Her feature film acting debut in The Weakness of the Bolshevik (2003) earned her a Goya Award for Best New Actress.

[1] At age 16, Valverde had her feature film debut in The Weakness of the Bolshevik,[2] for which she won Best New Actress at the 18th Goya Awards.

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 2009 to 2014 Valverde was in a relationship with the Spanish actor Mario Casas with whom she starred in three movies.