Sophia Loren was among the most successful international stars of the postwar era not only did she rise to fame as a sex symbol, but she also won a measure of critical acclaim rarely afforded most of her foreign-born contemporaries. Born Sofia Scicolone in Rome on September 20, 1934, she and her single mother lived in abject poverty in the war-torn slums of Naples; at the age of 14, she began entering area beauty contests, later becoming a model and appearing in a number of uncredited bit parts in films.