Elisabetta Canalis (; born 12 September 1978) is an Italian actress and showgirl.

Early life

Canalis was born in

Sassari Sassari ( ; ; ; ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 120,497 inhabitants as of 2025, and a functional urban area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, it contains ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, in Italy. Her father, Cesare, is a clinical

radiologist Radiology ( ) is the medical specialty that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide treatment within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiation), but tod ...

at the

University of Sassari The University of Sassari (, UniSS) is a public university located in Sassari, Italy. It was founded in 1562 and is organized in 13 departments. The University of Sassari earned first place in the rankings for the best “medium-sized” Italian ...

, and her mother, Bruna, was a teacher. She has a brother named Luigi, also a radiologist, who was involved in a Switzerland debt scandal. Canalis was educated at Sassari's "classical" high school (''

liceo classico The ''liceo classico'' or ''ginnasio'' () is the oldest public secondary education in Italy, secondary school type in Italy. Its educational curriculum spans over five years, when students are generally about 14 to 19 years of age. Until 196 ...

''). She went on to study foreign languages at the

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

, but she quit her course without graduating at the age of twenty-one in order to work as a dancer for

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

's TV channel

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...

Career

Acting and presenting

Elisabetta Canalis was a dancer on the Canale 5 TV show''

Striscia la notizia ''Striscia la notizia'' (, "the news slithers") is an Italian satirical television program on the Mediaset-controlled Canale 5. Launched in 1988, it is meant to be a parody of the daily news, which airs right before the program, but ''Striscia'' ...

''from 1999 to 2002. Canalis had minor roles in the films '' Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo'' and '' Virgin Territory'', a comedy produced by Roberto Cavalli. In 2005, she replaced a busy Michelle Hunziker in ''Love Bugs 2'', the second season of the sitcom '' Love Bugs''. In 2007, she co-hosted the annual Italian music festival,

Festivalbar The Festivalbar () was an Italian singing competition that took place in the most important Italian squares during summer, such as the Piazza del Duomo, Catania or Piazza Bra, Verona. The first edition took place in 1964 and was broadcast by ...

but the TV program closed. In 2009, she replaced a pregnant Elena Santarelli on the Italian version of ''

Total Request Live ''Total Request Live'' (commonly abbreviated as ''TRL'') is an American television program that premiered on MTV on September 14, 1998. The early version of ''TRL'' featured popular music videos played during its countdown and was also used as ...

'', on MTV Italia. Elisabetta hosted the Trofeo Birra Moretti 2008, a summer football competition played between S.S.C. Napoli,

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

and

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. In 2010, she played a recurring character in season 3 of the

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

series '' Leverage''. In February 2011, she co-hosted the most important Italian song contest,

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...

with

Gianni Morandi Gian Luigi "Gianni" Morandi (; born 11 December 1944) is an Italian pop singer, actor and entertainer. It is estimated that Morandi has sold about 50 million recordings. Early life Born in Monghidoro, Emilia-Romagna, the son of a cobbler, Mor ...

and Belen Rodriguez, during which she interviewed

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

. Canalis appeared on the 13th season of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''. She was paired with

Valentin Chmerkovskiy Valentin Aleksandrovich "Val" Chmerkovskiy (born March 24, 1986) is a Ukrainian-American professional dancer, best known for his appearances on the U.S. version of '' Dancing with the Stars'', which he won three times. Chmerkovskiy is a two-time ...

and was the second to be eliminated on 27 September 2011. She was interviewed on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...

'' in September 2011."Elisabetta Chats with Ellen"
Ellen web site, 23 September 2011 She posed for PETA's "I'd Rather Go Naked than Wear Fur" campaign in 2011. For two nights, she co-hosted for the second time the Sanremo Music Festival 2012 and acted with the singer

Adriano Celentano Adriano Celentano (; born 6 January 1938) is an Italian singer-songwriter, actor, showman, and filmmaker. He is dubbed ''Il Molleggiato'' ('the springy one') because of his energetic dancing. Celentano's many albums frequently enjoyed both com ...

in the role of "Messy Italia". In March 2015, she was appointed Goodwill Ambassador

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

Italy.

Modeling

Canalis was featured in the 2003 ''Max'' nude calendar. She has been a spokeswoman and runway model from 2006 to 2009 for the fashion brand "Hollywood Milano", a Milan-based disco club. She promoted in a spot recorded in New York the new city limousine Musa "5th Avenue". In June 2011 she appeared in a photoshoot of the Spanish version of Vogue, and in September 2011 in the Arabian version of

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

. That same year, she modeled for Roberto Cavalli. Canalis was June 2010 cover girl for the third time on '' Vanity Fair''. In the same year, she is, for the Italian version of Vanity Fair, the 4th woman most beautiful in 2010. She has been also on 2010 the 7th most beautiful woman for ''

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment *Maxim (magazine), ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** Maxim (Australia), ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** Maxim (India), ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim ...

'' and in top 50 for ''DT Spain'' magazine. Thanks to Clooney, she gained a contract as spokesmodel for Pantene. In The Netherlands, she is a spokesperson for Auping. She was the covergirl for a June 2012 edition of ''Sportweek Dreams'', a special edition of ''

La Gazzetta dello Sport (; English: "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any type in Italy (in 2018). History and profile was fou ...

''. The shoot was in

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

. She appeared in a July 2012 advertisement for

PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; ) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and animal right ...

. For Milano Fashion Week that year she modeled on the runway for Philipp Plein and for the new collection of Miss Bikini. On 2016 she became testimonial for the sportwear brand DEHA.

Personal life

Canalis was previously engaged to footballer

Christian Vieri Christian Vieri (; born 12 July 1973), commonly known as Bobo Vieri, is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning ...

, and she also had a short relationship with film director

Gabriele Muccino Gabriele Muccino (; born 20 May 1967) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. He has worked his way from making short films only aired on Italian television to become a well-known and successful American filmmaker. He is the elder brother o ...

following his divorce. Canalis subsequently had a short relationship with football player Reginaldo. Canalis dated American actor

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and philanthropist. Known for his leading man roles on screen in both blockbuster and independent films, Clooney has received numerous accolades, including two Ac ...

for two years before breaking up in June 2011. On 23 November 2011, Canalis and Clooney were among 200 witnesses accepted by a Milan court in the trial of former Italian Prime Minister

for allegedly paying for sex with an underage prostitute, a scandal dubbed " Rubygate". Canalis married American orthopedic surgeon Brian Perri on 14 September 2014 in

Alghero Alghero (; ; ; ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian province of Sassari in the north west of the island of Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ''Aleguerium'', which is a mediaeval Latin word m ...

. During the wedding, Italian singer Bianca Atzei sang the traditional Sardinian song ''Ave Maria''. On 29 September 2015, Canalis gave birth to their daughter, Skyler Eva. In July 2023, Canalis said that she and Perri were separated pending a divorce, and that she was romantically involved with Romanian kickboxer Georgian Cimpeanu.

Filmography

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Canalis, Elisabetta 1978 births Italian female models Italian film actresses Italian television personalities Living people Participants in American reality television series People from Sassari University of Milan alumni