Biography
Handsome and muscular Italian leading man Raoul Bova is also a trained athlete and national swimming champion. He began his acting career on Italian television, joining the cast of the award-winning crime drama
La Piovra (shown in France as
La Mafia) during its seventh season, which led to starring roles in several subsequent
La Piovra TV movies and miniseries. Bova made his European film breakthrough in 1993 with the romantic fantasy
Piccolo Grande Amore as a hunky watersports instructor, and he's played romantic leads ever since. He played a handsome plumber in the comedy
Comincio Tutto Per Caso and a heroic husband in the thriller
Coppia Omicida. In 2001, he appeared with Italian film legends
Sophia Loren and Giancarlo Gianinni in
Lina Wertmüller's historical drama
Francesca e Nunziata. The next year he was in his first American film,
Avenging Angelo, starring
Anthony Quinn in his final role. After returning to Italy to play opposite
Giovanna Mezzogiorno in the romantic drama La Finestra di Fronte, he did another Hollywood project as
Diane Lane's love interest in
Audrey Wells' romantic comedy
Under the Tuscan Sun. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide