# Valeria Golino
**Valeria Golino** (born 1965, Naples) is an Italian actress and film director who won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the [Venice Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/venice-film-festival) twice, for *Storia d'amore* (1986) and *Per amor vostro* (2015), and is known internationally for her roles in *Rain Man* (1988) and the *Hot Shots!* comedies (1991, 1993).[1](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0000420/bio/) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) Since 2013 she has also worked behind the camera, directing the features *Miele* and *Euforia* and the 2024 miniseries *L'arte della gioia*.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1965, Naples, Italy; daughter of an Italian father and a Greek mother[1](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0000420/bio/) • [4](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/174346.pdf) |
| First major award | Volpi Cup for Best Actress, Venice Film Festival 1986, for Francesco Maselli's *Storia d'amore*[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) |
| Hollywood work | About twenty American films, including *Rain Man* (1988), *The Indian Runner* (1991), and *Hot Shots!* (1991) and *Hot Shots! 2* (1993)[4](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/174346.pdf) |
| David di Donatello wins | Best Actress for *La guerra di Mario* (2005/06); Best Supporting Actress for *Il capitale umano* (2013/14) and *5 è il numero perfetto* (2020); Best Adapted Screenplay for *L'arte della gioia* (2025)[6](https://www.daviddidonatello.it/motore-di-ricerca/cercavincitori2.php?idsoggetto=1148) |
| Directing debut | *Miele* (2013), in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, where it received a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) • [9](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0000420/awards/) |
| Cannes jury roles | Member of the Feature Films jury, 2016; President of the Un Certain Regard jury, 2022[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) |
| Languages | English, French, Greek, and Italian[1](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0000420/bio/) |
## Early life and start in cinema
Golino grew up between Athens and Naples as the daughter of an Italian father and a Greek mother, and began working as a model in Athens as a teenager.[4](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/174346.pdf) Acting, she has said, was not her ambition: she was in high school and planning to go to university when the director Lina Wertmüller, a friend of her aunt, cast her at 16 as the daughter of Ugo Tognazzi's character in *A Joke of Destiny* (*Scherzo del destino in agguato dietro l'angolo come un brigante da strada*, 1983).[7](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2016/interview-with-valeria-golino-member-of-the-feature-films-jury/) Her first leading role came in 1985 with Peter Del Monte's *Little Flames* (*Piccoli fuochi*).[4](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/174346.pdf)
The following year, at 21, she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at Venice for Maselli's *Storia d'amore* (*A Tale of Love*), an award she credits with launching her career.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) • [7](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2016/interview-with-valeria-golino-member-of-the-feature-films-jury/)
## International career
Her career became international with [Barry Levinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/barry-levinson)'s *Rain Man* (1988), in which she played the girlfriend of [Tom Cruise](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-cruise)'s character opposite [Dustin Hoffman](https://www.edgepedia.org/dustin-hoffman).[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) Over roughly a decade she made sixteen or seventeen American films, including Sean Penn's *The Indian Runner* (1991), Mike Figgis's *Leaving Las Vegas* (1995), and the Jim Abrahams comedies *Hot Shots!* (1991) and *Hot Shots! 2* (1993).[4](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/174346.pdf) • [7](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2016/interview-with-valeria-golino-member-of-the-feature-films-jury/) She has said the American period trained her in a different discipline and taught her to act in another language, while the roles she is proudest of came from Italian cinema.[7](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2016/interview-with-valeria-golino-member-of-the-feature-films-jury/)
A scholarly study of her career describes her as one of the most renowned contemporary Italian actresses without becoming an icon of Italianness: before *Respiro* (2002), her popularity in the United States was greater than in Italy, and her professional identity was shaped in an independent American cinema that embraced cultural diversity.[5](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-67310-8_16) For four decades the American, Italian, French, Greek, and British film industries have intersected in her work, from European festival films to the television character Paola Lambruschini in *The Morning Show* (2019– ).[5](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-67310-8_16)
## Italian cinema and awards
In Italy Golino's career is embedded in the auteur cinema of the early 2000s. Emanuele Crialese's *Respiro* (2002), set on [Lampedusa](https://www.edgepedia.org/lampedusa), brought her the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress, and Antonio Capuano's *La guerra di Mario* (*Mario's War*, 2005) won her the David di Donatello for Best Actress in 2006.[4](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/174346.pdf) Later Italian films include Paolo Virzì's *Il capitale umano* (*Human Capital*, 2013), which won her a David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress the following year, and Igor Tuveri's *5 è il numero perfetto* (2019), which won her a second supporting-actress David in 2020.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) • [6](https://www.daviddidonatello.it/motore-di-ricerca/cercavincitori2.php?idsoggetto=1148)
In 2015 Giuseppe M. Gaudino's *Per amor vostro* won her a second Volpi Cup at Venice.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) She returned to the Venice competition in 2019 as an actress in [Céline Sciamma](https://www.edgepedia.org/celine-sciamma)'s *Portrait of a Lady on Fire*, which won Best Screenplay there.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) In 2025 she won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress, in ex aequo with R.M. Vergano, for her performance as the writer Goliarda Sapienza in Mario Martone's *[Fuori](https://www.edgepedia.org/fuori)* (2025), which screened in competition at Cannes.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/valeria-golino/) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/)
## Directing
Golino made her first short, *Armandino e il Madre*, in 2010, and her feature debut with *Miele* (*Honey*, 2013), a drama about euthanasia starring Jasmine Trinca.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/valeria-golino/) • [4](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/174346.pdf) The film was selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes, received a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury, and earned her the Nastro d'Argento for Best New Director.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) • [9](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0000420/awards/) • [3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/valeria-golino/) She has said she started directing at 45 because she had impostor syndrome and did not think she was good enough.[8](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2024/rendez-vous-with-valeria-golino/)
Her second feature, *Euforia* (2018), about a confrontation between two brothers, was also selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) She has described her films as centered on characters facing an overwhelming ethical issue, who doubt whether they are in the wrong or in the right.[8](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2024/rendez-vous-with-valeria-golino/)
Her adaptation of Goliarda Sapienza's novel *L'arte della gioia* (*[The Art of Joy](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-art-of-joy-tv-series)*) became her first work as a series director, a six-episode miniseries presented at Cannes in 2024 with Tecla Insolia as Modesta and Jasmine Trinca as the Mother Superior.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/) • [8](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2024/rendez-vous-with-valeria-golino/) At the 2025 David di [Donatello](https://www.edgepedia.org/donatello) awards the series won Best Adapted Screenplay, shared by Golino with Francesca Marciano, Valia Santella, Stefano Sardo, and Luca Infascelli, and was also nominated for Best Film and Best Director.[6](https://www.daviddidonatello.it/motore-di-ricerca/cercavincitori2.php?idsoggetto=1148)
## Recognition
The David di Donatello academy records four wins and 22 further nominations for Golino, spanning categories from Best Actress for *Storia d'amore* (1986/87) to the 2026 nominations for *Fuori* and *[Breve storia d'amore](https://www.edgepedia.org/a-brief-affair-film)*.[6](https://www.daviddidonatello.it/motore-di-ricerca/cercavincitori2.php?idsoggetto=1148) A 2024 academic chapter states that she has received 73 awards to date, and attributes her prestige to her versatility and distinctive acting features, including her idiosyncratic style, a tactile and nervous use of the body, and her husky, whispering voice.[5](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-67310-8_16) At Cannes she served on the Feature Films jury in 2016 and presided over the Un Certain Regard jury in 2022.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/)
## References
1. [Valeria Golino – Biografia, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0000420/bio/)
2. [Valeria GOLINO – Festival de Cannes profile](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/valeria-golino/)
3. [Golino, Valeria – Treccani, Enciclopedia on line](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/valeria-golino/)
4. [Valeria Golino's Biography – Anatomie d'une chute pressbook, Festival de Cannes (2024)](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/174346.pdf)
5. [Sara Pesce, "Valeria Golino: Transnational and Global Italianness," in *Italian Contemporary Screen Performers* (Springer, 2024)](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-67310-8_16)
6. [Accademia del Cinema Italiano – Premi David di Donatello, Valeria Golino](https://www.daviddidonatello.it/motore-di-ricerca/cercavincitori2.php?idsoggetto=1148)
7. [Interview with Valeria Golino, member of the Feature Films Jury – Festival de Cannes (2016)](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2016/interview-with-valeria-golino-member-of-the-feature-films-jury/)
8. [Rendez-vous with… Valeria Golino – Festival de Cannes (2024)](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2024/rendez-vous-with-valeria-golino/)
9. [Valeria Golino – Premi, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0000420/awards/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Film actors and performers › Actors and actresses by country or nationality › European actors and actresses*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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