She began acting in 2002, when film director Manuel Martin Cuenca chose her from 3000 girls to be the lead actress in his film "The Bolshevik's Weakness". One year later, Maria's work impressed both the audience and the Spanish Film Academy, who awarded her with the Goya for Best Newcomer. Since then she has been working in Spain, Italy, UK, US, Mexico, Venezuela...María Valverde Rodríguez (born 24 March 1987) is a Spanish actress. At age 16, Valverde had a major role in La Flaqueza del Bolchevique, for which she won Best New Actress at the 18th Goya Awards. Her other films include Melissa P., based on the book One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed by Melissa Panarello and Tres Metros Sobre el Cielo. Valverde's films in English include the 2009 independent British drama film Cracks, produced by Ridley Scott and directed by his daughter, Jordan Scott, and the 2014 film Exodus: Gods and Kings playing Zipporah, directed by Ridley Scott, alongside Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, and Ben Kingsley. In 2015, she played the lead in the drama Broken Horses, co-starring with Anton Yelchin. From 2010 to 2014 Valverde was in a relationship with the Spanish actor Mario Casas with whom she starred in three movies. In March 2017, Valverde married Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel.