Leonor Varela

'Leonor Varela' (qv) was born on December 29, 1972 in Santiago de Chile, Chile, the daughter of 'Leonor Palma' (qv), a massage therapist, and 'Francisco Varela' (qv) (Francisco Javier Varela Garcia), a biologist, neuroscientist, and philosopher. Her family fled to Costa Rica, leaving behind the dictatorship of 'Augusto Pinochet' (qv). They subsequently resided in Germany, USA, and France, where Varela studied.In the '90s she appears in the Chilean soap _Tic Tac (1997)_ (qv), and in other French and Europeans productions like _Pony Treck (1995)_ (qv), _St. Tropez (1996)_ (qv), _Shooting Stars (1997)_ (qv), _13th Rider (1997)_ (qv), _Le juste (1996)_ (qv), or _Bouge! (1997)_ (qv). Her career in Holywood began in 1998, when she joined the cast of _The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)_ (qv) when she starred opposite 'Leonardo DiCaprio' (qv), and she appeared in _Die Bibel: Jeremia (1998)_ (qv) opposite 'Patrick Dempsey' (qv). The following year (1999), she played the title character in the ABC TV movie "Cleopatra" (1999) (TV) opposite her future fiancé 'Billy Zane' (qv) and 'Timothy Dalton' (qv)She appeared in _The Tailor of Panama (2001)_ (qv) as Marta and in _Texas Rangers (2001)_ (qv) as Perdita opposite 'Ashton Kutcher' (qv). In 2002 she appeared as the fanged vampire princess Nyssa in the action film _Blade II (2002)_ (qv) opposite 'Wesley Snipes' (qv) and 'Kris Kristofferson' (qv) and directed by 'Guillermo del Toro' (qv). After that came _Paraíso B (2002)_ (qv) as Gloria and in _No Big Deal (2003)_ (qv) as Angela.Varela also had a short recurring role in the Fox Television show _Arrested Development (2003)_ (qv) as the original Marta. She was nominated for the Ariel Award in 2005 in the category of Best Actress for _Innocent Voices (2004)_ (qv). She also had a non-recurring role in _Stargate: Atlantis (2004)_ (qv).In 2005 she appeared playing Adela in _Americano (2005)_ (qv), and her following projects included _Goal II: Living the Dream (2007)_ (qv) as the journalist Jordana Garcia, _Where God Left His Shoes (2007)_ (qv) with 'John Leguizamo' (qv) and the TV series produced by 'Jennifer Lopez' (qv) _Como ama una mujer (2007)_ (qv).In the 2008 Sundance Film Festival she screened _Sleep Dealer (2008)_ (qv) and the 'Larry Bishop' (qv)'s _Hell Ride (2008)_ (qv), opposite 'Michael Madsen' (qv) and 'Eric Balfour' (qv) and produced by 'Quentin Tarantino' (qv).::Ninde