Michela de Rossi, Roman dancer and actress with a growing career, is featured in the Sopranos prequel movie 'The Many Saints of Newark'. Setting her up for stardom, the 28-year-old actress had never left Europe before the start of filming and never made a film in English. It doesn't take long to fall under her Italian charm: reserved but sweet and confident at the same time. She has a smile that reminds us of Julia Roberts' beginnings.

 

As a Particolare actress, how do you approach your characters ?

I guess I'm the kind of actress who can't create a character by just reading a movie script. I have to see myself, on set with in costume and with the fellow actors otherwise I can't figure out who I am and discover my character. I have to look in the mirror and my work is done on the spot. I choose different characters because I like to transform myself. In Italy it often happens that if you have a role, then they tend to offer you similar roles. We need to accept and prioritize different jobs in order not to be given a label. You need to be smart and choose different roles. This year I played a punk girl from Bologna, a Sofia Loren from 2000 and a woman in a Western movie. In my latest film Many Saints of Newark, my reference was Sofia Loren: what a Particular Woman!

 

It is impossible to forget the ‘60s-‘70s look of your character, Giuseppina, but how would you define your style in life?

When I meet someone, I like them to see my face first, and then how I'm dressed. Not the other way round. Accessories don't have to be more powerful than my face. Therefore the perfect look must be simple, but refined.

 

From Rome to New York, you are living the American Dream. How do you live this particular period of your life?

It is difficult. You live so much of what others project onto you. When such important things happen, the greatest anxiety is expectation. I am not afraid of judgment but of the expectation that others have about me. They project their dreams onto you. It was a great life lesson because I no longer project my dreams on the actors I love.

 

You act, but you are also a dancer, a complete artist, a real Woman Particolare. If Object Particolare were the scene of a movie where you dance, which actress and what kind of dance would you choose?

In my opinion, Object Particolare is Tilda Swinton dancing elegantly in a Berlin club.

 

In the movie named Roman Holidays, Audrey Hepburn goes around the city with a Vespa motorcycle, in those streets where you grew up. What are the places that you like most and that are dear to you in Rome ?

The best thing about Rome is the fact that you walk in the middle of history. Near the Marcello theater, if you take the road that runs alongside the theater, there is a point where there are 7 historical eras in 50 m². This is the power of Rome. My favourite place is the Pantheon, even if I pass there every day it is the most beautiful place in Rome. What I like most in the Pantheon is the opening through which you can see the sky because the Romans wanted to connect with the sky.

 

You chose the Piccola Brera Black. What do you like in this bag?

It is a simple, elegant but also a sporty bag. But it is also different, sophisticated, particular. Like me ! Look at me, I have a mole on my face, the beauty is in the details. If you look at it from a distance it looks like the others and when you get close you realize that it is special.