She is the illegitimate child of Romilda Villani and Riccardo Scicolone. Sophia grew up in the slums of Pozzuoli, just outside Naples. After insignificant parts in Variety Lights and Quo Vadis, she met movie-director Carlo Ponti, some 22 years her senior, whom she later married. Perhaps he was the father figure she never experienced as a child. In 1961, she received an Academy Award for Two Women ("Two Women"). This beautiful lady became one of the major sex symbol of the sixties, competing with Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Jane Fonda. She was a very close friend of Cary Grant.

She gained wider respect with her later movies like The Cassandra Crossing, A Special Day and Prêt-à-Porter. A lot of her movies were produced by her husband. In many of her movies, she played together with Marcello Mastroianni.
Man of La Mancha (1972): $750,000
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964): $1,000,000
El Cid (1961): $750,000
As a child, she also had the nickname, "Toothpick". Filed a lawsuit against 76 websites for using "fraudulent photographs" of her on adult sites (17 September 1999). Mother of Carlo Ponti Jr. and Edoardo Ponti She may have been the voluptuous sex goddess as an adult, but until the age of 14, she was a skinny child and considered an ugly duckling, nicknamed 'The Stick'. Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world (1991). She had her marriage annulled to save Carlo Ponti from bigamy charges in Italy. She served 18 days in prison in Italy in 1982 for tax evasion. Born at 2:10pm-CET Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#25) (1995). Derives great pleasure from rolling her bare feet over a wooden rolling pin while watching TV. She didn't get along with Marlon Brando during the shooting of A Countess from Hong Kong, especially after the day they were doing a love scene and he commented, "Did you know you have hairs up your nostrils?". She performed two duets with Peter Sellers which were major hits in the UK pop chart. 'Goodness Gracious Me' was released in 1960 and reached four and 'Bangers and Mash' made it to the top 20 in 1961. Carlo Ponti obtains a Mexican divorce from his first wife and marries Sophia by proxy, while she was in Hollywood, filming Houseboat - and dating co-star Cary Grant (17 September 1957). While filming Boy on a Dolphin, Sophia was required to walk in a trench in order to give audiences the impression that her diminutive co-star, Alan Ladd, was taller than she. Her sister Anna Maria Scicolone was married to dictator Benito Mussolini's son, Romano. Suffered from stage fright and, therefore, never appeared in a theatrical production. Measurements: 38C-24-38 (self-described - 1955, and from Edith Head- 1957), 36D-24-37 3/4 (at age 50 - 1985) (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) Had 2 miscarriages prior to her first born son Carlo. Because of these complications, she had to take complete bedrest throughout her first and second successful pregnancies. Her mother won an all-Italy Greta Garbo lookalike contest run by MGM in 1932; but, being only 17 years old, her mother wouldn't allow her to pursue her Hollywood dream. Soon after, she became pregnant with Sofia. Her adopted surname is a slight variation of "Toren" after the Swedish actress Märta Torén. Her mother named her after her paternal grandmother, so when Sofia's father abandoned her, her maternal grandmother began calling her 'Lella'. Won a Grammy award in 2004 for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for her work in "Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf/Beintus" along with former US President Bill Clinton and former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev. Was named #21 Actress, The American Film Institutes 50 Greatest Screen Legends Often called the "Italian Marilyn Monroe". At times, male actors have been hesitant to appear with her, due to the fact that she stands nearly 5' 9" and wears towering heels and tall hair that can make her look over 6 feet tall. Portrays herself and her mother in Sophia Loren: Her Own Story Her "Best Actress" Academy Award was the first Oscar ever given for a performance in a "foreign-language" film. Received a honorary citizenship in her hometown of Pozzouli, Italy on June 22, 2005. President of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966. Is portrayed by Sonia Aquino in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers One of eight women, also among them Susan Sarandon and author Isabel Allende, carrying the Olympic flag at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games' opening ceremony in Turin (10 February 2006). She and Marcello Mastroianni made 13 movies together: The Miller's Beautiful Wife, Blood Feud, Lucky to Be a Woman, A Special Day, Sunflower, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Marriage Italian-Style, Moglie del prete, La, Too Bad She's Bad, Prêt-à-Porter, Pupa del gangster, La, Ghosts - Italian Style and The Anatomy of Love. Godmother of Drew Barrymore. Being a fan of soccer club S.S.C. Napoli, she told the daily "Gazzetta dello Sport", when the team was just third in Serie B, that she would do a striptease if they achieved promotion to Serie A for the next season. When they managed to achieve promotion, she explained that she had made just a joke (June 2007). Appeared in the 2007 edition of the famous Pirelli Calendar at the age of 72, making her the oldest model in its history. Owns an apartment in the Trump World Tower in New York. Mentioned in Bob Dylan's song "I Shall Be Free". Hating beauty salons, she does her hair and nails herself. Being one of the contestants at the 1950 Miss Italia competition, she earned the 2nd place and was awarded "Miss Eleganza". The Best Actress Oscar she won for Two Women (Two Women) was stolen by thieves from her Italian villa. AMPAS later replaced it for a small fee. Is one of five performers to win an Oscar playing a character that spoke mostly in a foreign language. The other are Marion Cotillard, Robert De Niro, Roberto Benigni and Benicio Del Toro.