Raoul Bova was born on August 14, 1971 in Rome, Italy. Bova's passion in his youth was swimming and he became a champion at 16. He performed his military duty in the "Bersaglieri" and he studied at the ISEF but soon ventured into a career in acting. His first role was in "Una storia italiana", a TV movie, and his debut in cinema was in "Piccolo grande amore" by Carlo Vanzina. He quickly became a star in Italy, and went on to appear in numerous other films including "Rewind", "I cavalieri che fecero l'impresa", "La frontiera", "Francesco", and "Facing Windows".