Cristiana Capotondi (born 13 September 1980) is an Italian actress.

Biography

Capotondi was born in Rome to an Italian family of mixed Italian Catholic and Italian Jewish background (her maternal grandfather was Jewish). Growing up in Rome, she celebrated both Christian and Jewish holidays, such as Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, and visited both church and synagogue. She graduated from the Università La Sapienza in Rome with a degree in communication sciences.

Capotondi first gained popularity in a commercial ad for the "Maxibon Motta" ice cream. Her acting career began at the age of thirteen in the Italian series Amico mio, aired by RAI.

Capotondi debuted in cinema in 1995 with the comedy Vacanze di Natale '95. Between 1993 and 2006 she worked mostly in television, starring in 2004-2006 in the series Orgoglio (TV series), aired on Rai Uno. She gained additional exposure in the film Notte prima degli esami (2006), in which she starred as a main character alongside Nicolas Vaporidis. In 2009 Capotondi played the Austrian Empress Elisabeth of Bavaria in the ZDF/Rai Uno/ORF co-production Sissi.

She has been the 'madrina' of the 2011 Giro d'Italia.