Valeria Golino: Transnational and Global Italianness

Valeria Golino has reached prominence on the international scene as without becoming an icon of “Italianness”. Her extensive participation in Hollywood productions is paired with her acting on the Italian soil, plus her employment in France. These main cultural and industrial spheres integrate in constructing Golino’s high professionality, but do not converge in building her bankability, the case of Respiro (Crialese, 2002) emerging as a turning point in the evolution of her star persona. Framing the analysis of her artistic personality within C. Geraghty’s category of “performer”, I wish to underscore how the construction of Golino’s prestige is grounded in her versatility (therefore her stature as a performer, also due to her cultural engagement) and in her distinctive acting features (her idiosyncratic style and use of the body - tactile and nervous-, her husky, whispering voice). I will sample a few of her films that describe this phenomenon setting Golino against the background of two major tendencies in the exportability of Italian actresses abroad (the mater-dolorosa-icon and the exorbitant beauty) and their effects on status and performance.