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 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 1997 film Artemisia, directed by Agnès Merlet and starring Valentina Cervi. 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.