Friday, October 15, 2010

"Gal" Friday! Asia Argento




Today's "Gal" Friday selection is not only one of my personal favorites, she's also one of Italy's most popular current actresses, Asia Argento. As the daughter of legendary horror director Dario Argento, she broke into films at the age of nine and has gone on to enjoy an acclaimed career. Although she admits to not being close with her father, she has appeared in a number of his films. She has earned two David di Donatello awards (the Italian version of the Oscar) and two Ciacks (the Italian Golden Globe), among other honors.

Although she has obviously spent most of her career on the big screens of her native land, Asia has acted in many non-Italian roles such as B. Monkey (1998), as a master thief alongside Rupert Everett and Jonathan Rhys Meyers; The Keeper, with Dennis Hopper, George Romero’s fourth zombie epic, Land of the Dead (see above; top) and the 2002 action hit XXX, opposite Vin Diesel. Her genre work also includes the major Italian films Demons 2, The Church, Trauma, The Stendhal Syndrome, The Phantom of the Opera (1998) and The Mother of Tears. In addition to acting, Argento is also a screenwriter and director with a growing number of credits to her name including her directorial debut, Scarlet Diva (2000), which was a semi-autobiographical tale.

On screen she is often equal parts tough and sultry, but don't think that she doesn't have much more going on in her head because Asia is also the author of many published short stories and her first novel, "I Love You, Kirk," was published in 1999. I'm glad to finally clear a space in the Catacombs for her during my "Strange Terrors" celebration.

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