Watch Gia Scala Videos

Gia Scala (3 March 1934 – 30 April 1972) was an English-born actress and model of Italian and Irish descent. She was born Giovanna Scoglio in Liverpool, England, to a Sicilian father, Pietro Scoglio, and an Irish mother, Eileen Sullivan. She had one sister, Tina Scala, also an actress. Scala lived in Rome, and moved to the United States at age fourteen where she studied and worked in New York City. She graduated from Bayside High School in Queens, New York. For a time she was undecided on what to do next. She worked in New York as a filing clerk for an insurance company and as a... MORE

Gia Scala (3 March 1934 – 30 April 1972) was an English-born actress and model of Italian and Irish descent. She was born Giovanna Scoglio in Liverpool, England, to a Sicilian father, Pietro Scoglio, and an Irish mother, Eileen Sullivan. She had one sister, Tina Scala, also an actress. Scala lived in Rome, and moved to the United States at age fourteen where she studied and worked in New York City. She graduated from Bayside High School in Queens, New York. For a time she was undecided on what to do next. She worked in New York as a filing clerk for an insurance company and as a reservation clerk for Scandinavian Airlines. Scala studied acting at night and made appearances on some radio shows and television quiz shows. At the end of 1954 an agent had her tested for the role of Mary Magdalene in a movie which was to be made called The Gallileans. She did not get the part but was signed to contracts by both Universal Studios and Columbia Pictures in Hollywood. Using the stage name "Gia Scala", she made her motion picture debut in 1955. This came in All That Heaven Allows with Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. However, personal problems plagued her. In 1958 she attempted suicide. Later that LESS