The son of the actor and stage director Giancarlo Sbragia and the actress Princess Esmeralda Ruspoli.

He has also acted often in international productions, including John Frankenheimer's The Year of the Gun (1991), Norman Jewison's Only You (1994), and James Ivory's The Golden Bowl (1999).

Sbragia's more recent film appearances have been in Ricky Tognazzi's Canone inverso (2000), Paul Tickell's Christie Malry's Own Double Entry (2000), Tom Tykwer's Heaven (2001) and Brian Helgeland's The Order (2003).

Sbragia has also appeared frequently on television, in productions such as Damiano Damiani's Lenin: The Train (1990) and Josee Dayan's 1998 version of The Count of Monte Cristo.

He is also a noted theater director who has staged successful Roman productions of Madame Bovary, Padrone Del Mondo, La Poltrona, and Ore Rubate.