In 1957 she won a beauty contest and a trip to the Venice Film Festival. She later attended acting classes at the Centro Sperimentale film school in Rome and before long began playing secondary roles in pictures. Italy was then in dire need of a new international star to replace Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren, both of whom had been lost to Hollywood. Producer Franco Cristaldi chose Cardinale, took charge of her career, and later married her. A well-proportioned, husky-voiced dark beauty, she attained international stardom by the early 60s, but despite continuous employment in Italian, French, British, and American films has never reached the popularity of Lollobrigida or Loren. At Venice in 1984 she was named best actress in an Italian film for her role in Claretta.