Carmen Russo

Carmela Carolina Fernanda "Carmen" Russo (born 3 October 1959) is an Italian showgirl, television personality, actress, dancer, model, dance teacher and occasional singer.

Russo was born in Genoa, on 3 October 1959.

Her father, Giovanni Russo, was a Sicilian policeman, and her mother, Emilian Giuseppina Gherardini, worked as a cashier at the cinema "Olimpia".

After her parents' move to Pavullo nel Frignano, a town in the province of Modena, Emilia-Romagna and in 1969 her family return in Genoa, where she joined a dance academy.

Russo started her career as a model in the mid-1970s participating in several beauty contests in Italy.

She first came to the public's attention for her roles in the commedia erotica all'italiana (sex comedy) genre, such as Mia moglie torna a scuola, Giovani, belle... probabilmente ricche, and Paulo Roberto Cotechiño centravanti di sfondamento.

In 1973, she finished middle school and her parents entered her at the Istituto Tecnico per il Turismo, in Genoa, so that she does not give dance her full attention.

With sacrifices she followed the dance lesson of Wanda Nardi, the most important dance school of the time in Genoa and she also began working as a model mannequin, and for the department store Coin, she did a poster advertisement.

In 1974, at the age of 13, Russo won her first important beauty contest, "Miss Liguria".

The previous year, Russo also won the title of "Miss Emilia" held in Pavullo nel Frignano, but it was a qualification that had no value for the national contest.

By winning the victory of "Miss Liguria", Russo had the opportunity to participate in the election of "Miss Italia", but she was disqualified because she was too young.

Russo and Mention decided in 1975 to move to Rome, home of the major Italian film studios.

The couple arrived in Rome and moved into a tiny apartment very close to Cinecittà.

With the tenacity and ambition that have always characterized Russo, every morning she stood in long queues to submit auditions for a part in a movie.

Russo was immediately hired for a small part in the comedy movie Di che segno sei? with Adriano Celentano and Alberto Sordi.

With this film Russo leaves for a while the stage of night clubs of the province.

In 1977, she was hired by Federico Fellini for the film City of Women with Marcello Mastroianni.

In the movie, she shows her breasts, but was not credited.

She then appeared in the crime movie Genova a mano armata as the cashier at the bar, and also made an appearance in Die linkshändige Frau (The Left-Handed Woman).

The movie was a hit, especially in Germany, and was entered into the 1978 Cannes Film Festival.

Although Russo began her career as an actress, she continued to work as a showgirl in nightclubs, and in 1978, Russo hosted, with Ettore Andenna, the TV show La bustarella, which aired on Antenna 3 Lombardia.

In the same year, she participated in Portobello with Enzo Tortora aired in Raiuno.

Later, Russo appeared in many others films and debuted in the theater supporting Walter Chiari in Hai mai provato con l'acqua calda?.

With this play, Russo won the Premio de Curtis.

Due to the expansion of her career, she decided to settle permanently in Rome, which was also the home of the agency "Gymnasium".

During the summer of 1979 Russo appeared for the first time in the Italian magazine for men Playmen, at the age of nineteen.

She subsequently established herself as a television star in the 1980s with the variety shows Drive In, Risatissima, and Grand Hotel.

During her career, she released also three unsuccessful studio albums, Stars on Donna, Le canzoni di "Drive in...", and Una notte italiana, and she was also chosen many times as a model for Playmen magazine during the 1980s.

After she appeared again in the magazine in late 1980, in 1981 and two times in 1982 and 1984.

She became also one of the highest paid nude models in Italy.

In 1980, she participated in the making of two films: Patrick vive ancora with Gianni Dei and La settimana bianca.

During the making of La settimana bianca in the summer of 1980, she met Gianfranco D'Angelo, who helped Russo to enter the world of television.

In this year, Russo also shot Le porno killers, her first role as a protagonist.

In the film, Russo played a bisexual killer.

In the movie, she was credited as Carmen Bizet.

Her artistic breakthrough came in 1981.

She left Mention and ended the job as show girl in nightclubs.

In 2003 and 2006, she also participated in the Italian and Spanish versions of the reality show Celebrity Survivor.

She won in the Spanish version Supervivientes.

In 2017, she also competed in Grande Fratello VIP 2, the Italian version of Celebrity Big Brother.