Silvia Colloca
Quick Facts
LeoBiography
Silvia Colloca (born 23 July 1977) is an Italian-Australian actress, Opera singer, cookbook author, and TV cookery show personality. She has published four cookbooks.
Life and career
Colloca was born in Milan to Loredana and Mario Colloca. Her first major film role was in Van Helsing, in which she played Verona, one of Dracula's brides. On 25 September 2004, at the medieval castle Castello di Montalto in Tuscany, Italy she married the Australian actor Richard Roxburgh who played Dracula in that film. They have two sons, Raphael Jack Domenico Roxburgh born in 2007 and Miro Gianni David Roxburgh born in 2010, and a daughter, Luna Roxburgh born in 2017. The family currently reside in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Colloca is an opera-trained mezzo-soprano and worked as a musical theatre performer in Italy before becoming a film actress.
Silvia Colloca has won rave reviews by Australian press for her turn as Orfeo in Spectrum Now 2015 production of Gluck's Orfeo Ed Euridice, directed by Shannon Murphy. Diana Simmonds praised Colloca's performance in Stage Noise: "Orfeo's despair is gloriously realised by Colloca whose rich yet pure and powerful mezzo soprano and dramatic acting range are ideally suited to the decision to make Orfeo an ambiguous and androgynous figure. She projects all the strengths of masculine and feminine and unabashed emotion in the early scenes making the tragedy quickly tangible".
In 2016 Colloca premiered the role of The Queen in Opera Queensland's newly commissioned Opera "Snow White", performed during the Brisbane festival. Once more, Silvia Colloca's performance won the hearts of theatre goers and critics. The Sydney Morning Herald described Colloca's work as "Silvia Colloca is extraordinary as the mother – her sexiness and vulnerability wrap around each other beautifully through the piece and she easily navigates the highs and lows her character is gifted. Her eventual breakdown is a joy to watch".
ArtsHub raved about Silvia Colloca's voice "Mezzo-soprano Colloca is brilliant as the conflicted, narcissistic Queen and steals the show. As singer and actor she mesmerises and with her rich, versatile voice of a huge range and capacity to belt she does Zulya Kamalova's eclectic, changeable score proud. One of the most stunning moments is Colloca's wailing, wordless, keening singing as she grieves for her daughter."
As a TV host, Silvia has been praised for her warm and friendly approach, for her use of the English language to describe food and traditions, and for her easy-to-follow home style recipes that feature Italian cuisine.
Silvia is also credited as a producer, creator and writer of her shows.
In 2017 she started her own YouTube channel and a collaboration with Marion Grasby. Together they have created the highly successful show "Wok X Pot", which premiered in late 2018.
Television
Cook Like an Italian
Made in Italy with Silvia Colloca
"Made in Italy with Silvia Colloca", an Australian 10-part TV series, premiered on SBS TV in November 2014, coinciding with the publication of the book of the same name. Colloca took a film crew home to meet her Italian family, showcasing three picturesque regions of Italy, Abruzzo where her family is from, Marche, and Molise, using her mother's kitchen to present cucina povera (peasant cuisine).
Silvia's Italian Table
"Silvia's Italian Table", an eight part reality and cooking series debuted on ABC on 6 October 2016. In each episode, Colloca invites a group of celebrities to cook and eat with her and engage in entertaining and intelligent conversation. Guests featured are Kathy Lette, Lisa McCune, Tom Gleeson, Magda Szubanski, Matt Moran, Ken Done, Sarah Ferguson, Merrick Watts, Claire Hooper, Amanda Vanstone, Pia Miranda and Ian Thorpe.
Published Works
- Silvia's Cucina, Penguin 2013.
- Made in Italy, Penguin 2014.
- La Dolce Vita, Penguin 2016.
- Love Laugh Bake, Pan Macmillan 2018.
