Moana Pozzi

Anna Moana Rosa Pozzi (27 April 1961 – 15 September 1994), also known mononymously as Moana, was an Italian pornographic actress, television personality and politician.

Pozzi was born in Genoa, Italy, the daughter of Alfredo Pozzi, a nuclear engineer, and Rosanna, a housewife.

Her name, Moana, is a Polynesian name meaning "ocean".

In her youth, Pozzi lived for periods of time in Canada and Brazil, due to the nature of her father's work requiring him to travel.

By the time she was thirteen years old, the family had returned to their native Italy, where she finished school.

In 1979, a few weeks before her 18th birthday, she gave birth to her only child, a son named Simone, who was raised by her parents and told that his mother was his older sister.

The family moved to France in 1980 and Pozzi, then 19 years old, decided to stay in Rome.

In Rome, Pozzi started working as a model and studied acting.

Sometimes she performed in television advertisements or as a walk-on in comedy movies.

In 1981, she performed in her first hardcore movie, Valentina, ragazza in calore (Valentina, Girl in Heat), credited as Linda Heveret.

A minor scandal ensued since, at the same time the movie was in theatres, she was still working on a children's television programme, Tip Tap Club, on Rete 2.

She denied being the same person, but was suspended from television anyway.

This gave Pozzi her first popularity in newspapers and magazines.

The name of the most famous one, the prime minister Bettino Craxi, who was her lover in 1981, was hidden as "the politician".

In 1985, Federico Fellini wanted her to perform in his movie Ginger and Fred.

In 1986, Pozzi met Riccardo Schicchi, manager of Diva Futura.

Her first A-movie in hard core was Fantastica Moana, where she used her real name for the first time.

She also starred in Curve Deliziose (Delicious Curves) next to Cicciolina and others, the first live show in Italy where naked models would masturbate onstage.

This caused scandal and accusations of outrageous obscenity.

She became famous in the hardcore pornography business and eclipsed the popularity of Cicciolina in Italy.

At the same time Cicciolina stopped doing porn in order to pursue a political career in the Italian Parliament.

Pozzi's appearances on television also caused scandal.

In the show Matrjoska by Antonio Ricci, she used to appear on stage completely naked or just wrapped in a transparent plastic veil.

She became increasingly featured in magazines and newspapers and often appeared on the front page and magazine covers.

She was also appreciated for her distinctive intelligence, defying the cliché of the brainless pinup.

She cultivated intellectuals, writers, and artists such as Mario Schifano or Dario Bellezza.

Pozzi was conscious of her role in show business.

In interviews she always spoke of what she wanted to be for public opinion: sexy, sophisticated, intelligent, open-minded, worldly.

In 1991, Pozzi published her first book Moana's Philosophy where she listed, with marks from 4 to 9.5, twenty famous celebrities who had been her lovers.

The list included actors such as Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Roberto Benigni and Massimo Troisi, soccer players like Paulo Roberto Falcão and Marco Tardelli, writers including Luciano De Crescenzo.

In 1992, Pozzi co-founded, with Hungarian Ilona Staller "Cicciolina", the Love Party, whose political program included legalization of brothels, better sex education and the creation of "love parks".

She ran for the mayor of Rome and received about 1 per cent of votes.

No one was elected, but her popularity reached its pinnacle and the various Italian TV anchors wanted to interview her.

Stylist Karl Lagerfeld wanted her on the catwalk in 1993.

Pozzi became so popular that she was a protagonist for an animated cartoon created by the Italian cartoonist Mario Verger, with herself co-directing.

This film, entitled Moanaland (1994), aired frequently on Italian television in , and in broadcasts dedicated to the actress.

Again Verger, by himself, dedicated to Pozzi another cartoon, I Remember Moana, 1995, that gained praise by film critics Marco Giusti and Enrico Ghezzi, and was transmitted in Fuori Orario.

It also won a Special Mention at the Erotic Film Festival in the US.

Her sister Maria Tamiko "Mima" Pozzi also became a porn actress with the stage name Baby Pozzi.

Pozzi performed in about 100 porn movies, mostly in Italy, but also some in Los Angeles with Gerard Damiano as director.