Giulietta Masina

Giulietta Masina was an Italian film and stage actress. She starred in La Strada and Nights of Cabiria, both winners of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, in 1954 and 1957, respectively. Masina won the Best Actress award at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival for the later film.

Giulia Anna Masina was born in San Giorgio di Piano, Bologna. Her parents were Gaetano Masina, a violinist and a music teacher, and Anna Flavia Pasqualini, a schoolteacher. Nonetheless, she spent most of her childhood and adolescence in Rome at the home of a widowed aunt. Masina had three elder siblings Eugenia, and twins Mario and Maria. She attended the Ursuline sisters school where she took lessons in voice, piano and dance but not acting, although she did perform on stage. She graduated in Literature from the Sapienza University of Rome.

Source: Wikipedia