Giulietta Masina mini-bio: Giulia Anna (Giulietta) Masina (February 22, 1921 – March 23, 1994) was an Italian film actress, and the wife of film director Federico Fellini.
Born in San Giorgio di Piano, her parents were Gaetano Masina, a violinist, and Anna Flavia Pasqualin, a schoolteacher. She had three elder siblings: Eugenia, and the twins Mario and Maria. Masina initially studied literature, but later turned to acting; while attending university in Rome, she joined a drama ensemble and later signed on with the Ateneo Theatre Group.
By 1943 Masina was gaining notice as a radio actress, and had been cast as Pallina in Cico e Pallina, a radio serial about a young married couple, written by Fellini. Soon afterwards, on October 30, 1943, she and Fellini were married. Several months after their marriage, Masina fell down a flight of stairs and suffered a miscarriage. Then, on March 22, 1945, son Pierfederico (nicknamed Federichino) was born. He died just a month later on April 24.
Masina's first screen credit was the 1948 film Without Pity, opposite John Kitzmiller. She accumulated roles in a number of films, and in 1957 she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of the title role in Nights of Cabiria, as a prostitute who endures life's tragedies with innocence and resilience.
She died from cancer in March 1994, at the age of seventy-three. Fellini had died just five months earlier, in October 1993. They are buried together at Rimini cemetery; their tomb is marked by a prow-shaped monument, the work of sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro.
She is a four time winner of the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon (twice for Best Actress and twice for Best Supporting Actress). She was twice nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Actress.
