Roxanna Bonilla-Giannini

 Born to an Italian mother and a French and Spanish father in Costa Rica then transplanted to the United States at an early age, Roxanna considers herself a citizen of the world.  Not content with speaking English, French, Spanish, Italian and German, Roxanna is busy studying Japanese and plans to expand her horizons further by learning Russian and Sign Language.  Her hobbies include oil painting, martial arts, yoga, classic automobiles, dancing and learning how to operate electrical gadgets.  Roxanna still finds time for gymnastics, horseback riding, and playing the piano.  She enjoys animals and nature, poetry, and architecture.  But most of all, meeting people from different cultures and all walks of life and learning from them.
 

Making people laugh and forget their troubles drove precocious little Roxanna to sing and perform impromptu while shopping with her mom in department stores and restaurants.  At only 9 years of age, she played the roles of Cleopatra and Queen Isabella of Spain in school plays.  Her vivid imagination, romantic nature and metaphoric writing style won her several prizes in school.

Roxanna's professional career in show business began at the age of 13 years when she landed, through her own efforts, the role of Snow White in the internationally acclaimed “Disney On Parade" which toured the United States and Mexico where she performed with 184 dancers at Arena Mexico and appeared on the television shows, Siempre En Domingo with Raul Velasco, 24 Horas, and Tio Gamboin.

Roxanna launched her film career in guest and co-starring roles with such stars as William Holden, Cornell Wilde, Carroll O'Connor, Valerie Harper and Elke Sommer.  She played the lead role in the film, "Raices de Sangre" for which she won the “Nosotros Golden Eagle Award" for her superb performance as a “Chicana” activist, and received critical acclaim from The Hollywood Reporter, The Daily Variety, and Charles Champlin of The Los Angeles Times She also had a co-starring role in the popular film, "9 to 5", starring Jane Fonda, Lilly Tomlin and Dolly Parton.  More recently, she wrote, produced and starred in the feature film, "La Negrita" - a film of love and faith shot in the rain forests of Costa Rica.

As a writer, she has written several film and television scripts, one which is being considered as a novel titled "The Bitter Earth", a saga spanning World War II to the late 1960's which unfolds in the Salinas Valley in Northern California, and a second script being considered as a film titled "Vatostein", an ensemble youth comedy which takes place in present day Los Angeles.

Roxanna returned from Miami where she produced her first CD "Consigueme", recorded in Spanish and French.. As a singer, her voice has been described as "angelic" (Pepe Barreto, KLVE ), "superb!" (Marcel Julian, Ecran Total, Paris), and "captivating"( la Voz Libre, Los Angeles), "gifted' (Daniel Jeanin, Director of The Olympia, Paris).

In Paris, she appeared live with Marc Bessou in Domicile 2 for Antenne Deux television and also did several radio shows, including Ecran Total with hosts Marcel Julian and Michele Valentine for France Inter, Les Annees Soixante with Jean Yves Dahyot and Daniel Jeanin, former artistic and musical director for the Olympia in Paris and Samedi L’apre Midi with Marie Jo for Radio France Berry Sud.  She also performed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Zagreb, Yugoslavia.

In 1997, Roxanna wrote, produced and directed, "Nostalgie - Growing Up with The Movies", a one-woman variety musical which opened to standing ovations and sold-out audiences at the famous Cinegrill, in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, and in Paris, France.  Spanning the 1930's to the 1990's, "Nostalgie' is an American and Continental evening of music and memories, laughter and nostalgia, for Roxanna as well as for lovers of the great American musicals and composers such as Arlen, Gershwin, Porter, Bernstein, Sondheim, Kander and Ebb,  Legrand, Lloyd Webber, Piaf, and Agustin Lara.

In 1998, Roxanna Bonilla-Giannini, has again conceived a new show for herself, which she has written, produced, and directed, "AN EVENING WITH MARILYN MONROE-1962", a one-woman musical cabaret.  Only a few days before her untimely death, Marilyn, will take us on a journey into her own life, from the time of her birth through her childhood, triumphs and tribulations and towards a promising and bright future.  The story unfolds through Marilyn’s own words, the presentation of rare photographs and 24 beautiful songs, many taken from her various movies by Gershwin, Styne, Arlen, Porter, and others, sang and danced in Marilyn's unique playful sweet, and sensuous style - an intimate portrait of the woman behind the image, behind the myth.

Roxanna performed in 1998/ 1999 as a solo vocalist at the prestigious Hotel de Paris, Place du Casino, in Monte Carlo, Monaco.  In Paris, as Marilyn Monroe, accompanied by Jean le Berger, 17 piece orchestra, and recently, at the renowned “Big Five” Country Club in Miami, Florida, as a guest artist of Dr. L. Conte Agüero and the Pan American Club.  On Sunday, June 17,2001, Roxanna performed again as a solo vocalist at the renowned Lincoln Theater in South Miami Beach, Florida.  While in Florida, Roxanna has kept busy as a singer in the concert circuit performing for Ari Kaduri, Don Casino, and Paul Levine, ending with a critically acclaimed performance on Apuil 24, 2004.

In television, in 2004 she also played “The Gypsy” in Telemundo’s Soap “Prisonera”, and “The Merry Widow” in Univision’s “Sabado Gigante”.  In 2003 her stage performance as an actor as well as her comedic talents in Ken Ludwig’s “Lend Me a Tenor” were received with great praise by audiences and critics alike.  She also sang live in 2 very popular TV Variety shows, “A Las 7 Menos Cinco con Rolando Barral” and in April 2004, “A Las Siete Con Fernando”.

At the Riviera Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, Roxanna headline at the Le Bistro Theater, "An Evening With Marilyn July 28th 1962"  from October 2004 through the end of January 2005.