Known for projecting an air of urbane worldliness, supporting and occasionally leading actress Lea Massari (born Anna Maria Massatani in Rome) has graced many Italian and French features. Educated throughout Europe, including Switzerland where she studied architecture, Massari made her first film appearance in Proibito (1955) but it was not until she starred in Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura (1958) that Massari became a star.