Capotondi was born in
Rome to an Italian family of mixed
Italian Catholic and
Italian Jewish background (her maternal grandfather was Jewish). Growing up in Rome, she celebrated both Christian and Jewish holidays, such as
Yom Kippur and
Rosh Hashanah, and visited both church and synagogue. She graduated from the
Università La Sapienza in Rome with a degree in communication sciences. Capotondi debuted in cinema in 1995 with the comedy ''
Vacanze di Natale '95. Between 1993 and 2006 she worked mostly in television, starring in the series Orgoglio from 2004 to 2006. She gained additional exposure in the film Notte prima degli esami (2006), in which she starred as a main character alongside Nicolas Vaporidis. In 2009 Capotondi played Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the ZDF/Rai Uno/ORF co-production Sisi''. == Personal life ==