Francesca Inaudi

A statuesque brunette with beautiful dark eyes, Francesca Inaudi began her career as a classically-trained theater actress. While studying her craft at Milan's prestigious Piccolo Teatro, Inaudi worked in plays ranging from classical favorites by Molière and Shakespeare to J.M. Barrie's deathless family classic "Peter Pan" to forbidding modern works by Yukio Mishima. Bypassing the usual stepping stones of utility parts and small supporting roles, Inaudi made her film debut as the star of Davide Ferrario's quirky museum-set romantic comedy "After Midnight." She followed that with another lighthearted romance, "L'uomo perfetto." At a point in her career where she could have been typecast as Italy's answer to Katherine Heigl, smaller roles in the experimental drama "L'orizzonte degli eventi" and the dark mystery "Don't Tell" (which garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006) showcased her remarkable range. While maintaining a career in film, Inaudi began working regularly in television beginning with three seasons as tough- as-nails police inspector Irene Valli in the long-running police procedural "Distretto di polizia." Leaving that show, Inaudi took the leading role of Maya in the romantic drama "Tutti pazzi per amore" beginning in 2008. In 2010, she returned to madcap romantic comedy with a key role in the wedding farce "Matrimoni e altri disastri."