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Claudia Cardinale (born April 15, 1938) is an
actor|actress born in Tunis, Tunisia to
Italy|Italian parents.

Claudia Cardinale was born Claude Josephine Rose
Cardin.  She had her break into films after
winning a Tunisian beauty contest in 1957. She
made her film debut in Goha (1958) and later that
year had a role in the minor international success
I Soliti ignoti. Her early career was largely
managed by producer Franco Cristaldi. Throughout
the 1960s she appeared in many Italian or Italian
co-financed films including Luchino Visconti's Il
Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963), Rocco e i suoi
fratelli (1963), Federico Fellini's 8½ and Sergio
Leone's epic Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

She attempted to break into the US market but was
let down by her lack of interest in leaving Europe
for extended periods of time. Her Hollywood films
include Circus World (1964), The Pink Panther
(1964) and The Hell With Heroes (1968).

She has appeared in more good European movies than
most of her contemporaries. Her performance in
Visconti's Sandra/Of A Thousand Delights is
regarded as mesmerizing, playing a Holocaust
survivor with an incestuous relationship with her
brother. In Comencini's "La Storia", Cardinale
plays a widow raising a son during WW2 and was
another well-received performance by Cardinale.
Other performances by Cardinale that are
considered to be great include Valerio Zurlini's
"Girl With A Suitcase" and Mauro Bolognini's
"Libera".

Cardinale remains active in European cinema, her
later films include Qui comincia l'avventura
(1975), Fitzcarraldo (1982), La Storia (1985) and
Un homme amoureux (1987).



She has been married only once to the producer
Franco Cristaldi but has been living with film
director Pasquale Squitieri since 1975, and has
two children. Claudia Junior's father is Squitieri
and her eldest son Patrick was born out of wedlock
to a mysterious Frenchman when the actress was
only 18 and who was adopted by Cristaldi later on.

Claudia Cardinale is a liberal with strong
political convictions. She is a leftist involved
in pro-women and pro-gay issues. She has also
frequently stated that she is proud of her Arab
heritage (she was born in Tunis) and is involved
in many humanitarian causes. She currently calls
Paris her home.

Claudia Cardinale wrote an autobiography "Moi
Claudia, Toi Claudia" which has not been
translated into English.