Valentina is a German actress born in 1968 in Bucharest, Rumania. At the age of nine, she moved to Frankfurt / Main in Germany with her family, being one of the lucky ones to escape Ceausescu's regime thanks to her mother's German heritage.Growing up in a communist country, most youngsters had to take up a sport or art in order to escape bleak future and Valentina was not an exception. She became a competitive swimmer, an activity she continued to pursue in Germany with the same zest and determination, eventually leading her to the German championships.After five years of success and being spotted by the DSV (German swimming federation) who wanted her to quit her club (the SG Frankfurt) and move to Bonn to train with the best in the country, the pressure became to high on the then 14 year-old. 4 hours of daily training and competitions every weekend were too much - Valentina's mother decided to stop the young girl's career.This was probably the first time Valentina regained her freedom to fullfil her dreams. She started exploring what her future would hold by becoming a model in order to make the money to enter the prestigious R.A.D.A (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) in London. Being an actress was a dream since, aged 7, she saw Alain Delon on the big screen in a Bucharest cinema. At the age of 18, she moved to London and was snapped up by world leading agency, Select. Very quickly she rose to the top of modelling and for the next 4 years she was busy jetting between London, Paris, Milan and other fashion capitals. Acting had to wait.Although Valentina was a natural in front of the camera, she quickly became bored with the industry and moved to Los Angeles. Whilst there she was still working as a model for the prestigious agency L.A. Models, but in the meantime completed a one-year course in interior design at the Santa Monica College. However, she longed to return to Europe and decided to move to Paris in 1993. At first she was back in the modelling business, which led to the encounter with photographer Corinne Korda - a friend and "lens-witness" of her evolution ever since. The latter pointed out to Valentina that she was a natural performer and she finally admitted that acting was what she had always wanted to do.Thus encouraged, she entered an audition for the much coveted scholarship to the prestigious acting school Cours Florent and won. She had to read the plays for the competition in English or German and working them phonetically in French - a language she by then couldn't speak yet. Thanks to her obvious talent, she was admitted immediately into the 2nd year of studies. This had happened only to one actress before her: Anne Brochet (of Cyrano de Bergerac fame). However, after this initial short cut, the usual struggle any actor experiences started. Step by step, she worked her way up in theatre, TV and movies.Her first big break came when Jean Jacques Beineix, the famous director of Diva and Betty Blue, recognized her talent and gave the unknown young actress one of the leading female parts in the psychological comedy, Mortal Transfer. Soon after they fell in love and their daughter was born in 2001.Valentina continued working, but by now most of her time and energy went into family life.In 2005 she was casted to present the life style magazine " CHIC" for the French/German TV channel ARTE. She presented it in both German and French. For this performance (a total of 200 shows in two languages in one year), she was nominated in 2006 as best presenter for the price of the city of St. Maur.By then separated from the father of her daughter, she fell in love with the documentary director Christophe Maillet; the new couple's son was born in 2008.One year later, she started working again for German and French TV productions and made a remarkable cameo appearance in German director Leander Haussman's movie Dinosaurier. In 2010, she went back on stage in Paris in Sacha Guitry's play "Je t'aime". Valentina has been working for French and German TV ever since.In 2012 Valentina will appear as the leading female part in German director Nicolai Muellerschoen's new movie "Gier" alongside Heiner Lauterbach, one of Germany's biggest stars.Valentina considers herself a German actress, but also a genuinely European one. She is fluent in several languages and has lived in different countries. Show less «