Alba Caterina Rohrwacher (, ; born 27 February 1979) is an Italian-German actress.

Early life

Alba Rohrwacher was born in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

to a German father and an Italian mother. From the age of 17 to 21 she studied medicine, intending to be a doctor. At the age of 21 she moved to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

to study acting at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. Her younger sister is director Alice Rohrwacher.

Career

Her first movie role was in 2004 in '' L'amore ritrovato''. In 2008, she was awarded the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress. In 2009, she received a David di Donatello for Best Actress for her performance in

Pupi Avati Giuseppe Avati, better known as Pupi Avati (born 3 November 1938), is an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known to horror film fans for his two '' giallo'' masterpieces, '' The House with Laughing Windows'' (1976) and '' ...

's '' Giovanna's Father''. At the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

2009 she was awarded the

Shooting Stars Award The Shooting Stars Awards are presented annually by the pan-European network organization European Film Promotion (EFP) to emerging actors from Europe. "Shooting Stars" is an initiative of the EFP for the international promotion and networking of ...

. Rohrwacher worked with her sister, director Alice Rohrwacher in the 2014 film '' The Wonders'' a semi-autobiographical film in which Alba played a role loosely based on the sisters' mother. On 6 September 2014, Rohrwacher won the

Volpi Cup The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

for Best Actress at the 71st Venice International Film Festival in '' Hungry Hearts'', a film by Italian director

Saverio Costanzo Saverio Costanzo (born 28 September 1975) is an Italian film and television director. Biography Early life Costanzo was born in Rome, the son of journalist and TV presenter Maurizio Costanzo and writer Flaminia Morandi, and the brother of writ ...

. Under the presidency of

Meryl Streep Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Known for her versatility and adept accent work, she has been described as "the best actress of her generation". She has received numerous accolades throughout her career ...

, she was member of the jury of the Berlinale 2016. Rohrwacher worked with her sister a second time on the film ''

Happy as Lazzaro ''Happy As Lazzaro'' () is a 2018 Italian magical realistic drama film written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where Rohrwacher won the award for Best Screenplay ...

'' which premiered at the

2018 Cannes Film Festival The 71st annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 8 to 19 May 2018. Australian actress Cate Blanchett served as jury president for the main competition. Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda won the ''Palme d'Or'', the festival's top prize, fo ...

. Rohrwacher provided the narration as Older Elena for the series '' My Brilliant Friend'', an adaptation of

Elena Ferrante Elena Ferrante () is a pseudonymous Italian novelist. Ferrante's books, originally published in Italian, have been translated into many languages. Her four-book series of '' Neapolitan Novels'' are her most widely known works. ''Time'' magazine ...

Neapolitan Novels The Neapolitan Novels, also known as the Neapolitan Quartet, are a four-part series of fiction by the pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante, published originally by Edizioni e/o, translated into English by Ann Goldstein and published by ...

. In season 4 of the series, Rohrwacher took over the role of Elena. She also appeared in Marc Cousins' 2022 documentary ''March on Rome''.

Personal life

Rohrwacher was in a relationship with Italian director

Selected filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rohrwacher, Alba 1979 births Living people 21st-century Italian actresses Actresses from Florence Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia alumni Ciak d'oro winners David di Donatello winners Italian film actresses Italian people of German descent Nastro d'Argento winners Volpi Cup for Best Actress winners