Born in Fontana Liri[?], a small village in the Apennines[?], Mastroianni grew up in Turin and Rome. During World War II, he was interned in a Nazi prison, but escaped and hid in Venice.
In 1945, he started working for a film company, and began taking acting lessons. His film debut was in I Miserabili[?] (from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables) in 1947.
He soon became a major international romantic star, starring in Big Deal on Madonna Street[?], and especially when Federico Fellini cast him in La Dolce Vita[?], with Anita Ekberg[?], in 1960.
He followed that with another starring role in 8 1/2[?].
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump