Rome: Italian actor Giuseppe Schisano says he will soon change his sex and be called "Vittoria".

"My soul is one of a woman. I feel more normal," the 30-year-old actor said.

"I couldn`t eat or sleep. Just looking at myself in the mirror bothered me. Slowly I came out to my friends," he said.

A native of Naples, the actor is taking hormones and must undergo psychological therapy before his sex-change operation.

He says he is literally a woman trapped inside a man`s body.

"When I went to the doctor to start the hormone therapy that precedes the operation, the doctor was surprised that I wasn`t already taking the hormones. My levels showed that my female hormones were higher than my male ones," he said.

"In reality I always felt a strong feminine side that I hid for years."

In his latest film "Cane Pazzo" (or "Crazy Dog"), Schisano plays the role of a macho journalist obsessed by his research into a serial killer.

IANS