Born to an English mother and Italian father, Bruni was raised in the UK but spent part of her childhood living in Italy. She is bilingual. She lives in London and is married to British playwright and director Matt Wilkinson. They have one son. Bruni is a long-term meditator and yoga practitioner and has taught both practices under the moniker Emily Valente.[citation needed]
Education
Bruni attended St Peter's High School, Exeter, Exeter Sixth Form College, National Youth Theatre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
In 2015, Bruni appeared in Donkey Heart and the one-woman play Before You Were Born, both by Moses Raine and both directed by Nina Raine at the Trafalgar Studios. In 2016, she starred in the Steven Berkoff double bill Lunch and The Bow of Ulysses (Trafalgar Studios), directed by Nigel Harman.[7] in 2016 Bruni played Goneril in King Lear (Globe) directed by Nancy Meckler.
Bruni played Debbie in Laurence Boswell's production of the Donald Margulies play The Model Apartment at the Bath Ustinov theatre.[8] In 2021, she played Actress in Psychodrama,[9] a one-woman play about an actress under investigation for the murder of an auteur theatre director, while rehearsing a production of Hitchcock's Psycho. Staged in a found space in London, it transferred in 2022 to the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. The play was written and directed by Matt Wilkinson and produced by Pádraig Cusack. Bruni was nominated for an Offie award for Best Actress.[10]
Bruni portrayed the Empress Catherine the Great in the 2005 television drama Catherine the Great. From 2009 to 2012, she played Gail, the girlfriend of Jeremy's love interest, in Series 6, 7 and 8 of the Channel 4 comedy Peep Show.
The film Psychodrama is currently[when?] in development with writer and director Matt Wilkinson and producers Ben Pullen and Pádraig Cusack.[citation needed]
