Sophia Loren is an incomparable icon. She timelessly exudes glamour and class like none other.  This weekend is the breathtaking legend’s 80th birthday, marking 63 years since her first film role.

At age 14 Loren was selected as a finalist in Miss Italia 1950, within the next year she had enrolled in acting classes and landed her first role as an extra. Her first starring role, which received critical acclaim, was in 1953, Aida.  Over the next five years she rose in popularity and recognition in the Italian film community and began her successful relationship with Hollywood.

She was starring in films with Hollywood’s leading men, Legend of the Lost with John Wayne, and The Pride and the Passion with Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra.

In 1957 she signed her five-film contract with Paramount and began taking roles that would launch her into international stardom. It was Vittorio De Sica's Two Women that proved her staying power. Loren's performance earned her many awards, including the Cannes Film Festival's best performance prize, and an Academy Award for Best Actress, the first major Academy Award for a non-English-language performance and to an Italian actress.

She was the leading lady of the 1960’s, starring in 20 films in one decade and collecting leading-men co-stars. Her most notable performances are El Cid with Charlton Heston, The Millionairess with Peter Sellers, It Started in Naples with Clark Gable, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow with Marcello Mastroianni, Lady L with Paul Newman, Arabesque with Gregory Peck, and Charlie Chaplin's final film, A Countess from Hong Kong with Marlon Brando.

Loren was a pivotal player in the Golden Age of Hollywood and continues to shine. She has a sharp wit, a commanding allure and a stunning personal style. To top it off, she has a great sense of humor and self-confidence. She famously put it, “Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti”.

To give the world a glimpse of what it is like to be Italy’s national icon and an international darling, Loren is releasing a book of memoirs, tracking through her rise to fame. "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - My Life,” is filled with old pictures, letters and notes, and guest appearances from the cast of her life of stardom. It is due to be published in English this December by Atria Books.