With her exotic, alluring good looks, fluid multilingual abilities, and genre-hopping sensibilities, it would seem that there is little holding comely Chilean actress Leonor Varela from conquering cinema screens worldwide; and with memorable turns in such features as "Cleopatra", "The Tailor of Panama", "Blade II" and "Innocent Voices", she seems poised to do just that.
Born in Santiago, Chile, in 1972, Varela's family fled to Costa Rica in her early childhood when her homeland was overtaken by the military regime. Subsequently residing in Germany, the U.S.A., and France, the worldly youngster received the majority of her later education in France.
Though her family returned to Santiago following the occupation, Varela developed a passion for French culture and continued her studies abroad. Refered to a French filmmaker by her dentist (who, enamored by her exotic beauty created a role specifically designed for the burgeoning actress in "The Shooting Stars" [1997]), Varela found her popularity on the rise when she was cast in the Chilean TV series "Tic Tac".
"I was working on a Chilean soap opera and would go riding on my day off, even though I was exhausted. The horse threw me off at full gallop, and I landed on the wrong spot. I stood up, walked to my car, drove to the hospital, and then fainted. When I woke up I found out that I had a broken back. I had three weeks in bed without being able to move. Then I was back shooing the soap opera... in a corset."
After appearing in a few more television productions in the late '90s, the actress was cast in a small role in "The Man in the Iron Mask" before being ideally cast opposite future fiancé Billy Zane. Though the couple's relationship floundered, they remained on good terms and Varela's career continued to thrive. Roles in "The Tailor of Panama" and "Texas Rangers" (both 2001) followed shortly thereafter, though it wasn't until 2002 that Varela received enough screen time to truly ignite the silver screen. As the fanged love interest of Wesley Snipes in the exhausting vampire/action extravaganza "Blade II", Varela showed her sensitive side between scenes of blasting Reapers to ash, and showed further proof of her versatility by tackling an extremely physical role head-on. After "Blade II" Leonor took the time to shoot the Chilean independent drama "Paraíso B" (Paradise B), and later starred as Angela in the French comedy "Pas Si Grave". Both roles showed her versatility and talent for languages once again, so she was cast one year later in the highly succesful French comedy "Tais-toi!" (Shut up!) where she starred along Gerard Depardiéu and Jean Reno. What followed next was a short trip to American TV - she played Marta Estrella in 2 episodes of the comedy show "Arrested Development" but then decided to leave because she wanted to do a movie. The role of a lifetime seemed to have arrived in form of the mother Kella in "Voces Inocentes" (Innocent Voices). Set in the mid 1980s El Salvador, in the midst of the country's civil war, a young boy must decide between enlisting in the army or join up with guerrillas. Although the producers did not believe that someone with such stunning looks like Leonor could portrait Kella authenticly she fought with all her heart for it, and eventually got it. The role earned her an Ariel award nomination for "Best Actress" and praise from everyone who saw the movie which was also the official submission from Mexico for the 77th Academy Awards.
After the success of "Voces Inocentes" Leonor went to Spain to shoot the independent movie "Americano" with Joshua Jackson and then she returned to the US to play the goddess Chaya Sar in an episode of "Stargate: Atlantis" in 2005. She currently is working on the following films: "The Curse of King Tut's Tomb", a Hallmark production which was shot in India in 2005 and should be released in the summer of 2006, "Where God Left His Shoes", a story about a failed boxer who struggles to find a job and an apartment for his family on Christmas Eve, "Goal! 2" in which Leonor played the role of Jordana García and which was shot in Spain, and the Chilean horror movie "Caleuche: El llamado del mar" in which Leonor also serves as the co-executive producer for the first time and which thus also depicts a new highlight in her career.
Meanwhile she worked with actors like:
Pierce Brosnan
Tom Skerritt
Jamie Lee Curtis
Klaus Maria Brandauer
Wesley Snipes
Brendan Gleeson
Kris Kristofferson
Ron Perlman
Harold Pinter
Timothy Dalton
Geoffrey Rush
Rupert Graves
Gerard Depardieu
Jean Reno
Joshua Jackson
Dennis Hopper
Production Team includes
Bob Weinstein (Executive Producer)
Enrico Sabbatini (Costume Designer)
Ron Davis (Editor)
Harvey Weinstein (Executive Producer)
Wesley Snipes (Producer)
Elinor Rose Galbraith (Art Director)
David S. Goyer (Executive Producer, Screenwriter)
Douglas Morrow (Assistant Makeup)
Andrew Davies (Screenwriter)
John Milius (Screenwriter)
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