Acting
Alessandra Martines
Alessandra Martines (born 19 September 1963) is an Italian French dancer and actress mainly working in the English-, French-, and Italian-speaking worlds. She started young in ballet on opera stages in Switzerland, France, the United States and then Italy before becoming a lead on television for RAI captured ballets and entertainment shows (the Italian national public broadcasting) in the eighties.
She is primarily known for portraying the main role in the cult Fantaghirò series, consisting of five films (1991–1996) still regularly re-run across Europe as of 2020, and for her work in auteur productions such as nine films by Claude Lelouch to whom she was married until 2009.
She was awarded numerous prizes including the Best Actress Telegatto for The Cave of the Golden Rose (1991), the Grolla d'oro for Edda [it] (2005), the Silver Hugo for Best Actress at the Chicago International Film Festival (1998) for Chance or Coincidence, the Diamanti al Cinema Award in Cannes (2007) or the 2009 European Golden Globe in Rome. In 2008, she was made Knight of the Ordre national du Mérite awarded by the President of the French Republic. She received the lifetime achievement Kineo Award at the 71st Venice International Film Festival in 2014.
Second cousin of Carla Bruni and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, she moved to France with her family at the age of five. As a teenager, she enrolled at the Conservatoire de Paris where she studied solfeggio, history and theory of dance and classical music and dance.
Martines debuted at a young age as a dancer at the Zurich Opera House in 1972. After some time working in the United States, including the Chicago City Ballet, she moved to Rome where she worked at the Teatro dell'Opera. In 1985 she began her collaboration with RAI, with the lunchtime chat / quiz show Pronto, chi gioca?; she later gained great popularity with the Saturday Night shows Fantastico and Europa Europa, and then for her portrayal of Princess Fantaghirò in the Fantaghirò series.
In cinema, she is best known for her interpretations under the direction of her ex-husband, the French director Claude Lelouch, in several film including Les Misérables and And now... Ladies and Gentlemen. She also starred on stage, most notably in L'appartamento by Franca Valeri.
Filmography
Browse movies and TV shows featuring Alessandra Martines
Danse avec les stars
The Cave of the Golden Rose
The king desires nothing more than a male heir. But his wife gives birth to a girl Fantaghirò. When she refuses...
L'onore e il rispetto
L'onore e il rispetto is an Italian television series. There are three seasons, each with six episodes: first s...
Tout le monde en parle
Tout le monde en parle is a French talk show broadcast on France 2 from September 5, 1998 to July 8, 2006. It w...
Il bello delle donne... alcuni anni dopo
Sinbad of the Seven Seas
Sinbad returns from the sea to find his country subjected to the will of two unscrupulous sorcerers.
Caterina e le sue figlie
Caterina e le sue figlie is an Italian television series that aired from December 4, 2005 to March 3, 2010 on C...
Amnèsia
On the Spanish island of Ibiza, porn filmmaker Sandro and Angelino, the manager of a beachside watering hole, f...
Les Miserables
In WWII France, poor and illiterate Henri Fortin is introduced to Victor Hugo's classic novel Les Misérables an...
Furore il vento della speranza
The Cave of the Golden Rose 3
The powerful evil wizard Tarabas gets knowledge about a prophecy that a king's child will defeat him. So he sen...
The Cave of the Golden Rose
After a queen's tragic death, the king abandons his newborn daughter in a cave, but a witch saves her. Years la...
Il sangue e la rosa
Colpo di coda
The Cave of the Golden Rose 4
A black cloud travels across country, kills animals and plants and dries up the rivers. When the cloud reaches...
One 4 All
Olivia, Irina and Masha are improving their acting skills. They no longer believe in Prince Charming, and their...
The Cave of the Golden Rose 5
In this last film princess Fantaghirò ends up in a parallel dimension fairy land full of kids. Here the princes...
The Queen and the Cardinal
In the middle of the 17th century, forbidden lovers Queen Anne of Austria, the widow of King Louis XIII, and he...
The Cave of the Golden Rose 2
Fantaghiro and Romualdo are preparing their marriage when the Black Queen disgusted by their deep love captures...
Saint John Bosco Mission to Love
Piedmont (Italy), nineteenth century. In Turin, the priest Don Bosco, a man from a humble farming family, he ga...
Men, Women: A User's Manual
Benoit Blanc loves living, he loves women, he loves daring. He is a famous businessman who suffers from stomach...
My Name Is Bernadette
Between February and July 1858, in the Massabielle cave, the Virgin appeared eighteen times to Bernadette Soubi...
All That... for This?!
The plot is about a trial against three men who tried to earn loads of money by illegal methods to get to Canad...
Towards Zero
Inviting the ex-wife to a family reunion when the none-too-secure new wife will be there hardly seems to be a r...
Love Me No More
Antoine Méliot is around 40 years old and has everything he needs to be happy: a beautiful wife, two adorable c...
And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen...
A jazz singer and a British jewel thief are brought together by their mutual desire to forget the past.
Day Off
Wednesday is the day when children are not in school and stay at home. It is also the day when the parents are...
Edda
J'ai faim !!!
A chubby forty-ish florist is dumped for a gorgeous young woman. She decides to lose weight and to ruin her riv...
The Courage to Love
A picture of humankind in Paris: singers, shows, social gatherings, businessmen, nightclub barmen, bums, shoppe...
Panique!
François agrees to replace for three days a fellow doctor in Bagneres-sur-Mer. He believes this time will serve...
Chance or Coincidence
Once a successful dancer, Miriam has abandoned her career to bring up her son, Serge, after her boyfriend walke...
Le genre humain - 1ère partie: Les Parisiens
Paris, December 1999. A group of Parisians cross paths. A police commissioner madly in love with his colleague'...
Saremo felici
Ensemble comedy about four friends in their 40s.