Argento, Asia

(1975-)

   Actress, writer, director. Daughter of cult horror director Dario Argento, Asia began acting at the age of nine in the television miniseries Sogni e bisogni (Dreams and Needs, 1985). Following minor parts in several horror films, she distinguished herself playing the lead role in Cristina Comencini's Zoo (1988). After costarring in Michele Placido's moving coming-of-age-film Le amiche del cuore (Close Friends, 1992 ), she appeared in Trauma (Dario Argento's Trauma, 1992), the first of several of her father's horror films, which would also include La sindrome di Stendhal (Stendhal's Syndrome, 1996) and Il fantasma dell'opera (The Phantom of the Opera, 1998). Although by this time she had acquired a reputation as the "dark woman" of Italian cinema, Argento nevertheless went on to play the part of a young disabled woman in Carlo Verdone's Perdiamoci di vista! (Let's Not Keep in Touch, 1994), for which she was awarded a David di Donatello, and earned another David for her leading role in Peter Del Monte's Compagna di viaggio (Traveling Companion, 1996). Having by now built an international reputation for tough female roles, she was called to star in Michael Radford's taut crime thriller, B. Monkey (1998), and Abel Ferrara's futuristic commercial spy movie, New Rose Hotel (1998). At this point she decided to try her hand at directing, beginning with the short music video La tua lingua sul mio cuore (Your Tongue on My Heart, 1998), and a brief interview-documentary on Abel Ferrara, Abel/Asia (1998). These shorts were soon followed by the full-length fictional autobiography Scarlet Diva (2000), and a powerful adaptation of J. T. Leroy's short-story anthology The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004).

   Argento subsequently appeared in George Romero's Land of the Dead (2005) and as Madame Du Barry in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006).

   Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema by Alberto Mira