(stage name of Sophia Scicolone). Born Sept. 20, 1934, in Rome. Italian motion-picture actress.

In 1949, Loren entered a number of beauty contests and played several minor film roles. The part of a street vendor in The Gold of Naples, directed by V. de Sica, brought her fame. Thereafter, she repeated this role of the temperamental Italian beauty in several motion pictures that retained some external attributes of neorealism (Woman of the River, 1954, for example). Loren became a Hollywood star and made many films from 1956 to 1959, including The Pride and the Passion (1958), Desire Under the Elms (1958), and The Key (1959).

Upon her return to Italy, Loren played a number of important roles in films directed by de Sica—for example, Cesira (Two Women, 1961), Johanna (The Condemned of Altona, 1963), Adelina, Anna, and Mara ( Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, 1964), Filumena Marturano (Marriage Italian Style, 1965), and Giovanna (The Sunflowers, 1970). In films by other directors and in foreign commercial films, Loren is often called upon to play exotic femmes fatales or society women, roles that are inconsistent with the folk nature of her talent (The Countess From Hong Kong, 1967, for example).