Quick Facts
AriesBiography
Valentina Cervi (born 13 April 1976) is an Italian film and television actress.
Cervi was born in Rome, Italy. She is the daughter of director Tonino Cervi and granddaughter of the famous Italian actor Gino Cervi. Cervi started her acting career at age ten in Carlo Cotti's 1986 film Portami la luna. She also played an English-language role in Jane Campion's 1996 The Portrait of a Lady.
One of her most acclaimed roles was the lead in the 1997 film Artemisia, directed by Agnès Merlet. It was loosely based on the painter Artemisia Gentileschi's life, but controversially portrayed the relationship between Agostino Tassi (played by Miki Manojlović) and Artemisia as a passionate affair rather than as rape.
In 2011, she appeared as Arianna in BBC TV's Italian detective mini-series Zen. The Times said: "Zen (Rufus Sewell) need only walk into a Lavazzatore for [a] B-movie-rank Gina Lollo to press her amples into his chest. An interview with one courtesan [Cervi] was conducted ... with her in bra and fishnets, the interrogation interrupted by the command 'zip' as he dressed and undressed her". She also appeared as "Valentina" in Canale 5's series Distretto di Polizia in 2011.
Cervi appeared as Bertha Mason in Cary Fukunaga's 2011 film adaptation of Jane Eyre. She was cast as the ancient vampire Salome in the HBO television drama True Blood.
She is married to director Stefano Mordini and has two children, Margherita (b. 2013) and a son (b. 2016).
She received the America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2018.
Selected filmography
| Film | Role |
|---|---|
| Portami la luna (1986) | |
| Mignon Has Come to Stay (1998) | |
| Oasi (1994) | Claudia |
| Escoriandoli (1996) | Sabrina |
| The Portrait of a Lady (1996) | Pansy Osmond |
| Artemisia (1997) | Artemisia Gentileschi |
| Children of Hannibal (1998) | Rita |
| La Via Degli Angeli (1999) | Ines |
| Five Seconds to Spare (1999) | Madeline |
| Rien sur Robert (1999) | Aurélie |
| Branchie (1999) | Livia |
| Quando si chiudono gli occhi (2000) | Lisa |
| James Dean (2001) | Pier Angeli |
| Hotel (2001) | Hotel Maid |
| L'Anima gemella (aka Soul Mate) (2002) | Teresa |
| Lena: The Bride of Ice (2003) | Lena |
| Passato prossimo (aka Past Perfect) (2003) | Carola |
| Sansa (2003) | Valentina |
| The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story (2003) | Cissie Colpitts |
| The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 3: From Sark to the Finish (2003) | Cissie Colpitts |
| The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 2: Vaux to the Sea (2004) | Cissie Colpitts |
| Tempesta (2004) | Dina Gusmano |
| Provincia meccanica (2005) | Silvia |
| War and Peace – TV mini-series (2007) | Marja Bolkonsky |
| Il Vizio dell'amore – TV series (2008) | |
| Miracle at St. Anna (2008) | Renata |
| Zen – TV mini-series (2011) | Arianna |
| Jane Eyre (2011) | Bertha Antoinetta Mason |
| True Blood – TV series (2012) | Salome Agrippa |
| Au galop (2012) | Ada |
| Medici: Masters of Florence (2016) | Alessandra Albizzi |
