Information
Leonor Varela (born December 29, 1972) is an actress from Chile.
She was born in Santiago, Chile. Her parents are the famous Chilean biologist Francisco Varela and Leonor Palma, a French-Hungarian dancer. She has one sister Alejandra and two brothers, Javier and Gabriel.
Varela's family fled to Costa Rica in her early childhood when her homeland was overtaken by a military regime. She subsequently resided in Germany, the U.S., and France. In the early 1990s her parents moved back to Chile, while she remained in Paris where she studied acting at the Neils Arestrup's School, The Ecole de Passage, and Conservatoire Superieur de Paris.
Her first job was in 1995, playing Anette in Pony Trek, a children's film. Filming was in Iceland and Leonor was riding horses for three months. Then, referred to a French filmmaker by her dentist, she played in The Shooting Stars (1997). Varela found her popularity on the rise at home when she was cast in the Chilean TV series Tic Tac.
After appearing in a few more television productions in the late 1990s, Varela was cast in a small role in The Man in the Iron Mask. In 1999, she hit the screen as Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen. She fell in love with actor Billy Zane (Mark Antony) on the set, but they split up two years later.
Roles in The Tailor of Panama and Texas Rangers (both in 2001) followed shortly thereafter, and as the fanged vampire princess in the action film Blade II. After that came Paraíso B and Pas Si Grave.
Varela also had a short recurring role in the Fox Television series Arrested Development as the original Marta. She was nominated for the Ariel Award in 2005 in the category of Best Actress for Innocent Voices (2004). She also had a non-recurring role in Stargate: Atlantis.
Her latest projects are Americano, Caleuche: The call of the Sea, Casas de Cartón and Gigola where she plays feminist Laure Charpentier.
Trivia
- She is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Italian.
- She has been acting since 1995 in a TV series called Pony Trek.
- Beat out 35 other actresses to play the title role in Cleopatra.
- She is the daughter of famous Chilean biologist and philosopher Francisco Varela.
- Voted number 11 on the 2002 Maxim Hot 100 List.
- Used to be engaged to Cleopatra co-star, Billy Zane.
- She has lived in Chile, Costa Rica, USA, Germany and France.
- She won the Best Actress APES Award at Chile's Arts and Entertainment Critics Awards in 2003.
Special thanks to Wikipedia!