are usually aiming at the same person.