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Leonor Varela Profile |
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Birth Date: December 29, 1972
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Birth Place: Santiago, Chile
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Birth Name: Leonor Varela
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Height: 5'7"
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Biography |
Leonor Varela is a Chilean actress.
Varela was born in Santiago, Chile. Her parents are the
famous Chilean biologist Francisco Varela and Leonor Palma,
a French-Italian-Algerian 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 played the title character in
the TV movie Cleopatra. 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.
She played Jordana in Goal! 2. Jordana was a journalist that
had a one night stand with Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker).
Varela is fluent in Spanish, English and French. |
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Other
Information |
She is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Italian.
Formerly engaged to Billy Zane, her co-star from the
miniseries Cleopatra (1999) (TV).
Beat out 35 other actresses to play the title role in
Cleopatra (1999) (TV).
Appeared on the cover of thirteen separate editions of the
Maxim magazine, each naming a different North American city
as the greatest on Earth.
Daughter of famous Chilean biologist and philosopher
Francisco Varela (1946-2001).
After graduating from the Ecole du Passage and the
Conservatoire Superieur de Paris, she was ready for the big
screen.
Her family fled to Costa Rica, leaving behind the brutal
dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
As a child, she got to see her homeland another time when
her family returned to Chile.
Her stay in Chile was brief, and she soon found herself in
Germany, then back in Chile, and finally in France in her
late teens.
She is half Chilean on her father's side and French on her
mother's side.
She lived in Paris from the age of 14.
Has 3 siblings, Alejandra, Javier and Gabriel.
Was featured as #11 in Maxim Magazine's "Hot 100 of 2002"
supplement. (2002) |
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since December 7, 2007