Sabrina Ferilli is an Italian theatre and film actress best known for her role as Ramona in the Oscar-winning film The Great Beauty, directed by Paolo Sorrentino in 2013.
Her career spans four decades of Italian cinema and television, from small film roles in the late 1980s to leading parts in major RAI and Mediaset productions well into the 2020s.
Sabrina Ferilli Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Sabrina Ferilli |
| Born | June 28, 1964, Rome, Italy |
| Age | 62 |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Profession | Actress |
| Known For | The Great Beauty (2013), Gloria (2024), Tu si que vales |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Husband | Flavio Cattaneo (married 2011) |
| Siblings | Pierpaolo Ferilli, Cristina Ferilli |
Who is Sabrina Ferilli?
Sabrina Ferilli is one of Italy’s most recognisable actresses, with a career built across cinema, television, and theatre.
She grew up in Rome in a politically active family and pushed her way into the film industry after an initial rejection from Rome’s most prestigious acting school.
Her film work earned her five Nastro d’Argento awards, a Globo d’oro, six Ciak d’oro prizes, and four David di Donatello nominations.
She also received a special David di Donatello prize in 2022 for her career contributions.
Ferilli gained international attention through her role in The Great Beauty, the film that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film on March 2, 2014.
Beyond film, she spent several seasons as a popular jury member on the Italian talent show Tu si que vales and co-hosted the Sanremo Music Festival in both 1996 and 2022.
Her father’s background in Italian Communist Party politics shaped her values and her public outspokenness on social issues throughout her career.
Theatre always remained her deepest passion, even as cinema and television brought her wider fame.
Early Life of Sabrina Ferilli
Sabrina Ferilli was born on June 28, 1964, in Rome, Italy.
Her father, Giuliano Ferilli, was also a Roman and served as spokesman for the Italian Communist Party in the region of Lazio.
Her mother, Ida Fatigati, grew up in Fiano Romano and was a housewife originally from Caserta in Southern Italy.
Ferilli grew up in Rome alongside two siblings, Pierpaolo Ferilli and Cristina Ferilli.
Her father’s political work influenced her own thinking from an early age, and she never concealed her left-leaning views throughout her public life.
She showed a strong interest in acting as a teenager but faced an early setback when the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome rejected her application.
Rather than abandon the goal, she took elocution lessons and pursued minor film roles while waiting for larger opportunities.
Sabrina Ferilli Age / Birthday
Sabrina Ferilli is 62 years old as of 2026, born on June 28, 1964. Her zodiac sign is Cancer, a sign associated with intuition, loyalty, and deep emotional connection.
She remains one of Italy’s most in-demand actresses at this stage of her career, with new film and television projects appearing regularly.
Sabrina Ferilli Ethnicity and Nationality
Sabrina Ferilli is Italian, born and raised in Rome.
Her ethnic background is Italian, with roots in both Lazio and the Campania region through her mother’s family from Caserta.
Her Roman identity has been a strong thread throughout her public persona and the roles she has chosen across her career.
Sabrina Ferilli Height and Weight
Sabrina Ferilli stands at 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m). Her weight is not publicly confirmed.
She is known for a striking Mediterranean appearance that she has carried with confidence across decades of red carpet appearances and on-screen roles.
Sabrina Ferilli Education
Ferilli attended the Liceo Classico Orazio, the Horace Classical High School, in Rome.
After leaving school, she applied unsuccessfully to the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, Italy’s leading film training institution.
She later pursued elocution classes independently and built her early skills through practical experience on film sets and in minor theatrical productions.
Sabrina Ferilli Career
Sabrina Ferilli built her career steadily from small film roles in the late 1980s to leading actress status by the mid-1990s.
From that point, she moved between dramatic films, Italian Christmas comedies, television miniseries, and major RAI productions across four decades.
Early Career and Breakthrough (1987–1994)
Ferilli’s first screen credit came in 1987 with a cameo in Sweets from a Stranger, directed by Franco Ferrini. She also appeared in Mario Monicelli’s The Rogues that same year, though uncredited.
In 1990, director Alessandro D’Alatri cast her in a supporting role in Red American, a film that went on to win the David di Donatello for Best Debut Director.
By 1993, she had taken roles in several films, including Marco Ferreri’s Diary of a Maniac and in television miniseries work.
Her real breakthrough came in 1994, when she played Mirella in Living It Up, the debut feature of Tuscan director Paolo Virzì.
That performance won her the Nastro d’Argento for Best Actress and earned her a David di Donatello nomination for Best Actress.
The same year, she also appeared in Law of Courage alongside Giulio Scarpati. Both films debuted at the Venice Film Festival Panorama section, with Living It Up taking the Panorama Prize.
Her theatre career began that same year, with a debut at the Teatro Sistina in Rome in the Garinei and Giovannini production Alleluja brava gente.
Notable Films and Rising Fame (1996–2008)
The mid-1990s brought Ferilli into wider public view. In 1996, she co-hosted the Sanremo Music Festival alongside Pippo Baudo and Valeria Mazza, one of Italy’s most watched annual television events.
That year she also appeared in Ricky Tognazzi’s Strangled Lives and in Paolo Virzì’s August Vacation, which won the David di Donatello as Best Film and earned her a Nastro d’Argento nomination.
In 1998 she returned to theatre with Rugantino at the Teatro Sistina, a production that ran through 2001.
In 2000, she modelled for a Max magazine calendar that sold over one million copies.
The following June, she performed a celebratory dance at the Circus Maximus in Rome in front of hundreds of thousands of fans after AS Roma won the Serie A title.
Her 2003 film L’acqua… il fuoco, directed by Luciano Emmer, debuted at the Venice Film Festival.
From 2004 onwards, she appeared in the popular Italian Christmas comedy franchise known as cinepanettoni, including Christmas in Love, Natale a New York, Natale a Beverly Hills, and Vacanze di Natale a Cortina.
She also voiced the character Sally Carrera in the Italian dub of Pixar’s Cars in 2006, a role she reprised in Cars 2 (2011), Cars 3 (2017), and the Disney+ series Cars on the Road (2022).
In 2008, she returned to drama with Paolo Virzì’s Your Whole Life Ahead of You, which brought her another Nastro d’Argento as Best Supporting Actress and a David di Donatello nomination in the same category.
The Great Beauty and Recent Work (2013–2026)
In 2013, Ferilli joined the cast of The Great Beauty by Paolo Sorrentino, playing Ramona.
The film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film on March 2, 2014, and Ferilli’s performance brought her a Nastro d’Argento and a Ciak d’oro.
That same year, she served as opening presenter of the Rome Film Festival and joined the jury of the twelfth edition of Amici di Maria De Filippi, a role she reprised across multiple seasons through 2022.
In 2015 she starred with Margherita Buy in Me, Myself and Her, directed by Maria Sole Tognazzi.
The performance won her a Ciak d’oro for Best Actress and earned a special Nastro d’Argento in 2016 for best film with a social theme. She followed that with a role in Paolo Genovese’s The Place in 2017.
In 2022, she co-hosted the Sanremo Music Festival again, this time alongside Amadeus. In 2024, she starred in the RAI series Gloria as the lead character Gloria Grandi, a film actress in decline.
The series averaged 19.10% audience share and earned her a Nastro d’Argento. She continued the story in the sequel film Gloria – Il ritorno, which aired on RAI 1 on March 3, 2026.
Also in 2026, she played Virginia Terzi in the Canale 5 miniseries A testa alta, which began airing on January 7, 2026.
She also appeared in Notte prima degli esami 3.0, released in 2026.
Sabrina Ferilli Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Sweets from a Stranger | Prostitute | Cameo |
| 1991 | Red American | Zaira | D’Alatri won David for Best Debut Director |
| 1994 | Living It Up | Mirella | Nastro d’Argento, Best Actress |
| 1996 | Strangled Lives | Miriam | Dir. Ricky Tognazzi |
| 1996 | August Vacation | Marisa | David di Donatello Best Film |
| 1998 | Mr. Fifteen Balls | Sissi | Dir. Francesco Nuti |
| 2004 | Christmas in Love | Lisa Pinzoni | Cinepanettone |
| 2006 | Cars (Italian dub) | Sally Carrera (voice) | Pixar |
| 2008 | Your Whole Life Ahead of You | Daniela | Nastro d’Argento, Best Supporting Actress |
| 2013 | The Great Beauty | Ramona | Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film |
| 2015 | Me, Myself and Her | Marina Baldi | Ciak d’oro, Best Actress |
| 2017 | The Place | Angela | Dir. Paolo Genovese |
| 2024 | Another Summer Holiday | Marisa | Dir. Paolo Virzì |
| 2025 | The Forbidden City | Lorena | Dir. Gabriele Mainetti |
| 2026 | Gloria – Il ritorno | Gloria Grandi | RAI 1 film sequel |
| 2026 | A testa alta | Virginia Terzi | Canale 5 miniseries |
Sabrina Ferilli Awards and Recognition
Ferilli has won Italy’s most prestigious film awards across several decades of work:
- Nastro d’Argento, Best Actress: Living It Up (1995)
- Nastro d’Argento, Best Supporting Actress: Your Whole Life Ahead of You (2008)
- Nastro d’Argento: The Great Beauty (2013)
- Nastro d’Argento, Special Prize for Civil Engagement: Me, Myself and Her (2016)
- Globo d’Oro, Best Actress: Your Whole Life Ahead of You (2008)
- Six Ciak d’oro wins, including Best Actress for Living It Up (1995), Your Whole Life Ahead of You (2008), The Great Beauty (2014), and Me, Myself and Her (2016)
- David di Donatello Special Prize (2022) for career achievement
- Four David di Donatello nominations for Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress
- Three Flaiano Prizes for Best Performance in a TV Movie or Miniseries
- Two Telegrolla Prizes for Best TV Actress
Sabrina Ferilli Husband
Sabrina Ferilli has been married twice. Her first marriage was to Italian lawyer Andrea Perone, which lasted from 2003 to 2005.
The relationship ended after Perone’s infidelity.
She later met businessman and manager Flavio Cattaneo, who is vice president of Italo, the private Italian railway company.
The couple married in secret in Paris in 2011, with only a small group of family and friends present. The news of their marriage only became public in 2014, three years after the ceremony.
Cattaneo was born in 1963 in Rho, near Milan, and was previously married to Cristina Goi, with whom he has children from that relationship. Ferilli and Cattaneo have no children together.
The couple keeps their private life largely out of the public eye. Ferilli has spoken about their relationship in terms of stability and mutual respect.
Sabrina Ferilli Net Worth
Sabrina Ferilli has an estimated net worth of around $5 million as of 2026.
Her income comes from a career spanning nearly four decades of Italian film, television, and theatre work.
Her main earnings sources include acting fees from major RAI and Mediaset productions, her ongoing role as a popular jury member on Tu si que vales since 2019, and repeat appearances on the Amici di Maria De Filippi talent show from 2013 to 2022.
She was also paid a reported appearance fee of 25,000 euros for co-hosting the Sanremo Music Festival in 2022.
Her voice work for Pixar’s Cars franchise across multiple films and series between 2006 and 2022 added to her income over many years.
Her husband Flavio Cattaneo is himself a major figure in Italian business, having served as CEO of TIM and in senior roles at Enel and Italo.
Sabrina Ferilli Social Media
Sabrina Ferilli is active on Instagram, where she shares professional updates and personal moments with her audience. Her verified profile is @sabrinaferilliofficial.
She also maintains a presence on her official website, which is available in both Italian and English and provides updates on her current projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Sabrina Ferilli?
Sabrina Ferilli is 62 years old as of 2026. She was born on June 28, 1964, in Rome, Italy.
Who is Sabrina Ferilli married to?
Ferilli married Italian business manager Flavio Cattaneo in a secret ceremony in Paris in 2011. They keep their private life largely out of the press.
Does Sabrina Ferilli have children?
Sabrina Ferilli does not have children. Neither of her marriages produced children, though her husband Flavio Cattaneo has children from his first marriage.
What is Sabrina Ferilli’s most famous role?
Her internationally recognised performance is as Ramona in The Great Beauty (2013), directed by Paolo Sorrentino. That film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2014.
Where is Sabrina Ferilli from?
She was born and raised in Rome, Italy. Her father was from Rome and her mother was originally from Caserta in Southern Italy.
What is Sabrina Ferilli doing now?
In 2026, Ferilli starred in the RAI 1 sequel film Gloria – Il ritorno and in the Canale 5 miniseries A testa alta. She also appeared in Notte prima degli esami 3.0 and continues as a popular judge on Tu si que vales.
Conclusion
Sabrina Ferilli built a career that spans Italian cinema from the 1980s to 2026, taking in everything from Paolo Virzì’s debut film to Sorrentino’s Oscar-winner and her own long-running franchise as the irrepressible Gloria Grandi.
Her combination of film prestige, popular television presence, and decades of stage work makes her one of the most complete performers in modern Italian entertainment.