Aylin Prandi

Following in the footsteps of Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sandrine Kiberlain, and Mélanie Laurent, Aylin Prandi became yet another contemporary French actress to embark on a pop career, albeit one owing more to her Italian background than her Paris hometown. Born in the French capital in 1983 to an Italian father and Argentine mother, Prandi spent her slightly nomadic childhood constantly traveling between her family's three homelands. Pursuing her ambitions to be an actress, she studied at the Theatre National de Chaillot, the Franco American School, and the Conservatoire de Paris before landing a lead role in the TF1 crime drama Femmes de Loi. After voicing the character of Natty the giraffe in La Balade des Elephants and appearing in big-screen ventures Delice Paloma, No Problem, and Amaro Amore, she switched her attention back to the musical skills she developed while playing the guitar and piano in her teens. Having signed a deal with Remark Records, she recorded her debut album, 24000 Baci, a collection of Italian-language cover versions of tracks by the likes of Adriano Celentano ("Il Ragazzo Della Via Gluck"), Eros Ramazzotti ("Una Storia Importante"), and Les Chats Sauvages ("Twist a Saint-Tropez"), which received critical acclaim upon its release in 2011. ~ Jon O'Brien, Rovi