Botticelli, were he alive today, would have immortalized Simonetta Stefanelli on canvas, as he did with Venus on the half shell. A sweet, innocent pout, a wisp of hair blowing in the breeze, a thigh thrust slightly forward, perhaps a hand over a breast. And this is pretty much how director Francis Ford Coppola portrayed her as Appolonia, the lovely Sicilian bride of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, the young, innocent farm girl who is destined to be blown to smithereens in a car full of explosives. The contrast is perfect--defenseless innocence falling victim of the Mob. But in real life, Simonetta does not see herself that way. "I do not picture myself as a victim at all, nor as a fragile woman," she says. "Rather, I go through life with a certain sureness and, as far as films are concerned, I think I possess a flair for the dramatic." Simonetta, who has been in movies for a number of years, has developed a respect for her craft. "Acting is very hard work," says Signorina Stefanelli. "But if a scene turns out well, I'm euphoric."
Born and bred in Rome, where she now lives with her parents, three sisters and two brothers, 19-year-old Simonetta began her career in movies at the ripe old age of 13. Starting with minor roles in several Italian films, she is now co-starring with Burt Lancaster in an Italian television adaptation of the story of Moses. Simonetta spends many of her offcamera hours at schools--one for languages and another for dramatic art. The rest of her leisure time, she claims, is taken up by modern poetry, a little chess and a very special man.
