She began studying classical dance at five years old. By the time she was crossing a street in Milan on her way to a university law exam, she was stopped by a casting director. That chance encounter led to her first film and to everything that followed: Salvatores, Ozpetek, Venice, Mickey Rourke, Anthony Delon, a film considered among Italy’s Oscar candidates, a Rome Film Festival prize, and now two feature screenplays she is writing herself. Elisabetta Pellini has never waited for permission. She has simply kept moving, kept studying, kept saying yes to the next challenge, the next character, the next director who saw something in her.
Origins
A Family Where Art Was the Air
QYou come from a remarkable artistic family. How much did that heritage shape who you became?
My father Oreste Pellini, together with his friends, the brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni, and produced by Grimaldi, made two documentaries at the end of the 1950s and through the 1960s Africa Segreta and Africa Ama. Then he met my mother and dedicated himself to his family, but he kept his passion for travel, photography, cinema, theatre, art and culture, and he passed all of that on to me. I believe that is his greatest legacy.
On the other side of the family, my grandfather’s cousin Eugenio Pellini was a celebrated sculptor belonging to the Scapigliatura movement. I also came to know his son Eros Pellini, also a sculptor Gli Innamorati di Alassio is one of his most famous works. I myself love to paint, I remake revisited versions of the masters: Van Gogh, Munch, Gauguin. Art and cinema have been part of me since I was small. From childhood I said I wanted to be an actress, even though everyone in the family said it was difficult and I would be better off choosing a different path.
I began studying classical dance at the age of five, and there I learned that commitment, will, and study are what make things possible. I started acting later than some, but I had the fortune of working with the great Gigi Proietti, who advised me to study with his teacher Annabella Cerliani who became, for me, a teacher of diction, of acting, and of life. So I continued to follow my dream, with many difficulties, but with great determination. Sometimes I was chosen for a film; other times, no. But I never gave up. On the contrary the more stubborn I became, the more certain I was that the right project would come.
“From childhood I said I wanted to be an actress. Everyone said it was difficult. But I never gave up, I was certain the right project would come.”
— Elisabetta Pellini
Beginnings
The Street That Changed Everything
QHow did you find your way into acting?
I was studying law in Milan and had been asked to join a modelling agency, Riccardo Gay, and an advertising agency, First. It was a hobby for me though acting remained my great dream. Fashion could be a springboard. Then one day, walking to university to sit an exam, crossing the street, I caught the attention of director Neri Parenti, who had his casting director Maria Pia Rocco stop me for an audition for a film with Massimo Boldi, Il Cucciolo. I did the audition, and that is how I started on the big screen.
Afterwards came Carlo Vanzina with Il Cielo in Una Stanza, then Salvatores gave me a small part in Denti and I moved to Rome. There I made the decision to begin studying acting properly and try to make my dream a reality, a profession. I also trained as a director at a school in Rome run by Gianni Mammolotti.
Cinema
The Directors, the Roles, the Challenges
QYou have worked with Salvatores, Ozpetek, Rubini, Vanzina and more recently opposite Mickey Rourke and Anthony Delon. What have those experiences given you?
I was very moved working with those great masters of cinema, They are my favourite directors. They gave me security on set, and I abandoned myself completely to their guidance.
Another experience that was very important to me was working with Romanian director Ciprian Mega. In Oradea, Transylvania, I was the lead opposite Mickey Rourke and Anthony Delon in 21 Rubini, A film performed entirely in English, complex in both language and subject matter. Then there was the noir film Buio Come il Cuore, directed by Marco De Luca and written with Claudio Masenza, where I finally had the leading role. It tested me both as an actress and as a person. To interpret the character of Anna, A beautiful woman with a strong personality and a mysterious past required everything I had. And then there was La Terza Volta and Carpe Diem, each a world entirely of their own.
Most recently, Edda Ciano in Gianni Aureli’s La Terza Volta, which screened outside competition at the Rome Film Festival and won me the Best Actress prize at the Tirana Festival. Edda Ciano was an icon of the Second World War, A strong and complex woman, not easy to portray because she really existed. Every film I have made has been a challenge. I put my heart, my soul, and my passion into each one always with my fragility and sensitivity as a woman, which through acting I transform into strength.
QYour film Non Prendere Impegni Stasera was selected for Venice. What was that experience?
Gianluca Tavarelli is an excellent director and the film had a wonderful cast of Italian actors. I played the obsession of Alessandro Gassman, An actor I admire greatly and with whom I found an immediate connection on set. Tavarelli puts you at ease and knows exactly what he wants from an actor, communicating it clearly. I almost didn’t do the film because I was already committed to another set but the agency managed to arrange my schedule, and I was very happy they did. In this work, preparation, professionalism and a little luck are all essential.
QItalian television decades of beloved roles across RAI, Mediaset, Sky.
I have had the opportunity to work across many Italian series for RAI, Mediaset, and Sky. I love all the characters I play for me they are special friends. Television gives you the opportunity to deepen a character and enter the homes of the people who follow you. I have played many different roles, both good and bad but the ones I have enjoyed most are the dark ladies, because they are so far from who I truly am, and that distance makes them a great challenge. Working on a long-running series also allows you to become a family with the crew sometimes you work together for six continuous months, and that is something very beautiful.
“My fragility and sensitivity as a woman through acting, I transform them into strength.”
Award & Recognition
A Queen, a Partisan, and an Oscar Candidacy
QTell us about Il Monaco che Vinse l’Apocalisse and the Oscar 2026 candidacy.
In Jordan River’s Il Monaco che Vinse l’Apocalisse, I play Queen Constance of Hauteville another very beautiful role for me. A wise queen who knelt before the monk Gioacchino da Fiore, confessing to him out of love for her son Frederick II of Swabia, so that the monk could instil in him the wisdom only he possessed. The film has travelled extensively on the festival circuit, and although it is an independent film, it was considered among the possible Italian candidates for the Oscar 2026. Jordan River shot it in 12K, with cinematography by Gianni Mammolotti, make-up by Vittorio Sodano, and period costumes by Daniele Gelsi. A great team of professionals.
QAnd La Terza Volta the role of Edda Ciano.
Directed by Gianni Aureli, written by Gaia Moretti, and produced by Blue Film’s Claudio Bucci, this film gave me the opportunity to inhabit a woman as strong and significant as Edda Ciano. It is a film about friendship between two women, A partisan, played by Sara Baccarini, and a mysterious noblewoman whose identity is concealed: me, as Edda Ciano. Two very different women making a journey together through the final days of the Second World War, between explosions, searching for safety.
At the beginning my character is not declared, she is a noblewoman hiding who she is. The first part is made entirely of glances, of expressive acting without words, but deeply loaded with meaning. It is a character who transforms, changes and evolves as every real journey makes you do. We filmed in Basilicata, in the woods, night and day, without comfort but with a very close-knit crew who supported one another. I believe that energy comes through in the film.
The role brought me the Best Actress prize at the Tirana International Film Festival. And at the end of June I will be honoured to receive the Filming Italy Women Power Award as Best Actress for Edda Ciano, awarded by Tiziana Rocca at her festival in Sardinia, A recognition that means a great deal to me.
New Work
Carpe Diem
I have just finished filming an independent film by Dennis Dellai Carpe Diem, shot in Thiene, Vicenza in which I play the wife of Dr Ronco, a real person who in 2013 built the first dialysis machine for newborns. My character, his wife, supports him with great strength.
Directing
Behind the Camera, and the Work That Matters
QYou made your directorial debut with L’Amore Nonostante Tutto. What drew you to directing?
I love directing it is my challenge, my dream. I hope to do it soon. In the meantime I am writing two feature-length screenplays with different themes. It is not easy right now, but I am stubborn and I will put everything I have into being prepared for that challenge too. What I should say clearly is this: if I direct a film, I will not act in it. I want to concentrate fully both as director and as actress I do not think it is right for me to do both at the same time. As an actress, I like to dedicate myself entirely to that, to be directed by someone else and abandon myself to their guidance.
QYou are deeply committed to social advocacy through your work violence against women, AISM, WWF, METER.
I believe all of us should engage with social causes. I am a testimonial for AISM, WWF and METER, the association against violence against minors. Whenever I can, I do. Right now I am writing a social short film that I hope to direct as a filmmaker, and I hope to realise it in the near future. Short films are more achievable to produce, but the idea is everything. If it is good, you circulate it at festivals and draw attention to those who are most vulnerable, most defenceless, least fortunate. They must not be forgotten or marginalised, they must be helped and supported.
Personally, it makes me feel better with myself knowing I have given a smile to someone less fortunate. When a person suffers, and truly knows suffering, and comes through it stronger that is the most human thing there is. I try to be a voice for those who have no voice.
QWhen you are not on set or writing, what does life look like for Elisabetta?
I love painting, reading, travelling and I love good food and good wine. I love spending time with my family and friends. I value authentic relationships, people who are genuine, who say what they think, who are loyal. In this industry it is not always easy to find that, but when you do, it is the greatest gift.
QWhat is next for you?
The short film I am writing for the social cause I care most about. The two feature screenplays. And the hope that one day soon, I will direct. I am stubborn and I believe in what I do. I always have.
I will also appear in an episode of the new series Rocco Schiavone 7 with Marco Giallini, and I am about to begin the television series of maestro Pupi Avati, Gotico Padano. Then I hope to be able to direct my first feature Dove Nasce l’Amore or another idea I am currently writing.
For the rest, I dedicate myself to my wonderful mother Graziella Andina, who is 83 years old I want to treasure every moment with her. She is my one great love. And I believe deeply in friendship: my friends are my true family. They have always supported me in the difficult moments. They are my greatest treasure after my mother.
“My friends are my true family. They have always been there in the difficult moments. They are my greatest treasure after my mother.”
Connect with Elisabetta Pellini
Actress · Director · Screenwriter · Italy
Elisabetta Pellini is an Italian actress, director, and screenwriter whose career spans feature film, television, and social advocacy. Her recent work includes La Terza Volta, Il Monaco che Vinse l’Apocalisse, and Carpe Diem, with Rocco Schiavone 7 and Pupi Avati’s Gotico Padano forthcoming.
“Every film has been a challenge. I put my heart, my soul, and my passion into each one. With my fragility as a woman which through acting I transform into strength.”