Lucia Sciarra

DATASTREAM
Actress: Monica Bellucci
Character: Lucia Sciarra
Movie: 'SPECTRE'
Date of Birth: 30th September 1964
Place of Birth: Città di Castello, Italy
Trivia: Is fluent in Italian, English, French, Persian and Spanish.

PLEASED TO MEET YOU
After assassinating her husband in Mexico City, Bond rendezvous with the fragile and stone-cold Lucia Sciarra in Rome. She is mourning her late husband, at grand ceremony attended by members of the top secret criminal organisation to which Marco Sciarra belonged. She responds coldly to Bond's jab that he sells life insurance and remains unimpressed with Bond's charms.

"If you don't leave now, we'll die together."

CAUGHT IN THE ACT
After tracing her to the grand Italian Sciarra family villa, Bond kills the men assigned to kill Lucia and convinces the kept woman that he's here to protect her. Seducing the long-suffering Signora Sciarra, Bond learns the location of the meeting of SPECTRE operatives.

PROFILE
Scared and resigned to meet her death, Lucia's silence was her key asset whilst her husband was alive. But after 007 assassinates her husband, Marco, at the instruction of the late "M" (Dame Judi Dench), the lady's life is worthless to Sciarra's former employers. She knows little other than the cold shoulder her assassin-husband showed her and she did little to mourn the loss of Signore Sciarra. She gives into Bond's charms after he saves her life and Bond leaves her to examine the congress of SPECTRE agents; in doing so Bond reassures Lucia that his buddy Felix in the CIA will be able to give her safe passage out of Italy and a new life. She cautions Bond that involving himself with her will be signing a death warrant, yet Bond relishes in the risks and rewards.

BIOGRAPHY
Born to Brunella Briganti and Pasquale Bellucci in September 1964, Monica Bellucci began modelling at the tender age of thirteen. As a student she studied both literature and law and continued to model part time to pay for her education and living expenses at the University of Perugia. Some ten years after her first modelling experience, Bellucci moved from her home town in Umbria, Italy, to Milan in 1988. Here, her beauty was apparent and appreciated and she had no trouble finding regular work. In her early career as a model she worked with some of the world's biggest fashion brands, including Dolce & Gabbana and Christian Dior.

She made the transition (as so many in the modelling profession do) to movies in the early '90s, with credits in Italian cinema dating from 1990. Around this time the aspiring actress married Italian photographer Claudio Basso. The pair remained together for four years before divorcing in 1994. Hollywood soon found Bellucci and she joined the cast of Francis Ford Coppola's "Dracula" (1992) wherein she appeared alongside a star-studded cast that included Anthony Hopkins, Richard E. Grant, Winona Ryder, and Gary Oldman as the titular character.

Bellucci came to prominence with her role in "The Matrix" franchise, but before this, she appeared in the well-received French drama, "L'appartement", which starred Vincent Cassel. In the following decade, Cassel and Bellucci appeared together in a number of French films, including "Dobermann" (1997) and "Brotherhood of the Wolf" (2001); meanwhile the pair become romantically involved and married in 1999.

In the early 2000s, the actress returned to Hollywood to play the iconic role of Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". The film went on to become one of the US's highest-grossing R-rated pictures. For the role Belllucci learned Aramaic, adding to her already impressive linguistic talent - she is fluent in Italian, French, English, and has a robust knowledge of Spanish.

In her 25 year film career she has worked with and been sought after by some of the world's most recognised and respected directors. Her more recent English-language credits include: "The Brother's Grimm", helmed by Terry Gilliam; "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" with Andy and Larry Wachowski; Spike Lee's "She Hate Me"; Jerry Bruckheimer's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"; and the Brad Pitt-produced "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee".

After appearing in SPECTRE alongside Daniel Craig, Bellucci was lined up to co-star in the Emir Kusturica project, "On the Milky Road" (2016). She appears on the screen with the director himself in the war-torn love affair, due for release in Serbia in September 2016.