Jo Champa

Rosina Jo Champa (born January 23, 1968) is an actress, producer and model. Champa was born in 1968 in Long Branch, New Jersey, but grew up in Rome, Italy. She became a model there as a teenager. Before the age of 18, she was already one of Gianni Versace's favorite models. As such she turned to the Italian film industry in 1986, with various screen acting assignments, for directors including Claude d'Anna (Salome, 1986), Ettore Scola (The Family, 1987), Massimo Troisi (Le vie del Signore sono finite, 1987), and Damiano Damiani (Il Sole Buio, 1990). At the pinnacle of her career, Champa returned to the United States, starring in Steven Seagal's Out for Justice (1991), followed two years later by Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha (1993), and then Don Juan DeMarco (1994) by Jeremy Leven. In 1998, she married Joseph Farrell, a Hollywood producer and marketer and an influential member of the Academy. Later in the ‘90s, she mostly worked for television guest starring in TV series such as Walker, Texas Ranger, JAG, and CSI: Miami. Champa can also be found in Helmut Newton's book Sumo where he found her to be one of his favorite models. In 2004 after many in vitro cycles she and her husband had a son, Sean Farrell. Most recently, she was in Somewhere (2010), directed by Sofia Coppola. In Italy, she has hosted the very successful fashion TV show for RAI TV, Kermesse. Champa has also served as special contributing editor and columnist for the Italian edition of Vogue and L'Uomo Vogue. Italian Vogue has written that "She is an icon of Italian style. We love her because she is a refined and creative woman, a tireless supporter of Italian cinema and culture in the United States." She received the America Award of the Italy-USA...