Sabina Guzzanti (born 25 July 1963) is an Italian satirist, actress, writer and producer whose work is devoted to examining social and political life in Italy. Early life Born in Rome as the eldest daughter of celebrated Italian political commentator and journalist Paolo Guzzanti (former senator of Forza Italia, incumbent deputy and deputy secretary for Italian liberal party), she graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Arts of Rome. Her first appearances on stage were at the side of her brother Corrado, also a skilled satirical writer and actor. Since 1987, Sabina Guzzanti has practiced Nichiren Buddhism as a member of the global Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International. Career Guzzanti's career began when she took part in a series of successful television comedy formats such as Proffimamente... non-stop (directed by Enzo Trapani), L'araba fenice (directed by Antonio Ricci), La TV delle ragazze and Scusate l'interruzione; her imitations of the famous Italian porn star Moana Pozzi gave her popularity, and the Italian film director Giuseppe Bertolucci recruited her to star in his film The Camels (I Cammelli). Her career in this period was at its apex, as she starred in several films, toured Italian theatres with her own comedy shows (such as Con fervido zelo in 1991, and Non io: Sabina e le altre in 1994), and even held her one-woman show La posta del cuore. Her first attempt at directing is the 1998 short Donna selvaggia. In 2001, she participated to the alter-globalization demonstrations against the G8 in Genoa, while impersonating Oriana Fallaci, a prominent Italian journalist who was very critical of the movement. Since Fallaci was ill at the time, Guzzanti's impersonation was received with controversy. In November 2003 Sabina Guzzanti wrote, directed and was featured in the first and only installment of Raiot, a late-night TV political satire show broadcast on Rai Tre. After lampooning Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, she was sued by Berlusconi's Mediaset lawyers (notably Cesare Previti's law firm) for "lies and insinuation" and the show was pulled amid controversy; in the suing document Previti defined satire as "that thing which tends to minimize and to make a politician likeable, to diminish the social tensions" ("quella cosa che tende a sdrammatizzare e a rendere simpatico un politico, a diminuire le tensioni sociali") as the basis to accuse the show of not being satirical but a direct political attack. As a form of protest, the second instalment