Caterina Murino - Astrid di Crollalanza photoshoot 2005

She was born in Cagliari, Sardinia, and initially wanted to be a doctor, but switched career paths to pageantry after twice failing the medical school entrance exams. She came fourth in the 1996 Miss Italy contest. Having moved to London she fell in love with theatre and acting, saving up weekly to watch something in the West End theatre.

Returning to Italy, she studied drama at the Scuola di Cinema e Teatro run by Francesca De Sapio, between 1999 and 2000. She then appeared in stage productions of Richard III and Italian language plays. She began her career in television in 2002, and then gained international fame after playing Solange Dimitrios in the 2006 adaptation of the James Bond novel Casino Royale.

Besides her native Sardinian language she speaks Italian, Spanish, English and French. Since 2004, she has lived in Paris; since 2008 in Montmartre with her boyfriend, French rugby union international star Pierre Rabadan. In early 2011, she co-starred with Rufus Sewell in the BBC One tv series Zen. Zen has since been cancelled, although it is airing in the US on Masterpiece Mystery Theater.