Chiara Mastroianni

My father was a sun, always positive. He was simple, unpretentious - more peasant than actor.

My son was born 10 days after my father died. I wish he'd known my son. But my mother, she gives me a lot. I didn't question myself about how my father would think today, because in a way she talks for him.

I think people related to my father because there was nothing fake about him. The tenderness - him being so nice onscreen? He was like this in life, it's true. On the opposite side my mother is completely different from the image people have of her. My father you get what you see. My mother is the shyest person, you would not imagine. And she's funny. She's much more funny than people think. It's like an animal, the moment a dog is scared, it's going to bite you. And I think some people we think they're terrifying, but themselves, they are terrified. Her beauty didn't help - also, that terrifying beauty - but she's the opposite. My mother is someone who likes to garden, she likes to cook, she likes to play cards, she's fun. She's not the scary thing. But I understand because I've always met people who were so scared of her. It's unfair for her, because she's so much more than cold. What she shows onscreen is so different from what she is in life.

Acting - the first years for me were like a bellyache - I still have bellyache, but I do have pleasure on top of it now, thank God, after all these years.

I remember a conversation with my mother when I approached the age when I started working - she was so worried - it pissed me off at the time, but I understand now. Despite the incredible career, she was so aware of all the things that can happen in an actor's life. And she was saying, "My life is not a regular actor's life. It's very rare to have actors who work so much