Current Projects
Other Projects
Music: Asia Argento vs. Antipop, Archigram & Friends (2008)
Released by Milan Records Buy it from iTunes & Amazon
Music: Disco Sux/U Just Can't Stop The Rock/Sad Core (2008)
Released by Antibe Music "Life in Asia" Radio Show: Every Friday at 10pm (Italian time zone) on LifeGate Radio Family Sites
Top Affiliates
Random Quote
"I'm very free in my work. I'm in my films what I can't be in life. Sometimes, I imagine that people might be disappointed when they meet me if I'm not in life what I'm in my films."
Official Site
Keeping It in the Family
Site Information
Since December 2003 This site is an official Asia Argento website. However, I'm not Asia Argento herself. Do not send fanmail because Asia won't receive it. I am not receiving any financial gain from the website. No copyright infringement intended. Special thanks goes out to my three special collaborators and contributors: Audrey (from France), Beatrice (from Italy) and Stef. |
TriviaOnly daughter of Italian horror director Dario Argento and actress Daria Nicolodi. Asia has two older half-sisters from her parents' previous relationships: Fiore Argento and Anna Ceroli (deceased). When Asia was born, her parents projected "Gone With The Wind" on the wall in the living room for three days. They had a copy and they loved it. It's still one of her favourite films with "Freaks", which they showed her when she was five. Asia was legally named Aria because the registration office didn't accept Asia. Geographical names weren't allowed in Italy at the time. She was conceived in the oriental part of Istanbul, Turkey, according to her mother. That's why her parents wanted to name her Asia. All the kids from school used to go over to her place and watch these crazy and incredible films like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Freaks". Asia used to watch them 5, 6 times a day. The kids didn't tell their parents. They made a pact that if they wanted to watch the films they couldn't tell their parents. Nobody ever did, because for them it was more important to watch the films. Asia had her imaginary friends - one was called Carla - because she didn't have friends. All her childhood she had only one friend. Asia never liked to be around many people when she was a kid. She was reading a lot. She liked Oscar Wilde when she was little. He was her first discovery. Then she was reading Colette. And Moby Dick. What she liked the most about America was her house, a very big house in front of the ocean, at Venice. Cars didn't pass by there. There are lots of flowers, trees, the beach. Asia exorcizes her nightmares and monsters through her work. That's why she thinks she's a healthy person. Her father is the same. Asia wants to be remembered as somebody who has done everything, but didn't know how to do anything. Asia is not only an actress. She's a director, a writer, a photographer and a DJ who performed in Italy, France and the United States. She's also done some occasional modeling. She refused lots of action films after "Triple X". Asia turned down roles in "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "The World Is Not Enough". She likes action films, but Bond always seemed misogynist to her. Loves Pink Floyd. Is an Elvis fan. You can find several references to the King in "Scarlet Diva". Since she was little, Asia has had this complex about being ugly. Then all of a sudden when she was 21, she said "'Oh my God, people are attracted to me, and I can play this game and see where it leads.' So I played a role which wasn't really my true self." Is a Virgo.
According to Asia, few people know her for real. "People think I’m like the characters I play on screen, but I’m lonely and shy. I created a persona."
"Suspiria" is her favourite Dario Argento film. It's the true story of her great grandmother who was a piano student who went to this school and she learnt that they were doing black magic there, and evil and stuff. Her great grandmother was a white witch. Asia thinks the Italian media is hard on her because she's considered to be a dark lady and they don't like that, they think it's a pose. But she says she's not a dark lady, and that this is not a pose. "If I like certain literature and if I wear black... I am not the devil." She doesn't like to be labelled a dark lady. She also claims she's not transgressive at all. "There's nothing transgressive about my life. I have this vice of always telling the truth. And sometimes I tell strong truth and also dark ones." 23 is her lucky number. Asia doesn't have a television set at home. She was agoraphobic for a couple of years in her early twenties and she basically only communicated with people via the Internet. When she lived in the United States while shooting "THIDAAT", what the missed the most about Italy is that she sleeps better over there, Marco, her parents, and a few friends. She's friends with Adrien Brody. She directed Marilyn Manson twice: in "THIDAAT" and in his video "(S)aint". Asia would love to work with Roman Polanski. When she was a little girl, Asia wanted to be a writer or a director. Amber is her favourite scent. Her fetisch is a letter by Guillaume Apollinaire to a publishing house, that she bought at an auction. "The text is very funny: he is courteous and yet, at the same time, we can see that he doesn't give a damn about them." Her favourite photographers are Boris Mikhailov. Cindy Sherman. Jim Goldberg. She owes a lot to Jurgen Teller if she picked up photography. "He made it look so simple and unpretentious." She named her daughter Anna Lou after her deceased half-sister Anna and "Poèmes à Lou" by Guillaume Apollinaire. Her book "I love you Kirk" is dedicated to her sister Anna. Played a cop 3 times: in "The Stendhal Syndrome", "Red Siren" and "Triple X". She was supposed to play her fourth one in her dad's "Il Cartaio" but couldn't make it because of scheduling conflicts. She was filming "THIDAAT" at the time. Because of that, Dario and Asia stopped talking for a while. Didn't like being a child and wouldn't go back to childhood for anything in the world. "Childhood is ugly. It smells like shit." Speaks Italian, English and French. A Gipsy lady told her mother she is going to have two more kids. "The Day After Tomorrow", "Van Helsing", "Hulk" are 3 guilty-pleasures of her (movie-wise speaking). What does she find enjoyable about being a DJ: "Being around people yet protected by headphones and turntables. Communicating through music, avoiding mindless conversations... yet being able to give a flash, a feeling, something." Does shadow-boxing. Asia is a good cook and she cooked some delicious pasta for Vin Diesel and Rob Cohen when filming "Triple X". She once met the Pope John Paul II. Hasn't played in an Italian film since "Viola Bacia Tutti" (1997). Played a King's mistress twice: Charlotte De Sauve in "Queen Margot" (1994) and Madame Du Barry in "Marie-Antoinette" (2006). Contrary to what's written on her profile page on IMDb.com, Asia was never engaged to Michael Pitt or Vincent Gallo. She dated Mike in 2004. However, she never dated Vinny. They were just friends, but he disappointed her twice: when she asked him to play Kirk in "Scarlet Diva" and he wanted too much money, and when she asked him to be the DP of "THIDAAT". When Asia was younger, around 19, she worked as a freelance journalist. At the time, she only interviewed the artists that she wanted to. She thinks that it'd be interesting to interview the artists that she wouldn't particularly want to, just to see if they're worth more than what she thinks. She worked for a few Italian magazines and interviewed Metallica and Harmony Korine among others. Asia plays a little drums, but she'd love to know how to play an instrument well. When a shoot is over, she's generally the first one to leave a set. "They say, 'It's a wrap', and I'm gone so fast that I was never there." But Tony Gatlif's Transylvania was a different story. She hung around for three more days, helping with some additional work: "I didn't want to leave." She doesn't like to watch herself on screen - "I see only the bad things" - so never likes to remain in the theatre at premieres. "I'll influence the audiences. I'll give bad vices to the projection." Anna Lou started attending school in 2007. Asia walks her every day and they do homework together every afternoon. When she can't, Daria (Asia's mother) takes care of her.
She was the youngest Italian female director in history and she's also directed the first Italian digital film.
(To Be Continued...)
|
||||||||||||||||