Giovanna Antonelli

Nefertiti · August 9, 2009

Giovanna Antonelli

Giovanna Antonelli (born March 18, 1976, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a Brazilian actress.

Antonelli was born on March 18, 1976, in Rio de Janeiro. She is the daughter of Ilton Prada and dancer Suelly Antonelli. She also has one older brother, Leonard.[1]
Giovanna started her career when she was 14. Her artistic career began on the children's program Angélica of the Rede Manchete. She was an "Angelicat" (the assistant of Angélica). Her early works include television series Tropicaliente, Tocaia Grande, Xica da Silva, Corpo Dourado, Força de Um Desejo and Você Decide.

Antonelli got her first important role in Malhação. She portrayed Isa Pasqualete from 1995 to 2000. In 2000, she portrayed Sharon in 2000 film Bossa Nova.

After her film debut, she got the role of Capitu in 2000 telenovela Laços de Família. She says that those girls, just like Capitu, are very smart. They receive a good education and they escort their customers to important lunches, dinners; sex is not always the most important part of the encounter. After that role, Giovanna has played Mary Magdalene in the theater show Jesus Christ Superstar.

In 2001, she portrayed Jade on O Clone, and her co-star was Murilo Benício. The big success of this multicultural telenovela was enormous, and Giovanna traveled a lot to promote it together with Benício. The role of young Muslim girl Jade in O Clone was very demanding for her, she practiced belly dancing 6 hours a day for 2 months so that when she danced it would look like she has it in her blood. Her partner Murilo Benício was the new love that she had been waiting for a long time, and the couple got married and Giovanna became stepmother to Murilo's 7-year-old son from his first marriage.

In 2002, she acted in the movie Avassaladoras. A year later, Giovanna played the role of Brazilian heroine from Santa Catarina, Anita Ana Garibaldi, in mini-series A Casa Das Sete Mulheres. That role was very important for her and once again she worked with director Jayme Monjardim, and many great actors like Thiago Lacerda, Dalton Vigh, Daniela Escobar, Camila Morgado and Werner Schünemann. For four months, while acting Anita Garibaldi, Giovanna patiently read Anita's biographies and practiclly lived her life. After the shooting ended, Giovanna said that she was glad that she can have a haircut and see herself with a new, modern haircut, the long black hair bored her.

Also, in 2003, Antonelli portrayed Virgin Mary in the film Maria, Mãe do Filho de Deus. A year later, she acted in the film A Cartomante. She also returned to telenovelas, portraying in the telenovela Da Cor Do Pecado.

In 2006, she portrayed Bia in the series Minha Nada Mole Vida. In 2007, she portrayed in mini-series Amazônia: De Galvez a Chico Mendes and the film Caixa Dois. From 2007 to 2008, she portrayed Clarice in telenovela Sete Pecados.

In 2009, two new films portraying Giovanna Antonelli will be released - The Heartbreaker and Budapest.

In her private life she was married to publicist Ricardo Medina, and they have known each other since high school. Giovanna is very close with her family, father Ilton Prada is a former opera singer, her mother Sueli Antonelli is a former ballet dancer, and brother Leonard is a lawyer.

In December 2004, Giovanna had a car accident which she blamed on the photographers who followed her everywhere. At a press conference, which she held after getting out of the hospital, she and her husband Murilo Benício admitted that she was a few months pregnant. This news was very well received by her fans all around the world. On May 24, 2005, she gave a birth to her first child, a boy named Pietro, in Rio de Janerio. They separated in 2007.

In May 2007, she married the American businessman Robert Locascio. Their marriage lasted for about four months.