Asia Argento Biography

Asia Argento (born Aria Maria Vittoria Rossa Argento; 20 September 1975) is an Italian actress, singer, model, activist and director.

Early life

Her father is Dario Argento, an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter, well known for his work in the Italian giallo genre and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies. Her mother is actress Daria Nicolodi and her maternal great-grandfather was composer Alfredo Casella.

When Argento was born in Rome, the city registry office refused to acknowledge "Asia" as an appropriate name, and instead officially inscribed her as "Aria" (a name accepted by the city registry). She nonetheless always went by the name Asia, which she later used professionally. Argento has said that as a child she was lonely and depressed, owing in part to her parents' work. Her father used to read her his horror scripts as bedtime stories. At age eight, Argento published a book of poems. At the age of 14, she ran away from home.

In an interview with Filmmaker magazine, she stated that she was agoraphobic while she was writing Scarlet Diva and that she could not leave her apartment for months.

Argento has mentioned in interviews that she does not have a close relationship with her father. She has mentioned that he was absent when she was a child, and has also mentioned that, because of this, she did not have a happy childhood. Regarding her relationship with her father and her reason for acting, she has stated that:

Career

Asia Argento began to act at the age of nine, when she was cast in a small role in a film by Sergio Citti. When she was 18, she starred in her father's film Trauma (1993). She received the David di Donatello (Italy's version of the Academy Award) for Best Actress in 1994 for her performance in Perdiamoci di vista, and again in 1996 for Compagna di viaggio, which also earned her a Grolla d'oro award. Argento subsequently began to appear in English-language movies, such as B. Monkey and New Rose Hotel (both 1998). Argento also performed in French-language roles, beginning with Charlotte de Sauve La Reine Margot (1994).

Around the same time, she made her first foray into directing with the short films Prospettive and A ritroso (both 1994) and a documentary about her father (in 1996) and Abel Ferrara (in 1998). In 2000, Argento directed and wrote her first fiction feature film, Scarlet Diva (2000), which her father co-produced. In a review, Filmmaker magazine called the film "riotously funny" and dubbed Argento "a filmmaker with a great degree of promise."

She achieved wider recognition when she portrayed Russian undercover spy Yelena in the Hollywood action film xXx (2002), alongside Vin Diesel. The film grossed $277.4 million and launched Argento to international fame. She directed her second feature film, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004), based on a book by JT LeRoy, the pen name of Laura Albert. According to a Paris Review interview with Laura Albert, Argento and Savannah Knoop (who played the role of JT's public persona) became lovers.

In addition to her cinematic accomplishments, Argento has written a number of stories for magazines such as Dynamo and L'Espresso, while her first novel, titled I Love You Kirk, was published in Italy in 1999. She has modeled for the denim jeans brand Miss Sixty. She became a fan of the band Hondo Maclean when they wrote a track named after her and liked the track so much that she sent them pictures which they used as the cover of their 2003 album Plans for a Better Day.

She appeared in Placebo's music video for "This Picture", and appeared on Placebo frontman Brian Molko's cover version of "Je t'aime... moi non plus". Argento has also starred in Catherine Breillat's period drama The Last Mistress.. She dubbed the Italian version of the video game Mirror's Edge in the role of the runner Faith Connors, from 2008 to 2009.

Argento has been part of the Legendary Tiger Man's project Femina, which was released on 14 September 2009. She is featured on the song "Life Ain't Enough for You", which was released as a single along with the B-side "My stomach is the most violent of all Italy", in which she also contributes vocals.

In May 2013, Argento's debut album, entitled Total Entropy, was released by Nuun Music.

In 2014, Argento played supporting role in the British film Shongram, a fictional romantic drama based around the factual and historical events of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Also in 2014, she directed her third feature film, titled Misunderstood (2014), was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at that year's Cannes Film Festival. That year, while promoting the film, Argento stated that she was through with acting and that she had made the decision to focus her energies on writing and directing.

Personal life

Besides Italian, she speaks fluent English and can also speak French, which she learned for her role in Les Morsures de L'Aube.

Her first child, Anna Lou, was born in 2001. Italian rock and roll musician Marco Castoldi (lead singer of Bluvertigo), also known as Morgan, is the father. She named her daughter after her half-sister Anna Ceroli, who died in a motorcycle accident.

Argento married film director Michele Civetta on 27 August 2008 in Arezzo. Her second child, Nicola Giovanni, was born in 2008 in Rome. The couple divorced in 2013. She and her children live in Vigna Clara neighborhood of Rome.

In early 2017, it was reported by several Italian news sources that Argento was in a relationship with celebrity chef and host of Parts Unknown Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain died of an apparent suicide in Kaysersberg-Vignoble, Haut-Rhin, France, on 8 June 2018. Argento expressed she had no idea about Bourdain's suicide obsession and that the event is "heart-wrenching".

Harvey Weinstein scandal

Argento alleged in an October 2017 New Yorker article by Ronan Farrow that she had been sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein in the 1990s. She also said that she had consensual sexual relations with him multiple times over the course of the next five years. She confirmed that a scene in Scarlet Diva where her character is accosted by a movie executive was indeed a reference to Weinstein. Later, Argento stated that the "article did a huge disservice to me and to my truth by simplifying all this," and accused Farrow of "misrepresenting" what happened to her.

After being criticized for her account in Italian media and politics, Argento moved to Germany to escape what she described as a culture of "victim blaming" in Italy.

Argento delivered a speech on 20 May 2018, following the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, calling the festival Weinstein's "hunting ground", alleging that she was raped by Weinstein in Cannes when she was 21. She added, "And even tonight, sitting among you, there are those who still have to be held accountable for their conduct against women."

Recognition

In 2012, Argento was highlighted in the retrospective Argento: Il Cinema Nel Sangue at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. The retrospective celebrated the influence of the Argento family on filmmaking in Italy and around the world. It highlighted Asia's contribution as well as that of her father, grandfather (Salvatore), uncle (Claudio), and mother (Daria Nicolodi).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Demons 2	Ingrid Haller	Debut
1988	Zoo	Martina
1989	'	Lotte
1989	Red Wood Pigeon	Valentina
1992	Close Friends	Simona
1993	Trauma	Aura Petrescu
1993	Condannato a nozze	Olivia	a.k.a. Diary of a Man Condemned to Marriage
1994	DeGenerazione	Lorna
1994	Perdiamoci di vista	Arianna	a.k.a. Let's Not Keep in Touch
1994	Queen Margot	Charlotte de Sauve
1996	'	Det. Anna Manni
1996	Traveling Companion	Cora
1998	Viola Kisses Everybody	Viola
1998	New Rose Hotel	Sandii
1998	B. Monkey	Beatrice
1998	'	Christine Daa
2000	Scarlet Diva	Anna Battista	Also wrote and directed
2001	Les Morsures de l'aube	Violaine Charlier	a.k.a. Love Bites
2002	'	Det. Anita Staro
2002	xXx	Yelena
2004	'	Sarah	Also co-wrote and directed
2004	'	Gina
2005	Last Days	Asia
2005	Cindy: The Doll Is Mine	Cindy Sherman / The Model	Short film
2005	Land of the Dead	Slack
2006	Live Freaky! Die Freaky!	Habagail Folger (voice)
2006	Marie Antoinette	Madame du Barry
2006	Transylvania	Zingarina
2006	Friendly Fire	Grand Dame	Video
2007	Boarding Gate	Sandra
2007	Go Go Tales	Monroe
2007	'	Vellini
2007	'	Sarah Mandy
2008	On War	Uma
2009	Diamond 13	Calhoune
2011	Horses	Madre
2011	Islands	Martina
2011	Baciato dalla fortuna	Betty
2011	Drifters	Beatrice Plana
2012	Dracula 3D	Lucy Kisslinger
2012	Do Not Disturb	Monica
2012	Firmeza	Asia	Short film
2013	'	Naya	Short film
2013	Obsessive Rhythms	Margo
2014	Shongram	Sarah
2014	Misunderstood		Director and writer
2016	Sticky Fingers: The Movie!	Nyx (voice)	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Sogni e bisogni	Gloria	Episode: "Il ritorno di Guerriero"
2000	Les Misrables	ponine Thnardier	TV miniseries
2004	Milady	Sally La Chvre	TV film
2011	Sangue caldo	Anna Rosi	Episodes: "1.1", "1.2"
2014	Rodolfo Valentino - La leggenda	Natacha Rambova	Episode: "1.2"
2016	Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown	Herself	Season 8, Episode 10: "Rome"
2016	Ballando con le stelle	Contestant	Series 11

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008-2009	Mirror's Edge	Faith Connors	Dubbed in the Italian version; Xbox 360/PS3/Microsoft Windows version

Music videos

• "(s)AINT" - Marilyn Manson
• "This Picture" - Placebo
• "Live Fast! Die Old!" - with Munk
• "Someone" - with Archigram and Antipop
• "Sexodrome" - with Morgan
• "Life Ain't Enough for You" - with The Legendary Tigerman
• "My Stomach Is the Most Violent of All of Italy" - with The Legendary Tigerman
• "Ours" - with Tim Burgess
• "La vie est belle" - Indochine
• "Dead Meat" "? Sean Lennon

Discography

Album	Released
Asia Argento (1 Dico Sux / 2 U Just Can't Stop the Rock / 3 Sad Core)	2008
Total Entropy	2013