Son of the writer and politician Antonio Cederna and nephew of the writer and journalist Camilla Cederna, his paternal grandfather was Giulio Cederna, a founding member of AC Milan. He made his film debut as an actor in 1982 in Cercasi Gesù by Luigi Comencini. After a great deal of auteur cinema, he gained significant recognition in Fracchia contro Dracula (1985) by Neri Parenti, in the comic role of the hideous hunchbacked servant Boris. Among his best-known interpretations is that of the soldier Antonio Farina, madly in love with a prostitute, in the film Mediterraneo. Also directed by Gabriele Salvatores, he had previously played the role of one of the thirty-something friends in Marrakech Express. In 2003, he played Luigi Greco, one of those responsible for the death of Commissioner Corsi’s father, in the TV series Distretto di Polizia 4. Alongside his cinematic and literary activity, he balances theatrical work with public reading performances, such as In cammino. Storie per sentirsi vivi e camminare a testa alta, in 2004, based on his book Il grande viaggio. In 2009, he appeared in the third season of the television series L’ispettore Coliandro (first episode: Sempre avanti), in which he plays the role of a drug dealer.
In 2010, he appeared in the film Maschi contro femmine and in its 2011 sequel Femmine contro maschi. In 2014, he participated in the Rai 1 TV movie Non avere paura – Un’amicizia con Papa Wojtyla. He is the author of the radio documentary Un viaggio tra le pietre vive della Palestina, broadcast by Radio 3 for the Passioni series in 2014. On January 7, 2015, the show debuted at the Teatro Stabile di Torino… L’ultima estate dell’Europa, the account of a World War I survivor told through the voices of soldiers, writers, and intellectuals of the time. On stage, alongside Cederna, are musicians and composers Alberto Capelli and Mauro Manzoni.
He played Francesco Saverio Borrelli between 2015 and 2019 in the TV series 1992, 1993, and 1994. In 2016, he debuted with the brilliant monologue Mozart – Ritratto di un clown, directed by Ruggero Cara and Elisabeth Boeke, performing alongside pianist Sandro D’Onofrio. In 2017, he debuted with the show Da questa parte del mare by Gianmaria Testa, directed by Giorgio Gallione.
For his performance in Hammamet, he received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 2021 David di Donatello awards.
A mountaineering enthusiast, he serves as a virtual guide for the National Mountain Museum in Turin through television screens located in the various exhibition halls.