Born in Modena, Italy, Elisa Leonelli graduated summa cum laude from the University of Bologna with a thesis about French novelist and filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet. She then worked as a photo-journalist on assignment for international and American publications, such as Time, Newsweek, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, Westways, Zoom, Panorama, Espresso, Grazia and Vogue; she also created a photo book about the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Leonelli served as film editor for Venice, the Los Angeles Arts and Entertainment magazine; earned a masters degree in critical studies from USC School of Cinematic Arts, and published the essay Robert Redford and the American West. Leonelli has interviewed movie stars, television actors and film directors as Los Angeles correspondent for Italian magazines: Europeo, Epoca, Marie Claire, Ciak, Donna Moderna, Gioia, Myself, Glamour, and the Spanish film monthly Cinemanía. Currently she is a regular contributor to Italian monthlies Best Movie and Voilà.  She covers the arts, movies, television and photography for the international online publication Cultural Daily. A Golden Globes voter since 1979, Leonelli has researched biographies, listed film releases, handled film festivals, conceived and executed a comprehensive plan to create digital archives of transcripts, membership directories, Golden Globe programs, Golden Globe photos, and press-conference headshots.  She has contributed articles to the Golden Globes website, such as profiles of legendary movie stars, history of the HFPA, capsules of foreign films, profiles of Golden Globe nominees, one-on-one interviews, and features about TV programs. She also has edited a weekly column of archival quotes by actors and directors about relevant contemporary themes.