Valeria Golino is the second child of an Italian and a Greek painter. Valeria, until the divorce of her parents, grew up in Naples, Italy. Then, she lived in Athens with her mother for three years and subsequently returned to Italy where she spent another three years with his father.
Being in Italy she began to work as a model and once recognized by the world of art she was given a role in the movie «scherzo del destino in agguato dietro l’angolo come un brigante da strada». As a result, she decided to quit high school as well as her modeling career. Without any studies in acting, in 1985 Valeria took the leading role in the film ««Piiccoli fuochi» by Peter Del Monte, whom she was engaged to during the same year. A year later she wins the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her interpretation on «Storia d’amore».
Following this successful outcome, Valeria Golino had several hits with the European filmography business and in 1988 started collaborating with American productions such as «Big Top Pee-wee», «Rain Man» and «Hot shots» that was met with a huge success. As a result, and without forgetting her origin, she pursued a Hollywood career making her internationally popular.
In 1996 she produced and acted in «Slaughtering the Rooster», directed by Andreas Pantzis, winning the best actress award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. Five years later she stared in the Greek movie «To tama» also directed by Andreas Pantzis.
After 90 films and 3 series as an actress, Valeria Golino will make her directorial debut with Honey (2013), a film about a young girl who illegally imports euthanasia drugs into Europe.
Her most recent participation in a major Hollywood production is in Pablo Lorraine’s much talked about “Maria”, alongside Angelina Jolie, playing the sister of Maria Callas.