Dec 29, 1972

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 Pa... ... (read more...) ssage, and Conservatoire Superieur de Paris.
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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.
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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.