Born in
Arcisate,
Province of Varese, Neri started her career appearing in the 1954
Garinei & Giovannini's musical comedy
Tobia la candina spia. She had her breakout with the
Marcello Marchesi's
RAI variety show
Invito al sorriso, and got a lot of press coverage because of her resemblance to
Marilyn Monroe, which led to her being labeled as the "Italian Marilyn Monroe" and nicknamed Marilina. During a trip in England to shoot a television commercial, Neri met the conductor
Jack Hylton, with whom she started a long romantic relationship and had a daughter, Angela. During her career she was mainly active on stage, where among others she worked with
Giorgio Strehler and
Umberto Simonetta. == Selected filmography ==