She was born in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. Initially wanting to be a doctor, she switched career paths to entering beauty pageants after failing twice the entrance exams to get into medical school. She reached fifth place in the 1996 Miss Italy contest. In 1999 and 2000, she studied drama at the Cinema of Theatre of Francesca de Sapio, and appeared in stage productions of Richard III and Italian language plays. She began her career in television in 2002. She gained international fame after playing Solange in the 2006 adaptation of the James Bond novel Casino Royale.

Besides her native Italian, she also speaks Spanish, English and French. She has been living in Paris since 2004. Her birth year is sometimes reported as 1974, though her official website gives the year as 1977.