Matilda De Angelis

De Angelis was born on 11 September 1995 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy and grew up in a creative family. Her father worked as a graphic designer and comic book artist, while her younger brother, Tobia De Angelis [it] is also an actor and an assistant director.^[3]

De Angelis attended the liceo scientifico "Enrico Fermi" in Bologna, graduating in 2014.^[4][5] From a young age she developed a strong interest in music. At the age of eleven, she began studying guitar and violin, and by thirteen she was writing her own songs.^[4] Her early experiences as a musician and performer laid the foundation for her later transition into acting.^[6]

In 2011, De Angelis began singing in the band Rumba de Bodas, with whom she toured across Europe.^[2][7][6] They released an album, Karnaval Fou, in 2014.^[8]

In 2015, director Matteo Rovere discovered De Angelis via Facebook and cast her as the lead in Italian Race (2016). Rovere specifically sought a non-professional actress capable of speaking the Emilia Romagna dialect. De Angelis secured the role after completing multiple script-based auditions.^[2][6]

For her debut role, De Angelis was nominated for the 2017 David di Donatello film award for Best Actress; she also wrote and sang the film's song "Seventeen", which received a nomination for Best Original Song at the same award ceremony.^[9] She was also awarded a Flaiano Prize and a Nastro d'argento for the Best Newcomer.^[10][11]

In 2017, she played the role of Brittia in the ensemble comedy film The Prize by Alessandro Gassmann.^[12][13] In 2018, she starred in the drama film Youtopia, where she played a teenage girl selling her virginity online in order to support her family.^[6][14][15]

In 2020, she was in the main cast of the HBO television miniseries The Undoing^[2] and starred in the Netflix original film Rose Island, directed by Sydney Sibilia.^[16] For her role in Rose Island she was awarded the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress.^[17]

De Angelis co-hosted the first date of the Sanremo Music Festival 2021 alongside Amadeus.^[18] The same year she acted in Italian films A Bookshop in Paris and Atlas, the latter for which she was awarded Best Actress at the Taormina Film Fest.^[19] In 2022 she acted in Robbing Mussolini and starred alongside Liev Schreiber in the film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel with the same name Across the River and into the Trees.^[20] The same year she collaborated on the third single "Litoranea" from Elisa's studio album Ritorno al futuro/Back to the Future, being De Angelis first certified song by FIMI.^[21]

In 2023 she played the lead role in the Italian miniseries The Law According to Lidia Poët, for which she received a Nastro d'argento award nomination for best actress, and which won the award for Best Crime Series.^[22][23] Between 2023 and 2024, she acted in the lead role of Amazon Prime Video television series Citadel: Diana.^[24]

In 2025, she played a vampire in Luc Besson's Dracula and played the leading role in Siblings (La vita da grandi), directed by Greta Scarano,^[25] and in Mario Martone's Fuori, which premiered at the 78th Cannes Film Festival.^[26] She participated in the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, held in Milan's San Siro stadium.^[27]

De Angelis was named after Natalie Portman’s character in Léon: The Professional.^[28]

Since 2022, De Angelis has been in a relationship with Alessandro De Santis, singer and frontman of musical duo Santi Francesi. They became engaged in 2024.^[29] She moved to Rome in 2014 and eventually to Milan to be with her partner.^[28]