D'Urso was born in
Naples,
Campania. Her father was from
Laurenzana (died in 1996), and her mother, who died when Barbara was 11, was born in
Sant'Eufemia d'Aspromonte. She made her debut in 1977 in the programme
Goal, alongside
Diego Abatantuono,
Teo Teocoli and
Massimo Boldi. The following year she took part in the variety show
Stryx. In 1979 she presented the programme
Che combinazione broadcast on
Rai 2, and the year afterward, together with
Pippo Baudo, she appeared in
Domenica in on
Rai 1. That same year, 1980, she also made her debut as a singer, with the single
Dolceamaro, which was not very successful. In 1984 she appeared naked on the front cover of
Playboy and
Playmen magazines. After that, she started working for the television network of
Silvio Berlusconi: she participated in a television fiction, and in 1995 she also presented
Agenzia matrimoniale, but she returned to the
RAI with
In famiglia together with
Le ragazze di piazza di Spagna,
Donne di mafia and
Una donna scomoda. She received moderate notability as a result of her performance in
La dottoressa Giò (1997). Since then she has taken part in many
reality shows. For three years D'Urso presented three editions of
Grande Fratello, the
Italian version of the
Big Brother (one in 2003 and two editions in 2004). In 2005 she was the host of the Italian version of
The Farm. D'Urso maintained this role for two years. In 2006 she took part in
Reality Circus, which was unsuccessful, and in 2007 with
Uno due tre stalla. In January 2008 she presented
Mattino Cinque, with Claudio Brachino; this was followed in the spring of 2008 with
Lo show dei record, dedicated to the
Guinness World Records. In autumn 2008, she presented the prime time show
Fantasia, In the 2011 season she was replaced by
Federica Panicucci. In December 2010 she hosted the New Year
Canale 5's show
Capodanno cinque and, in January 2011, left
Domenica Cinque to host the primetime show
Stasera che sera!, which aired for only two episodes and was suspended because of extremely low ratings. In September 2011 she hosted the program
Baila!, which was also cancelled after 4 episodes due to a court sentence for plagiarism of the program
Dancing with the Stars. ==Discography==