Silvia Colloca (born 23 July 1977) is an Italian-Australian actress, opera singer, cookbook author, and television series presenter. She played Verona in the action horror film Van Helsing (2004), where she met her husband, Australian actor Richard Roxburgh. She is known in Australia for hosting the cookery show Silvia's Italian Table.
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Early life and education
Silvia Colloca was born on 23 July 1977 in Milan, Italy, to Loredana and Mario Colloca. Her first job was at a bar in Milan, making cocktails and panini.
From 1997 to 2000, Colloca studied acting at Centro Teatro Attivo in Milan. From 1999 to 2001 she studied dance at Étoile Ballet Theatre. She then trained as an actress and opera singer at Scuola Musicale in Milan for four years, from 2000 to 2004. She has also studied a Science of Education degree.
Career
A mezzo-soprano singer, Colloca began her stage and musical theatre career in Milan, also performing at London Palladium, Berlin’s Tempodrom and Milan’s Teatro Nazionale. She later moved into English language films. Her first major film role was in 2004 American vampire film Van Helsing, alongside Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale and Richard Roxburgh, in which she played Verona, one of Dracula's brides.
In 2006, Colloca starred opposite Wesley Snipes in action film The Detonator and the following year she appeared with Hayden Christensen, Tim Roth and Mischa Barton in romantic comedy Virgin Territory. She then appeared in 2009 British horror-comedy Lesbian Vampire Killers opposite James Corden. From 2009 to 2010, she had guest roles in Australian television series including Packed to the Rafters, Cops L.A.C. and Rake, the latter starring Roxburgh. Then in 2013 she had a role in Australian psychological thriller feature Nerve.
After Colloca's creative projects dried up, she began writing a family recipe blog. The blog, 'Silvia’s Cucina' gained a loyal following, which led to her cookbook Silvia’s Cucina being published in 2013. The following year, her second book Made in Italy was released, closely followed by the 10-part SBS TV series Made in Italy with Silvia Colloca, which saw Colloca take a film crew home to meet her Italian family, showcasing Abruzzo (where her family is from), Marche, and Molise and using her mother's kitchen to present cucina povera (Italian for 'cuisine of the poor'). The series earned her a Logie Award nomination for Most Outstanding Newcomer in 2015.
In 2015, Colloca appeared as Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in Sydney, and the following year, she played The Queen in Lindy Hume's production of Snow White for Opera Queensland and La Boite.
Colloca then co-wrote, co-produced, and hosted Silvia's Italian Table, an eight-part reality and cooking series, which debuted on ABC in October 2016. Each episode involved her inviting a group of celebrities to cook and eat with her and engage in entertaining and intelligent conversation. Guests featured were Kathy Lette, Lisa McCune, Tom Gleeson, Magda Szubanski, Matt Moran, Ken Done, Sarah Ferguson, Merrick Watts, Claire Hooper, Amanda Vanstone, Pia Miranda, and Ian Thorpe.
In 2017, Colloca played the recurring role of Lucy Berger in ABC medical drama series Pulse.
In November 2020, Colloca began presenting another 10-part TV series, Cook Like an Italian, which premiered on SBS Food. A second season went to air in April 2021 and then a third in May 2022. During this time, Colloca also co-starred with Mark Leonard Winter in 2021 period drama film Little Tornadoes.
Colloca's debut album Sing Like an Italian, was released by Decca Records in October 2022. She performs four numbers alongside arias and art songs by international singers. The album made its debut at number one on the ARIA Core Classical and Classical/Crossover charts. and was the second biggest album in that genre in Australia in 2022, topping the Classical Charts for over 20 weeks. That same year, she was invited to perform with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli at his Sydney concert, and her cookbook, The Italian Home Cook, was published.
That same year, Colloca was also cast in the first season of drama series The Twelve, playing Sonia Spears, alongside Sam Neill, Marta Dusseldorp, and Brendan Cowell. This was followed in 2023, by guest roles in two comedy series – Wellmania opposite Celeste Barber and C*A*U*G*H*T with Matthew Fox and Kick Gurry. She then appeared in 2024 sci-fi supernatural horror film, Sting which featured Ryan Corr, Robyn Nevin and Noni Hazelhurst.
In 2024, Colloca's series Silvia's Italian Masterclass, premiered on Network 10. A third season began airing in October 2025.
Colloca launched her own cookware line Per Silvia, in collaboration with Essteele Cookware. She has also been an Ambassador for the Italian Film Festival for several years.
Personal life
Colloca met husband, actor Richard Roxburgh in 2003, at the first script reading for 2004 feature film Van Helsing, in which he played Dracula and she played one of his wives. Colloca recalls: "I was totally enamoured the second I saw him." On 25 September 2004, they were married at the medieval castle of Montalto in Tuscany, Italy.
The couple have two sons and a daughter, the latter of whom was born in 2017. Their boys attended school in Italy for a few months in 2017 and are bilingual.
Colloca became an Australian citizen in July 2013.