Livia De Paolis is an actress, director, screenwriter and producer.
Born and raised in Rome, Italy, Livia De Paolis literally took her first steps on a movie set. Founded by her grandfather, her family ran De Paolis I.N.C.I.R., the only Studios structure privately owned in the country. In operation from 1941-1991, De Paolis I.N.C.I.R. housed the productions of over 2000 films including the works of Fellini, Bertolucci, Visconti, Rossellini, Antonioni, Pasolini, Godard.
She graduated Magna Cum Laude from University ‘Sapienza’ of Rome, earning a Masters Degree in Philosophy.
She then moved to New York where she turned her focus to contemporary theatre. Over the years De Paolis has collaborated with some of the most innovative figures in the New York theater community. She has performed numerous times at Richard Foreman’s Ontological Hysteric Theater, 3LD Art and Technology Center and originated the tile role in John Patrick Shanley’s one act play Veronica. The play also contained two songs by Henry Krieger (Dreamgirls) and was presented at the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College during New York Stage and Film Powerhouse Season. A workshop production of Veronica was presented at the Hudson Theater Guild in Hollywood, Los Angeles. De Paolis played the title role opposite Sam Harris, lead singer of the band X Ambassadors.
Over the years De Paolis was also heavily involved in different aspects of theater production, assisting Richard Foreman on the production of ZOMBOID!, John Rubin in numerous workshop productions at The Public Theatre and Independent Spirit Award winner Dan Klores in his theater production of Little Doc at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (starring Adam Driver and Joanne Tucker).
She wrote, directed, starred in and produced the ultra-low budget feature film Emoticon. The ensemble cast include Michael Cristofer, Carol Kane, Sonia Braga, Christine Ebersole, Daphne Rubin Vega, Eric Nelsen, Allie Gallerani, Miles Chandler and Diane Guerrero. The movie was theatrically distributed in the the US by Indican Pictures and is currently available on all the major digital platforms.
Her short film Awestruck, which she also wrote, directed, starred in and produced, was picked up by Shorts International for both broadcast and digital distribution in the United States, Europe and South Asia.
After spending the majority of her adult life in New York, De Paolis has moved to London in the winter of 2019 where she developed her second feature film The Lost Girls which she also wrote, directed and starred in alongside Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Iain Glen, Parker Sawyers, Julian Ovenden, Emily Carey, Ella Rae Smith and Louis Partridge. The movie is backed by Ingenious and Myriad Pictures in association with Lipsync and it is set to be released theatrically in the UK by Altitude Films and in the US by Vertical Entertainment in June 2022.
Headshot Photo Credits:
Photographer Jemima Marriott
Stylist JO Shippen
Hair & Makeup Emma Osborne @onerepresents
