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Patricia Carola Velásquez Semprún (born January 31, 1971) is a Venezuelan actress and fashion model.

Biography

Early life

Velásquez, the fifth of six children, was born in Zulia, Venezuela to a Venezuelan mestizo father and to an Amerindian mother of the Wayuu people.¹² Her parents were both teachers;³ her father also worked for UNESCO and as a result, she spent some of her childhood in Mexico and France. She attended San Vicente de Paul High School, graduating in 1987.⁴ After 3 years of college studies, Velásquez left for Milan, Italy, in pursuit of a modeling career.

Career

In 1997 she studied acting in Los Angeles and New York.⁵ In 1998, she paced down runways in ready-to-wear fashion shows for designers such as Antonio Berardi, Bella Freud, Corinne Cobson, Claude Montana, and Dolce & Gabbana. As for print advertising, Velásquez appeared in ads for Chanel's Allure, Roberto Verino's Verino fragrance, as well as Victoria's Secret. Early in her modeling career, she appeared in several issues of the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. This led to a large number of further modeling engagements, which ultimately culminated in her being ranked #45 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2001⁶ and #16 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" poll in 2002.

Velásquez played Anck-Su-Namun in the 1999 film The Mummy and its 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns. Her character makes her first entrance in the film in remarkably intricate body paint. Velásquez's movie credits normally omit the acute accent over the a in her surname. She also appeared in several 2003 episodes of Arrested Development as the character Marta Estrella.

She had a special appearance on Breaking the Girl video of the alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Television

Velásquez played the character of Begoña on several episodes of The L Word during its 5th season (2008). She had a recurring role on the television series Arrested Development playing Marta Estrella. On CSI: Miami, in the episode "From The Grave", she appeared as a guest star, playing Celia Gonzalez. She had a recurring role in the first season of Rescue Me playing Nez, the ex-girlfriend and mother of Franco's daughter, Keela. She most recently guest starred on Ugly Betty

Personal life

In 2002, Velásquez founded the Wayúu Tayá Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting the Wayúu, a Venezuelan indigenous group.⁷ In 2010, after the devastating Haiti earthquake, she had the Wayuú Tayá Foundation commission a special symbol of hope to raise money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake along with the slogan: Keep the "H" Close to Your Heart -- Help Haiti Hope.⁸ She is fluent in English, French, Italian and Spanish.⁵ She is 5 ft 9.5 in (1.77 m) tall. ^{910 11}. She's also bisexual.¹²

Film

Film portal

• Le Jaguar (1996), as Maya
• Eruption (1997), as Luisa Soares
• Beowulf (1999), as Pendra
• No Vacancy (movie) (1999), as Ramona
• The Mummy (1999), as Anck-Su-Namun
• Committed (2000), as Carmen
• Façade (2000), as Juanita
• San Bernardo (2000), as Claudia
• Turn It Up (2000), (cameo appearance)
• The Mummy Returns (2001), as Meela Nais/Anck-Su-Namun
• SSX Tricky (2001, video game), as Marisol Diez Delgado
• Fidel (2002, miniseries), as Mirta
• Mindhunters (2004), as Nicole Willis
• Zapata: The Dream of a Hero - El sueño del héroe (2004), as Josefa
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve (2004, made-for-TV), as Isabel Frias
• The Operative: Red Dawn (2010)

References

External links

• Patricia Velásquez at the Internet Movie Database