Simona Ventura

Simona Ventura
Ventura on the red carpet of the 66th Venice Film Festival
Born (1965-04-01) 1 April 1965 (age 59)
NationalityItalian
Occupations
  • Television presenter
  • beauty pageant titleholder
Known forQuelli che il Calcio

Simona Ventura (born 1 April 1965) is an Italian television presenter and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Italia 1988 and represented her country at Miss Universe 1988. She is the third woman to have presented the Sanremo Music Festival, after Loretta Goggi and Raffaella Carrà. She's also the leading TV host of Rai 2

Television career

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Ventura was born in Bentivoglio. She started in TV on "Domani Sposi" with Giancarlo Magalli on Rai Uno. Her love for sport took her into sports reporting: for the Italian Telemontecarlo she was the correspondent during the 1990 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 1992 and the 1992 Summer Olympics.

At RAI, Ventura appeared with Pippo Baudo on the Sunday afternoon programme "Domenica In" (1991) and then, in 1992, the sports programme "Domenica Sportiva". She has also been on "Pavarotti International".

Ventura's career continued on Mediaset channels hosting variety shows like "Mai dire gol", "Cuori e Denari, "Boom", "Scherzi a parte" (a programme very similar to Punk'd), "Festivalbar", "Le Iene", "Matricole", Gli indelebili '99, "Cari amici miei", "Zelig - Noi facciamo cabaret", and "Piccole Canaglie". In all, she spent eight years at Mediaset.

In 1996 Simona hosted the newcomers' section of the Sanremo Music Festival for RAI.

Simona Ventura in 2009

In 2001 Simona went back to Rai Due to host the seventh edition of the Sunday afternoon show "Quelli che il calcio" and a prime-time show called "Quelli che lo smoking". In 2002 Pippo Baudo chose her for the "Dopofestival" (a variety show about the Sanremo Music Festival) and she then presented a late night television show with Gene Gnocchi called "La grande notte del lunedì sera". She has been presenting the Italian version of Celebrity Survivor, L'Isola Dei Famosi since 2003. In 2004 she was the host presenter of the San Remo Music Festival. In 2005 and 2006 she presented Music farm, a show similar to the Hit Me, Baby, One More Time format, on Rai Due.

She also had the Prime Time Access Rule on Rai Uno with "Le Tre Scimmiette" and in 2007 appeared in prime time with "Colpo di Genio".

She presented "Quelli che il Calcio" until 2011.

Simona Ventura led the popular reality show L'isola dei famosi for 8 editions. In the fall of 2009, she abandoned her role as a judge on X-Factor. Working on his two most important programmes, Simona Ventura in May 2011 had some problems with the company. The director of RAI 2 Massimo Liofredi tried not to renew the contract of Simona Ventura for this reason after she signed a contract with Sky.

Simona was a judge in seasons 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 of the Italian X-Factor, winning the fifth one with her act Francesca Michielin.

Simona Ventura signed a contract for two years with satellite platform Sky after almost 10 years spent working at RAI bringing good advertising revenue, becoming the queen of RAI 2, leaving the company to move to the satellite network.

In early 2016 Simona Ventura returned to Mediaset as a contestant in the XI season of the popular reality show L'isola dei famosi now hosted by Alessia Marcuzzi with Alvin on Canale 5 and won by Giacobbe Fragomeni.

In the autumn of 2016[1] Mariano Di Vaio (in couple[2] with the dancer Stefano De Martino) is one of the tutors/mentors[3] of the first season of Selfie – Le cose cambiano,[4] the new talent show produced by Fascino PGT of Maria De Filippi and aired by Canale 5 with Simona Ventura as presenter.[5] Bernardo Corradi (in couple[6] with the dancer Stefano De Martino) in May-June 2017 is one of the tutors/mentors[6] in the second season of Selfie – Le cose cambiano, a talent show produced by Fascino PGT[7] of Maria De Filippi and aired by Canale 5 with Simona Ventura as presenter.[6][7]

Other appearances

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In 1996 Ventura was the Italian voice of Lola Bunny in Space Jam.

She acted in the film Fratelli Coltelli in 1997.

In 2008 Ventura starred in La fidanzata di papà with Massimo Boldi and Elisabetta Canalis.

In 2009 Ventura was trolled by English rock band Muse in her show "Quelli che.. il Calcio".

In 2010 she had a cameo in Sofia Coppola's Somewhere.

In 2012, Ventura provided the voice of the pre-match presenter in the EA Sports video game FIFA 13.

Awards

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Ventura has won 4 Telegatti as Best Female Figure of the Year.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role(s) Notes
1988 Una notte, un sogno Young girl Uncredited extra
1989 Le finte bionde Blonde girl Uncredited extra
1996 Space Jam Lola Bunny Italian dub; voice role
1997 Fratelli coltelli Sonia
2008 La fidanzata di papà Angela Vandelli
2009 Videocracy Herself Documentary
2010 Somewhere Telegatto Host Cameo appearance
2011 Vacanze di Natale a Cortina Herself Cameo appearance

Television

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Year Title Role(s) Notes
1986 Miss Italia 1986 Herself (contestant) Annual beauty contest
1988 Miss Universe 1988 Annual beauty contest
1988–1989 Domani sposi Herself (co-host) Game show
1990–1991 Galagoal Herself (reporter) Sports talk show
1991–1992 Domenica in Talk show (season 16)
1992–1994 La Domenica Sportiva Herself (co-host) Sports talk show
1994 Scommetiamo che…? Herself (reporter) Variety show
Castrocaro Music Festival 1994 Herself (host) Annual music festival
1994–1997 Mai dire Gol Sports program (season 5-7)
1995, 1999 Scherzi a parte Herself (co-host) Prank show (seasons 4, 6)
1996 Sanremo Giovani Talent show (season 4)
Il boom Variety show
1997 Festivalbar 1997 Annual music festival
1997–2001, 2016 Le Iene Herself (host) Information program (seasons 1-4, 19)
1998–2001 Matricole Docuseries
1998–1999 Zelig Variety show (season 2-3)
2001 Piccole canaglie Variety show
2001–2011 Quelli che... il Calcio Sports program (season 9-18)
2002 DopoFestival Sanremo Music Festival aftershow
2003–2011 L'isola dei famosi Reality show (season 1-8)
2004 Sanremo Music Festival 2004 Annual music festival
2005–2006 Music Farm Talent show (season 2-3)
2008–2011 X Factor Herself (judge) Talent show (season 1-2, 5-7)
2012–2013 Cielo che Gol Herself (host) Sports talk show
2014–2015 Miss Italia Annual beauty contest
2015 Notti sul ghiacchio Herself (judge) Talent show (season 3)
2016–2017 Selfie - Le cose cambiano Herself (host) Reality show
2018 Amici di Maria De Filippi Herself (judge) Talent show (season 17 final stage)
Temptation Island VIP Herself (host) Reality show (season 1)
2019 Il collegio Narrator Reality show (season 4)
The Voice of Italy Herself (host) Talent show (season 6)
2021 Game of Games: Gioco loco Game show
2022 Ultima fermata Reality show
2023 Il cantante mascherato Herself (contestant) Talent show (season 4)
Ballando con le Stelle Talent show (season 18)

Personal life

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Ventura was married to Italian footballer and television personality Stefano Bettarini between 1998 and 2004; they have two children together.[8]

References

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  1. ^ "Selfie su Canale 5 dal 14 novembre: Simone Rugiati fra i mentori (Anteprima Blogo)". 2 November 2016.
  2. ^ "'selfie' della ventura: Ci saranno de martino e di vaio, tina cipollari e katia ricciarelli". 2 November 2016.
  3. ^ "Selfie - le Cose Cambiano: Su Canale 5 da Lunedi 14 Novembre. Ecco I Mentori".
  4. ^ "Mediaset Ufficializza Selfie Su Canale 5, Ecco Tutti I Dettagli (Come Dandolo-Anticipato)". 3 November 2016.
  5. ^ "Selfie Parte Lunedi' 14 Novembre Con Simona Ventura". 2 November 2016.
  6. ^ a b c "Selfie - le cose cambiano, seconda edizione: Nuova giuria e cast di mentori". 2 May 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Selfie 2: Il cast. Ecco giudici e mentori del programma di Simona Ventura".
  8. ^ "Ventura – Bettarini le foto più belle della loro storia". Retrieved 12 February 2015.
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