L'Italo-Americano

18 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2013 Exclusive Interview with Italian Superstar Maria Grazia Cucinotta ANdREW BAGLEY Charming, talented, and beautiful, Maria Grazia Cucinotta recently visited San Diego to attend the San Diego Italian Film Festival this past Saturday as an honored guest at the Gala. I had the privilege to meet with her prior to the event to engage in a friendly one-on-one Italian conversation. Her list of impressive accomplishments is endless: mother, wife, activist, humanitarian, model, actor, Bond Girl, producer, screenwriter, director, ambas- sador, national treasure. I was struck by her affable nature, generous heart and in particular her humility. She is clearly a beautiful person inside out. Maria Grazia's acting career spawns over three decades and remarkably she has about seventy film and TV credits to her name. Her break-out role came in 1995 opposite Massimo Troisi in the Oscar nominated film "Il Postino" (The Postman) which catapulted her to international acclaim. She quickly relocated to Los Angeles and worked tirelessly between both American and Italian features until 2001, when she became pregnant and moved back to Rome to birth her first child Giulia. She confides, "Italy for a child is the biggest gift I can do because it is a wonderful place. Surrounded by art, culture, the good life, the food is healthy and the quality of life is very high. For a child, Italy is a paradise. "The most important thing for me is being a mother. It comes before anything else. You can make a mistake in a film, but you can't make a mistake being Maria Grazia Cucinotta at the SDIFF gala reception. Photo © Carol Sonstein a mother. My daughter Giulia is the most important person in my life because she is my life. It's not easy with my work being a mother and wife and I also devote much of my time to charity. I am involved with several organizations fighting every day for the causes I believe in which is what I am most interested in." As a fierce advocate, Maria Grazia supports many charities and causes close to her heart in particular women's rights, children, diversity, discrimination and intolerance. Actively involved in the Susan G. Komen for breast cancer for thirteen years, she was one of the first people in Italy to bring awareness about the organization. She owns a collection designed by fashion stylist Maria Grazia Severi with all proceeds benefiting Pangea, an organization that helps women and children subjected to violence. Maria Grazia also supports Casa Iridi which is a hospitality house that assists indigent families, adults and children in a vegetative state. She also serves as ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme in the fight against global hunger. "In my opinion, the only reason it is worth being famous is the ability to give voice to people who are invisible. These disadvantaged people are unable to make their hardships known and consequently remain invisible. Thanks to my popularity I am able to remind people that these people exist with their problems." Desiring artistic control over the content of her projects, in 2006 Maria Grazia founded Continued on page 19

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