 |
|
 |
Gabriella burst onto the screen with her melt-in-your
mouth performance in the film Centerfold.
Is it merely coincidence that Centerfold was
also known as Naked Ambition, in later
distribution, as Gabriella went on to star
in 18 features over the next two years. Isn't
that some kind of record? Naked or otherwise,
one would have to stand back and call that
ambition. But it was Gabriella's role in the
Nicolas Roeg drama, Full Body Massage,
that minted her appeal. She doubled the sizzle
as the younger flashback of Mimi Roger's character,
Nina. Overnight she became the actress that
every straight-to-cable, erotic suspense producer
couldn't wait to cast. Producers latched onto
her star quality, acting panache and a transcendent
appeal that would lend class and credence
to their films. Not too shabby for a shy California
girl with her head in the clouds, building
castles in the sand.
Gabriella first caught the camera eye when
she auditioned for fashion print work on a
lark, thinking that was as good a way as any
to pay for veterinarian school. Oh, and she
loves her dogs; would you believe she sometimes
orders pizza delivery...just for her dogs!
(Maybe that's why she bit off such a hot cameo
in the Janeane Garofalo and Uma Thurman comedy,
The Truth About Cats and Dogs?) Her
fashion print work led to runway modeling
in Europe before she returned to California,
a little more worldly. Back on the sunny beaches
where she grew up, her castles-in-the-sand
cajoled: Why not try acting; you know how
much you love to dress up and play make believe.
Forty Features and myriad TV guest
spots later, Gabriella has garnered a world-wide
fan base.
She's on the A-list of producers Alain Siritzky,
Marc Greenberg and Peter Diamond. And why
not. Gabriella is innocence, fun, silly, sultry,
siren and the surest way to make the thermometer
rise on any film. Gabriella's appeal is her
lighter-than-air innocence fused with an International
sex appeal (she's half Italian, half Hispanic
and all woman). To know her is to be laughing
out loud at her irresistible, and sometimes
unintentional humor. But then a half second
later, you're disarmed by her primal sensuality.
Gabriella recalls a shoot where the camera
was tracking her through the cabin of a van,
from the driver side through the passenger
window, as she walked down two stairs to the
van. Whoops; she slipped, and fell...completely
out of the shot. Her head bobbed back up into
the camera frame, and the director literally
fell out of his chair laughing. Devil or Angel
comes to mind. What are you supposed to do?
Give Gabriella the call and watch her shine.
As she steps lightly into producing, just
for the challenge, you have to wonder: If
she had only become a vet', she might have
discovered the cure for barking. Oh, that's
right. She already did that; it's called pizza.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
