Selen (actress)

Caponegro's father was an Italian industrialist active in the petroleum industry. She attended courses in singing, classical dance, and horse-riding as a child. After leaving home and marrying at the age of 18, she lived in a commune without running water or heating until the age of 20. In addition to Italian, she also speaks French and English.

At 20 she first ventured into the adult industry, appearing in establishments for adults and moving on to her first amateur hardcore video "Orgia di compleanno" directed by Cesare Geromini.[1] Her decision to pursue a career in porn was driven by exhibitionism and, in her words, her passion for sex and the need to rebel against society. Her parents disapproved of her career, which was out of embarrassment at their daughter's career choice.[2] Her breakthrough came in 1993 at the age of 27 when the director Alex Perry offered her a role in the film Signore scandalose di provincia, a film with a high budget and international cast. From that moment her popularity grew rapidly and she adopted the stage name Selen. She has been called Italy's favourite porn star.[3] She made appearances at the Hot D'Or pornographic festival in Cannes[4] and Erotica in Turin and won 17 prizes during her career as a famous pornographic actress from 1993 to 1999.[5]

Her last hardcore scenes were released in 2000 with the film Millennium. Although her last sex scene was filmed in 1999, she continued to appear afterwards in films as clips were used in later hardcore films. She has stated that she would not return to porn in the future – in her words, she was not enjoying the profession enough to continue.[6]

She has given no international interviews. She describes herself as intelligent, shy, pleasant, good-humoured and charming in addition to being beautiful. She has had a number of small roles in films and mainstream television. She has presented the music programme "Hot"[7][8] She has made appearances in radio (hosting the show "Lezioni di sesso" (Sex Lessons), theatre and advertisements and in 2004, she starred in the reality show La Fattoria. She has also appeared in Maurizio Costanzo Show, Uno Mattina, Domenica In, I Fatti Vostri and Omnibus.

She has attended the Palme D'Or film festival in Cannes as a mainstream actress; some of her films have been shown at the festival.

She had a small part in Asia Argento's film Scarlet Diva, which won a Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival Award for Best New Director.

Caponegro is a well-known animal lover, and has always lived in coastal Romagna. She has two sons, the first of whom (Kangi) was born in 1988 during her marriage with Fabio Albonetti (which has since ended in divorce). The second (Gabriele) with Nicola Zanone was born in 2006.[9] In 2006 she passed her school leaving exams and expressed a desire to enrol at a university.

• Selen at IMDb
• Selen at the Internet Adult Film Database
• Selen at the Adult Film Database
• Selen at the European Girls Adult Film Database