Photos of the gorgeous Italian actress & international sex symbol Sophia Loren

Encouraged to enroll in acting lessons after entering a beauty pageant, Loren began her film career at age 15 in 1950 .

She appeared in several bit parts and minor roles in the early part of the decade, until her five-picture contract with Paramount in 1956 launched her international career.

Notable film appearances around this time include The Pride and the Passion, Houseboat, and It Started in Naples.

Her talents as an actress were not recognized until her performance as Cesira in Vittorio De Sica’s Two Women; Loren’s performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1962 and made her the first artist to win an Oscar for a foreign-language performance.

She holds the record for having earned six David di Donatello Awards for Best Actress, the most ever received:Two Women; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow; Marriage Italian Style (for which she was nominated for a second Oscar); Sunflower; The Voyage; and A Special Day.

 

Sophia Loren and Lise Bourdin in Comacchio, in the set of the Italian film La donna del fiumeSource

 

Cropped screenshot of Sophia Loren from the film Five Miles to MidnightSource

 

Italian actress Sophia Loren in Comacchio, in the set of the Italian film La donna del fiumeSource

 

Photo of Sophia Loren eating spaghetti.Source

 

Publicity photoSource

 

Sofia Loren in 1959Source

 

 

Sophia Loren 1956.Source

 

After starting her family in the early 1970s, Loren spent less time on her acting career and chose to make only occasional film appearances.

In later years, she has appeared in American films such as Grumpier Old Men and Nine.

 

 

Sophia Loren (1955)Source

 

Sophia Loren in Africa sotto i mari (1953)Source

 

Sophia Loren in L’oro di Napoli con Giacomo Furia (1954)Source

 

Sophia Loren with Eleonora Brown in La ciociara (1960)Source

 

Sophia Loren with Marcello MastroianniSource

 

Sophia Loren with Raf Vallone ne Il segno di Venere (1955)Source

 

Sophia Loren with Cary Grant in Un marito per Cinzia (1958)Source

 

Italian actress Sophia Loren in Comacchio, in the set of the Italian film La donna del fiume.Source

Aside from the Academy Award, she has won a Grammy Award, five special Golden Globes, a BAFTA Award, a Laurel Award, the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and theHonorary Academy Award in 1991. In 1995, she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievements, one of many such awards. In 1999, Loren was acknowledged as one of the top 25 female American Screen Legends in the American Film Institute’s survey, AFI’s 100 Years…100 Stars.