Chiara Caselli

Chiara Caselli is an Italian actress with a cosmopolitan work ethic, making the rounds in French, multi-lingual, and Italian films. However, she is best known to American audiences for her role in Gus Van Sant's classic 1991 indie drama, "My Own Private Idaho." Caselli played Carmela, the young Italian woman with whom Keanu Reeves' Scott falls in love while he and Mike (River Phoenix) are in Italy trying to track down Mike's mother. That same year, just her second on the big screen, Caselli made three other films--two Italian and one French-language drama, "L'année de l'éveil." In 1995, she had a co-starring role in "Beyond the Clouds," the French-English-Italian romance directed by filmmaking legends Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders--who shared the FIPRESCI prize at the Venice Film Festival for their effort; the film also featured an all-star cast that included France's Fanny Ardant, Jean Reno, and Irène Jacob; Italy's Marcello Mastroianni, and American John Malkovich. Caselli reunited with Malkovich in 2002 in the crime mystery "Ripley's Game," one of the five film incarnations featuring the character Tom Ripley--as played here by Malkovich--that have been adapted from Patricia Highsmith's novels. Caselli's other noteworthy starring roles include a part opposite acting legend Max von Sydow in Dario Argento's 2011 horror mystery, "Sleepless," and the 2009 French drama "Father of My Children." In addition to her French-and-Italian-speaking parts, Caselli also showcased her Spanish in the 2000 comedy "Waiting for the Messiah."