Marcello Mastroianni uncredited extra in "Marionette" (1939) when he was fourteen, and made intermittent minor film appearances until landing his first big role in "Atto d'accusa" (1951). Within a decade he became a major international celebrity, starring in "Big Deal on Madonna Street" (1958); and in Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" opposite Anita Ekberg in 1960, where he played a disillusioned and self-loathing tabloid columnist who spends his days and nights exploring Rome's high society. Mastroianni followed "La Dolce Vita" with another signature role, that of a film director who, amidst self-doubt and troubled love affairs, finds himself in a creative block
La vita cos'è? night of the contest, following Germany's Stefan Raab with "Wadde hadde dudde da?" and preceding Croatia's Goran Karan with "Kad zaspu anđeli". The song received 14 points, placing 20th in a field of 24. The song was succeeded as Swiss representative at the 2002, after being relegated from the 2001 contest, by Francine Jordi with the song "Dans le jardin de mon âme". La vita cos'è? "La vita cos'è?" ("What is life?") was the Swiss entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in the year 2000. The ballad, which featured a climactic chorus, was performed by Jane Bogaert, who wore a