Leonor Varela extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Leonor Varela
Born	Leonor Varela Palma December 29, 1972 (1972-12-29) (age 36) Santiago
Occupation	actress, spokesperson, model
Years active	1995 — present

Leonor Varela Palma (born December 29, 1972) is a Chilean actress, spokesperson, and model. Leonor plays the character Cleopatra in the successful 1999 film Cleopatra. She also has actively participated in various ecological causes such as "Save Whales Again".

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Filmography 4 References 5 External links

Early life

Varela was born in Santiago, Chile, the daughter of Leonor, a massage therapist, and the famous Chilean biologist and cognitive neuroscientist Francisco Varela García.¹ She has one sister Alejandra and two brothers, Javier and Gabriel. Her father was of Spanish-Greek and Syrian ancestry, and her mother, Leonor Palma, was of French-Italian-Algerian ancestry.^{citation needed} 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 Niels Arestrup School, The Ecole de Passage, and Conservatoire Superieur de Paris.

Career

Varela's 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 Shooting Stars (1997). Varela found her popularity on the rise at home when she was cast in the Chilean soap opera 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. She has been married to philanthropist and musician Kevin Duane Taylor of Garland, Texas since April 13, 2008.

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.²

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 who had a one-night stand with Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker).

Varela is fluent in Spanish, English and French. She is also a marine life activist who is concerned with the welfare of whales.³ Leonor is also a vegetarian.⁴

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1995	Pony Treck	Anette	Soap Opera
1996	Sous le soleil	Jeanne	Soap Opera
1997	Tic Tac	Pola Santa María	Soap Opera
	A legend to Ride	Anette	Soap Opera
	Shooting Stars	Vanessa	Panel Game
	Bouge!	La Danseuse	Film
	Inca de Oro	Flor Del Inca	TV Series
1998	The Man in the Iron Mask	Ballroom Beauty	Film
	Jeremiah	Judith	Film
1999	Les Parasites	Fidelia	Film
	Cleopatra	Cleopatra	Film
	Les Infortunes de la Beauté	Annabella	Film
2001	The Tailor of Panama	Marta	Film
	Texas Rangers	Perdita	Film
2002	Blade II	Nyssa Damaskinos	Film
	Paraíso B	Gloria	TV Series
2003	No Big Deal	Angela	TV Film
	Tais-toi	Sandra/Katia	Film
	Arrested Development	Marta Estrella	TV Series
2004	Innocent Voices	Kella	Film
2005	Americano	Adela	Film
	Stargate Atlantis	Chaya Sar	TV Series
2006	The Curse of King Tut's Tomb	Dr. Azelia Barakat	Film
	The Sleep Dealer	Luz	TV Film
	Seed of Contention	Mila	TV Film
2007	Como Ama Una Mujer	Sofia	TV Series
	Goal! 2: Living the Dream...	Jordana Garcia	Film
2008	Hell Ride	Nada	Film
	Sleep Dealer	Luz Martínez	Film
	Balls Out: The Gary Houseman Story	Norma Sanchez	Film
	Hindsight	Maria	Film
	Love and Virtue	Morgana	Film
2009	Deseo	Gilr	TV Series
	Caleuche: Call of the Sea Caleuche: El llamado del mar	Isabel Millalobos	Film

References

External links

• Leonor Varela at the Internet Movie Database
• Leonor Varela at Fashion Model Directory