Francesca Romana Rivelli, better known artistically and internationally as Ornella Muti, was born in Rome. She is the daughter of a Roman journalist and an Estonian sculptor. She made her film debut in 1970 with the film Alone in the face of violence (La moglie più bellaItaly, 1970), directed by Damiano Damiani. Only in the 70s of the 20th century, the actress appeared in thirteen films, among which the following stand out Premarital Experience (Spain, 1972), by Pedro Masó and The Girl of the Sunset (Primo Amore, 1978) directed by Dino Risi, among others.
The 1980s brought his Hollywood debut with an iconic film: Flash Gordon (UK, 1980), by Mike Hodges, a landmark of fantastic cinema, which could be seen at the Isla Calavera, Festival de Cine Fantástico de Canarias Ciudad de La Laguna with the presence of its protagonist Sam J. Joneswho received the Legend of the Fantastic Award. In Hollywood he would also make Oscar Take your hands off! (Oscar(Oscar!, USA 1991), alongside Sylvester Stallone, a film directed by John LandisHe was also invited and received the Honorary Award at the Isla Calavera, Festival de Cine Fantástico de Canarias (Canary Islands Fantastic Film Festival).
In the 1980s, Muti starred in several adaptations of important literary works. The first is Ordinary Madness (Storie di ordinaria follia("Ordinary Madness", Italy, 1981) by Marco Ferreri, alongside Ben Gazzara, inspired by the story by Charles Bukowski. The next film adaptation in which the actress takes part is Swann's Love(Un Amour de Swann, France, 1984), opposite Jeremy Irons. This film is an adaptation of Marcel Proust's novel by Volker Schlöndorf. The third of the literary adaptations of this decade was Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Cronaca di una morte annunciataItaly, 1987), by Franco Rosi on the original by Gabriel García Márquez, with Rupert Everett and Gian María Volonté. Wait until spring, Bandini(Wait until spring, Bandini, Belgium, USA, France, Italy, 1989), by Dominique Deruddere, based on the text by Beatnik generation writer John Fante, placed the actress alongside Joe Mantegna and Faye Dunaway on the screen. The Bilingual Lover (Spain, 1992), by Vicente Aranda based on the novel by Juan Marsé, starring Imanol Arias, is another formidable literary adaptation with Ornella Muti in the cast.
The television series that spends 400 minutes adapting the voluminous work of Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo (Le Comte de Montecristo, France, 1998), directed by Josée Dyan, starring Gerard Depardieu, is another of the actress's most notable works.
In the last few years he was involved in the film To Rome With Love(To Rome With Love, USA, Spain, Italy, 2012), by Woody Allen.
The actress has three children. The eldest, Naike Rivelli, is also an actress.
