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Neva Leoni: “Stumbled on my job”

Unlike many of her colleagues who dreamed of doing this job when they were very young, Neva Leoni, who owes her name to an Indian chief, has never had any inclination to be an actress. And that’s why she suspects that “everything was a manipulation of my mother”: at 16, for her birthday, her mother gives her a photo book that is turned over shortly after to what would become her agent, in search of new faces. His career began like this, by chance, without any particular conquest: «I have always been carried away by the flow of events. It is as if I had stumbled upon this job “, reveals Neva on the phone from the dressing room Heaven of the Ladies, the popular Rai1 soap that has seen her for four years in the role of Tina. From 17 October it doubles, again on Rai1, with Hearts, the new fiction by Riccardo Donna who sees it, as well as the Paradiso, acting once again in Italy in the sixties: “Rai has now decided that I have to live in those years, it can’t be a coincidence”.

What’s it like to go back in time?
“Crazy. Let’s imagine the girls of the time blushing in a full skirt, but the truth is that they were people exactly like us. My grandmother, in Palermo, has combined all of them. The women of those years were complete, very cool. I share with them having ambitions ».

Photo by Fabrizio Cestari

What were your first ambitions?
“As a child I wanted to be an archaeologist: I had seen Indiana Jones so many times. Then I enrolled in university: I was studying American Literature, I wanted to understand if the actress’s job was really the right one for me ».

Did university finish it?
“No, it’s a great regret that, sooner or later, I’m sure I’ll recover.”

Did you study as a child?
“I’ve always enjoyed reading: The secret garden, Little Women, Jane Eyre, but also all Harry Potter. My father always pushed me to read. For the rest, I was a little girl who liked to joke, but who needed her environment to be comfortable. At 13, I wasn’t pretty and I wasn’t popular either. ‘

Was he suffering for this?
“I didn’t notice much, I did my thing.”

Was acting a shock therapy in this, since it leads to being the center of attention?
“For me it’s the opposite. In life I am embarrassed and clumsy. When I act, I have to be someone else, and that leads me to expose myself as much as I like because it gives me the chance to be very cheeky, have crazy clothes, be a vamp when I’m a human burrito at home. ‘

What were the first steps in this world like?
“Funny, weird. In the beginning it was a game, a kind of liberation. I came home very tired, but with a sense of great satisfaction for what I had done ».

The biggest dream?
“I would love to work with Ozpetek, even though I am convinced that what has to happen somehow happens. I know it seems trivial, but the important thing for me is to be happy ».

Last year, due to force majeure, her marriage with Claudio Colica was postponed.
“We will catch up next summer, and I can’t wait. A month and a half before the date my father passed away: we had planned Covid, but this a little less. Marriage means being there, and we are there. When we succeed, it will be a beautiful confirmation. Also because I already feel married ».

His greatest talent?
“I am a kind person. I try to be a good person ».

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