Forbidden

Monica Bellucci was born on September 30th, 1968, in the village of Citta di Castello, in Umbria, Italy. Initially pursuing a career as a lawyer, Monica decided to start modeling in order to help pay for her tuition while at the University of Perugia. But of course, the glamorous life of a model -- which includes travel and a sweet income -- tempted Monica away from her law studies. In 1988, Monica moved to one of Europe's fashion centers -- Milan. There, she signed with Elite Model Management and found plenty of modeling work. By 1989, Monica was making it big in Paris and across the Atlantic, in New York. But although she had achieved huge success in so little time as a model (posing for Dolce & Gabbana and French Elle), Monica thrived for more. Monica's classic and elegant good looks are matched only by an equally sophisticated and refined fashion sense. She made her film debut in 1990, with roles in Vita coi figli and Briganti (a.k.a Bandits: Love and Liberty). The following year, Monica starred as Francesca in the film La Riffa, and made her American film debut with the role of Dracula's Bride in 1992's Bram Stoker's Dracula, co-starring Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder. Roles began to pour in for the Italian beauty. After a role in Ostinato destino, she appeared in I Mitici (a.k.a. The Heroes) in 1994, and Palla di neve in 1995. She also starred as the Pharaoh's wife in the made-for-TV movie, Joseph. But it was her role in the 1996 film, L'Appartement, that earned Monica her acting accolades. In 1997, Bellucci was cast in Come mi vuoi (a.k.a As You Want Me), Dobermann and Mauvais genre. After roles in more European films such as 1998's L'Ultimo capodanno, A los que aman, and Compromis, she starred in 1999's Comme un poisson hors de l'eau (a.k.a. Like a Fish Out of Water). But it was the critical success of the Italian film Malena (2000), in which Monica starred in the title role, that really catapulted her to fame. In 2001, Bellucci starred in Brotherhood of the Wolf (co-starring her husband Cassel) and as Cleopatra in Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatre. The following year she starred in Tears of the Sun, with Bruce Willis, and of course, as Persephone in the highly anticipated sequels to 1999's The Matrix. In 2004, Monica Bellucci was seen as Magdalene in Mel Gibson's controversial blockbuster, The Passion of the Christ, and returned to French film with Agents secrets. She can also add 2004's The Brothers Grimm (with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger), Spike Lee's She Hate Me, and 2005's Lord of War (with Nicolas Cage) to her filmography. With over 20 movies to her credit she isn't a novice to film, unfortunately her fame comes from Italian cinema. Monica has not benefited from the Hollywood marketing machine that movie studios are capable of. Although the model-turned-actress has reached incredible heights in both streams of her career, she still dreams of working with the legendary Robert De Niro. Critics are quick to compare Monica Bellucci to previous Italian beauties, but she has her own brand of sensual style. With roles as a topless vampire in "Dracula", and her recent role as a sci-fi vixen in the Matrix sequels, Monica has proven to be a bold blend of a seductive actress and a talented star.

Hailed as one of the most talented child actors of the 1990s, Mischa Barton had carved out the beginnings of an enviable career on the screen and stage by the time most kids her age were being allowed to see PG-13 movies on their own. Possessing blonde hair, blue eyes the color and approximate size of Wedgewood saucers, and precocious intelligence, Barton first came to the attention of critics and audiences as the ten-year-old heroine of John Duigan's Lawn Dogs (1997), a drama that cast her as an alienated girl whose friendship with an earthy lawn boy (Sam Rockwell) creates controversy in her exclusive neighborhood. Born January 24, 1986, in London, England, Barton was raised in the city until the age of four, when her father took a job on Wall Street that relocated the family to New York. Following the move, she began working as a child model and taking summer camp acting classes; after being spotted by a talent agent, the aspiring actress got her first professional break on the New York stage in 1994, when she played Vodya Domik, one of the lead characters in an off-Broadway production of Tony Kushner's Slavs! Earning rave reviews for her performance, Barton went on to perform in a number of plays, including the Lincoln Center production of James Lapine's Twelve Dreams and Naomi Wallace's One Flea Spare at the New York Shakespeare Festival's Public Theatre, which cast her in the lead role of a street urchin opposite Dianne Wiest. While she was building a career on the stage and as a model for the likes of Calvin Klein, Barton was also beginning to accumulate a number of screen credits. After doing a year-long stint on the popular soap opera All My Children, she had her first publicized screen role in the little-seen New York Crossing (1996), in which she starred as an Upper East Side schoolgirl opposite Tina Majorino and Karen Black. The film was released in 1997, the same year that Lawn Dogs came out to fairly strong reviews that resulted in the first shades of publicity for Barton. A starring role as a 13-year-old who holds up a bank alongside her boyfriend followed in 1999, in the independent drama Pups; unfortunately, the film was released only two days before the tragic killing spree at Columbine High school, and unsurprisingly, failed to earn much in the way of distribution. That same year, Barton appeared in supporting roles in both Notting Hill and M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, the latter of which cast her as the ghost of a sickly girl.Barton's increasing recognition was subsequently reflected by her involvement in a number of screen projects. Included amongst them was Skipped Parts (2000), a coming-of-age comedy which cast her as a sexually precocious 14-year-old who is in a hurry to lose her virginity. The film also starred Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brad Renfro, and Drew Barrymore. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide Barton has subsequently completed work on an additional five features. They include this past summer's Lost and Delirious (2001) opposite Piper Perabo for Lions Gate and Julie Johnson (2001) with Courtney Love and Lili Taylor; both of which premiered at Sundance. She can also be seen in Skipped Parts (2000) with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Drew Barrymore. At age nine, Barton began her promising career in New York Theater with a lead role in Tony Kushner's "Slavs!" She soon segued into the lead role of Emma Hatrick in James Lapine's 'Twelve Dreams' at the renowned Lincoln Center. Among her varied stage credits are 'Where the Truth Lies' and 'One Flea Spare', both of which took place at the New York Shakespeare Festival. No stranger to television, Barton had a short-term role playing the character of Corvina Lang in flashbacks on "All My Children" (1970) in 1994. She also portrayed the title role of Frankie alongside Joan Plowright in the recent Showtime feature Frankie & Hazel (2000) (TV) for producer Barbra Streisand's Barwood Films. Barton recently returned from location in Australia filming the Disney telefilm A Ring of Endless Light (2002) (TV) and segued into an eight-episode arch on ABC's "Once and Again" (1999). A longtime Manhattan resident, Barton enjoys family-life with her parents and two sisters.