Sofia Lazzaro (as she was known then because it was said her beauty would awake Lazarus from the dead) entered the Miss Italia beauty pageant in 1950, where she captured the attention of Carlo Ponti, who was a judge at the pageant. He was 37 and she was 14. He was a film producer and cast her in various minor roles, one of which was Quo Vadis (1951), which launched her career. It was at this time that her name was changed and in her performance in La Favorita (1952), she went by the name of Sophia Loren.
