Valeria Golino

Born: October 22 1966
Where: Naples, Italy

An ex-model of Greek-Italian parentage, she drew attention when she won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival for Storia D'Amore.

The US-based actress has appeared in a string of box office successes including Rain Man and Leaving Las Vegas.

However, she also remains true to her roots and gained critical acclaim for her recent portrayal of an oppressed free spirit in Respiro.

After three years in Athens with the mother and other three in Naples with the father she began to work as a model.

An untrained actress, she landed the leading role in Peter Del Monte's Little Fires after earlier minor roles.

After some European co-productions (Last Summer in Tangiers, The Gold-Rimmed Glasses, Love and Fear) she began to work in Hollywood.

She played Tom Cruise's sympathetic girlfriend in Rain Man in 1988 and her other leading man that year was Pee-wee Herman in Big Top Pee-wee.

Splitting her time between LA and Italy, she starred in Hot Shots!, Year of the Gun, Leaving Las Vegas and Escape from LA.

Recent work has included Ivansxtc, Hotel, Frida and Respiro, which won the Critic's Week Award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.