You may recognize Italian actress Marta Gastini from her role as Giulia Farnese in Borgia and for starring in the film The Rite. Currently splitting her time between LA, Rome and Milan we caught up with the young talent in the midsts of pilot season.
Lauren Jeworski: How long have you been acting for?
Marta Gastini: I’ve been acting since I was 14 and I decided to join the theater workshop held by my high school. Since then acting has been my life. It is a necessity, a joy, it is cathartic and fun. However I started working professionally as an actress when I was 18 first in Italy and after two years internationally as well when I won the audition for the Warner Bros feature The Rite that gave me the privilege to work with Anthony Hopkins.
LJ: How has growing up and living in Italy affected your life as an actress?
MG: Italy has a great tradition as far as arts and culture are concerned and that made it easy for me to approach and develop my interest in arts in general, visual arts, dance, music at first and theater and cinema afterward. I also attended a liberal arts high school where I studied the ancient greek and latin literature and theater tradition.
Moreover, despite Italy’s richness in arts and culture, we are a small country with a beautiful but not widely spoken language, therefore, I felt compelled to study foreign languages, English, and French, to be able to enlarge my range of opportunities as an actress.
LJ: What’s the most fulfilling project you’ve worked on?
MG: All the jobs, for different reasons, satisfied me, taught me something, made me live special experiences. However, The Rite has surely been very fulfilling. The role I played, a girl possessed by the devil, is one of those roles that all actors would like to play. Also, I had the precious chance to work with Anthony Hopkins and to learn from him. It took me to LA for the first time for the premiere of the movie. Thank’s to the Rite I found representation in the US and Dario Argento called me to star in his Dracula.
Playing Giulia Farnese in the Tom Fontana’s tv series Borgia, on Netflix in the States, was very fulfilling as well. The incredible quality of the writing, the work, the directors and other actors made it a unique experience. Moreover playing Giulia taught me a lot, especially to be more confident and made me understand I can be sensual.
LJ: Can you walk me through a typical day in your life?
MG: What I like about my life is that my routines change a lot depending on whether I’m working or not, whether I am in my hometown, in Rome or LA. When I’m not working and I am at home I usually try and keep myself busy exercising (I recently started taking pilates classes), studying, reading, I like to spend time with my family and friends, going to museums and to watch movies for inspiration. At the moment, I’m developing a great passion for photography and I’d like to do a workshop, maybe while I’m here in LA.
LJ: What’s next for you, Marta?
At the moment, I’m in LA for pilot season (the period of the year when there are the auditions for new tv series). This is the most difficult part of an actor’s job, when you audition and take your chances trying to gain a new role. Once you get to set that’s the fun part.
Also, I have 2 tv series and a beautiful feature coming out in Italy and 2 features, a thriller called Sadie own which I co-starred together with Analeigh Tipton, and a drama, Autumn Lights, coming out in the US.
What I would love to be next are a movie in France and a tv series in America! I keep my Fingers crossed and do my best to make that happen!
EDITORIAL:
Photographer: Matteo Rigamonti
Talent: Marta Gastini
Make-up & hair: Greta Valesin
Stylist: Luigi Gaballo
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