The name Paola Calliari is a reference to the Italian actress Paola Maranissi. Born in Peru, she moved to Uruguay before becoming famous in Hollywood. She played opposite Jean Sheppard in ‘Lawrence Of Arabia’ and later went on to play the title role in ‘Guess fromverts’, ‘A Raisin in Manhattan’, ‘Mano Del Signor’, ‘My Fair Lady’ and ‘Monsieur Profession’. She also appeared in ‘Carmen’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘I Married a Celt’ before moving on to feature films in which her height and face shape were most effective.
It was not however until she won the Oscar for her first film role that people truly realized her abilities as an actress. At the age of thirty-one, she had already established a number of successful careers, which included such films as ‘Amadeus’ and ‘A Man Called Niki’. She went on to appear in more successful movies such as ‘Aida’, ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Moulin Rouge’ before her association with Lawrence Of Arabia. The resounding success of the film paved the way for a string of other feature films including ‘Guess fromverts’, ‘Carmen’, ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street’ and ‘Lawrence Of Arabia’ that truly defined the height of Paola Calliari’s acting talents. These films also gave birth to her much loved persona of Paola, which remained consistent throughout her acting career up to the age of sixty-four.
It is interesting to note that her acting career began as a woman called Sonia Uvezian, who appeared in films such as ‘Guess fromverts’, ‘Moulin Rouge’, ‘Lawrence Of Arabia’ and ‘A Woman Called Malice’. However, it is her long term partner Paolo Donati, with whom she has stayed in contact since their first marriage in 1957, that is responsible for making Paola Calliari the film star that she is today. Apart from her long term partner, she has also worked with a host of other renowned Italian actors, most notably Graziella Pelliccia, Edoardo Mastrano and Mario Boccia. Her long list of film credits also includes ‘Vicki Maguire’ and ‘Men In Black’ for which she was nominated for an Oscar.