Acting Career
Attracted to the performing arts supported by the Italian émigré community in the Bay Area, Modotti experimented with acting. She appeared in several plays, operas, and silent movies in the late 1910s and early 1920s, and also worked as an artist's model.
In 1918, she entered into a relationship with Roubaix "Robo" de l'Abrie Richey. Originally a farm boy from Oregon named Ruby, the artist and poet assumed the more bohemian name Roubaix. Modotti moved with him to Los Angeles in order to pursue a career in the motion picture industry. Although the couple cohabitated and lived as a "married couple", they were not married. Often playing the femme fatale, Modotti's movie career culminated in the 1920 film The Tiger's Coat. She had minor parts in two other films.
The couple entered into a bohemian circle of friends. One of these fellow bohemians was Ricardo Gomez Robelo. Another was the photographer, Edward Weston.
Read more about this topic: Tina Modotti
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