Forlani was born on July 1, 1972, in Twickenham, Middlesex, South West London, to an Italian father, Pier Forlani, and a British mother, Barbara. At the young age of eleven, Forlani began studies at the Arts Educational School in London, where she studied acting and dance for six years. It was her dancing talents that landed her parts in The Nutcracker and Orpheus in the Underworld.
After a few small television and movie roles in Britain, Forlani and her parents moved to San Francisco, California, hoping to find more acting work for her. Her first role in the U.S. was in the very American made-for-television movie, J.F.K.: Reckless Youth. Patrick Dempsey played in the title role. Forlani naturally speaks with a thick British accent, but is able to disguise it to sound very American in her performing roles when needed.
Another movie followed for Forlani, Police Academy: Mission to Moscow. She starred in this film, part of the ongoing Police Academy series of movies, alongside David Graf, Leslie Easterbrook, and Ron Perlman. Forlani next appeared in Mallrats with many of America’s top young actors and actresses, such as Shannen Doherty, Jason Lee, and Ben Affleck. Just one year later, she was starring with some of Hollywood’s most prominent stars – Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, and John Spencer – in The Rock, a movie about a group of Marines gone wrong taking over Alcatraz.
Forlani has always felt that her best performance was in the movie Basquiat, about a young street artist who at one time lived in a box. Jeffrey Wright took on the title role, and well-known actors such as Benecio Del Torro, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, and Willem Dafoe had major roles in the film as well as rocker David Bowie.
From here, Forlani went on to star for the first time in a movie, which is also her most successful, Meet Joe Black. She starred in this alongside Brad Pitt, with Anthony Hopkins, Marcia Gray Harden, and Jeffrey Tambor also appearing in the movie. Starring roles continued for Forlani as she worked with Freddie Prinze Jr, Jason Biggs, and Alyson Hannigan in Boys and Girls.
Many more movies were to come for Forlani, such as Norfolk, with James Woods and Nick Nolte; The Pentagon Papers, with James Spader, Paul Giamatti, and Alan Arkin; The Medallion, with Jackie Chan and Julian Sands; and Ripley Under Ground, with Barry Pepper and Jacinda Barrett, which also had Forlani starring with Willem Dafoe once again. After this long string of successful movies, Forlani decided to try her hand with American TV, starring in CSI: NY as a detective, alongside Gary Sinise and Melina Kanakaredes.
Forlani was named as the face of L’Oreal Cosmetics, and that beautiful face was also recognized by Stuff magazine’s 100 Sexiest Women, FHM magazine’s 100 Sexiest Women, and Loaded’s 100 Hot Babes. She also has a list of famous boyfriends, including Benicio Del Toro, John Cusack, and Ben Stiller.
YUDDY
