Claudia Ferri was born into a multicultural family in Montreal Her father of Italian Origins and her mothers ancestry is Irish Scottish French and Native American When all the members of her family got together for festivities Italian French English or Arab was spoken among cousins or aunts and uncles Its no surprise that she is multilingual English Italian French and Spanish on screen too The eastern coast of USA is a familiar scene to her as many of her childhood summers would see the family traveling down to New York State New Jersey Pennsylvania and Massachusetts where they would visit cousins and relatives Later her parents built a home and took up residence in Naples Florida Claudia was in fact visiting her parents in Naples when a phone call from her agent informed her that she was considered to play opposite Aidan Quinn Donald Sutherland in The assignment which proved to be her first big break in film