After completing her undergraduate studies in 1965, she left her native Rome, Italy for the United States. Her first American experiences were at the Dallas Theater Center where she perfected her English and began her drama training.

After two years she moved to New York City to continue her theater studies at "Piscator's" Dramatic Workshop at Carnegie Hall. There she had her first contact with New York audiences while performing in various classics including ones by Ionesco, Kafka, Tennessee Williams. She continued her studies at The "Circle in the Square". Nikos Psacharopoulos invited her to become a member of the junior company in Williamstown, Massachusetts. She auditioned for the Actors Studio and became a member in 1969. She portrayed Lady Anne in Al Pacino's first production of "Richard the Third". She played Nora in "I met a Man" with Sam Shacht and Sam Waterson.

She contemporaneously began her film career in "Portnoy's Complaint" directed by Ernest Lehman. She continued her work in the theater in Arthur Penn's "The Cherry Orchard" in the role of Anya and as Annabella in John Ford's "'Tis Pity She's a Whore".

In Films she played Carmela Corleone, Robert De Niro's wife, in "Godfather II" and Amanda, Harvey Keitel's girlfriend, in "That's The way of The World". She also performed as Nina in "The Seagull" and Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet".

She then accompanied Shelley Winters to Italy to shoot "Il Gran Bollito" by Bolognini and was introduced to Italian films. Three months later she acted in Marco Ferreri's "Ciao Maschio" with Marcello Mastroianni and Gerard Depardieu. She began to travel frequently between the United States and Italy working both in Italian and American television. She acted in "The Sophia Loren Story" and "The Word" with Jim Jansen.

In 1980 she played the lead in two films that participated in the Venice Film Festival: "Masoch" by Franco Brogi Taviani and "L'Altra Donna" by Peter del Monte. She was widely acclaimed as Best Actress of the Year. Periodically she returned to New York to continue her studies with Lee Strasberg.

From 1981 to 1983 she worked for Italian television (RAI) starring with Enrico Maria Salerno and Irene Papas in "All' Ombra della Grande Quercia" and with Vittorio Mezzogiorno in "Il Giorno dei Cristalli" directed by Giacomo Battiato and with Daniel Gelin in "Operazione Atlantide" directed by Gianni Serra. In 1983 she appeared in "Desiderio" with Fanny Ardant directed by Anna Maria Tato.

In 1985 she founded the Duse Studio with Giuseppe Perruccio under the patronage of Anne Bancroft, Harvey Keitel, Sidney Pollock and Eli Wallach among many others. The Duse International workshop, which resides in Rome, is dedicated to the development of plays and a group of selected actors through the merging of the Lee Strasberg and Sandy Misner Techniques.

The results were explosive. Since 1987 a number of plays have been produced in the Duse Summer Theater in Umbria and in Rome. She wrote and performed in "The Voice" directed by Giuseppe Perrucio and, constantly travelling between New York and Rome, she performed in Norman Mailer's "Straw Head". Also in 1987 she acted in "Blood Red" with Giancarlo Giannini and Dennis Hopper, directed by Pete Masterson.

In 1989 she acted in "Torrents of Spring" directed by Jerzy Skolimowski and directed her original play "Water Colors" in Acquasparta, Umbria. In 1990 she played the role of Violetta in Giuseppe Perruccio's "L'Anima in Gabbia". In 1991 she wrote "Ladra di Voci" and in 1992 she wrote and directed "Legittima Difesa" both of which were produced at the Duse Studio.

In 1992 and 1993 she performed in the films "Jona che visse nella Balena" directed by Roberto Faenza and "Il Caso Dozier" by Carlo Lizzani. In 1995 she wrote, directed and performed in "Sex Symbol" at the La Comunità Theater in Rome.

In 1996 she acted in "The 18th Angel" by Bill Bindley and "Pronto" by Jim McBride with Sergio Castellitto and Peter Falck. She was also invited to supervise and teach in the acting department of the National School of Cinematography (Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia) in Rome.

In 1997 she wrote, with Vito Vinci, produced and acted in the film "Bambina in Metro B", directed by Vito Vinci. In 1998 she directed the play "Hurlyburly" by David Rabe.

During 1999-2000 she wrote "Angeli Metropolitani", a television series in eight episodes, for producer Giovanni Di Clemente. In 2001 she performed in "Ultimo Stadio" by Ivano de Matteo and "Ferrari" by Carlo Carlei; in 2002 "Il Fuggiasco" by Andrea Manni; in 2003 "Sandra Kristoff" by Vito Vinci; in 2005 "L'Inchiesta" by Giulio Base with Max von Sydow and F. Murray Abraham; in 2007 "Le cose in te nascoste" by Vito Vinci; in 2008 "Tetro" by Francis Ford Coppola and in 2011 she collaborates in "Wilde Salomè" by Al Pacino. In 2011/13 she was Euriclea in the tragedy "Penelope in Groznyj" by Marco Calvani.

In 2013 she acted in "Things of this World" by Marco Calvani directed by Neil LaBute at the Teatro Metastasio Stabile of Tuscany.

In 2014 she participates with Bernardo Bertolucci, Marco Bellocchio, Nanni Moretti and many other personalities of Italian cinema in the documentary "Scandalo in Sala" by Serafino Murri and Alexandra Rosati.

In 2015/17 she wrote for the screen "The Perfect one" and "La Vida Loca", and a two act play "The Kingdom".

In 2018 her book "For every Person met" was published by D’Oro Collection.

In 2019 she acted with Alba Rohrwacher and Luigi Lo Cascio in "Lacci" by Daniele Luchetti, opening film of the 77th Venice Film Festival 2020.

In the summer 2022 she acted for Rai Cinema and Vivo Film “Superluna” by Federico Bondi.