Elsa Pataky

Birthday: 18 July 1976, Madrid, Spain

Height: 5' 3½" (1.61 m)

Biography

Elsa Pataky grew up in Madrid and attended the Universidad de San Pablo CEU where she studied journalism and began to take an interest in acting. She joined Teatro Cámara de Ángel Gutiérrez, a theater company in Madrid, and left college when she was offered a role in the long-running Spanish TV series "Al salir de clase" (1997).

More Spanish TV roles followed, alongside a growing career in movies, first in Spain but increasingly internationally.

Elsa Pataky was born in Madrid, Spain,^[1] the daughter of José Francisco Lafuente, a Spanish biochemist, and Cristina Pataky Medianu, a publicist of Romanian and Hungarian ancestry.^[2][3] Pataky attended the CEU San Pablo University,^[4] studying journalism and taking acting classes.

In addition to Spanish, she is fluent in English, Romanian, Italian, and French.^[5]

Career

Pataky was a member of the Madrid theatre company Teatro Cámara de Ángel Gutiérrez. Eventually, she left school when she was cast in the television series Al salir de clase.^[2] Some of her subsequent films were co-productions with the UK and France, which introduced her to working in English and French. She was in the cast of the television series Queen of Swords (2000) as Señora Vera Hidalgo, trophy wife of Gaspar Hidalgo and mistress of Captain Grisham, credited in the opening titles but appearing in only 14 of the 22 episodes. She also had a recurring role in the television series Los Serrano, playing teacher Raquel, who fell in love with her student Marcos (Fran Perea).

Pataky has appeared in over 10 Spanish films and co-starred in the French film Iznogoud (2004). She was also on the cover of August 2006 issue of Maxim. She was cast in 2009 in the Mexican series Mujeres Asesinas as Paula Moncada in the episode "Ana y Paula, Ultrajadas". She also starred in the action noir film Give 'Em Hell, Malone and Dario Argento's Giallo. Pataky became the female face for the first collection of Time Force's jewelry line Ultimate Jewel, opposite soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.^[6] She played Officer Elena Neves in the movie Fast Five, with Dwayne Johnson as her partner. MTV Networks' NextMovie.com named her one of the Breakout Stars to Watch for in 2011.^[7]

Personal life

Pataky began dating American actor Adrien Brody in 2006.^[8] For Pataky's 31st birthday in July 2007, Brody purchased her a 19th-century castle in New York state. Pataky and Brody were featured at their New York home in a 35-page spread for HELLO! magazine in October 2008.^[9] The pair broke up in 2009, and Pataky subsequently dated French actor Olivier Martinez that year.^[10] She then began dating Australian actor Chris Hemsworth in early 2010, after meeting through their mutual representatives.^[11] Pataky and Hemsworth married over the Christmas holidays in 2010.^[12] Their daughter, India Rose Hemsworth, was born in May 2012 in London, United Kingdom.^[13]

In September 2012, Pataky won €310,000 in Spain's supreme court against publishing group Ediciones Zeta that owns Interviu magazine which published topless photos of Pataky, in March 2007, taken with a long lens while she was changing clothes when posing topless, but with her hands covering her breasts, for photographs that were to appear in Elle magazine. The Zeta group said it would appeal the decision.^[14]

Filmography

Film

 

Pataky at a presentation for Time Force watches in December 2007

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Solo en la buhardilla[15]	Chica revista	Short
2000	The Art of Dying [16]	Candela
2000	Tatawo[16]	Blanqui
2000	Less Is More [16]	Diana
2001	Don't Tempt Me	Waitress in Hell
2001	Twelfth Night[16]	Marta Cuspineda
2002	Peor imposible ¿qué puede fallar?[16]	Fátima
2003	Beyond Re-Animator	Laura Olney
2003	El furgón[16]	Nina
2003	Atraco a las 3... y media[16]	Katya
2004	Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt	Barbara
2004	Tiovivo c. 1950	Balbina
2005	Iznogoud	Prehti-Ouhman
2005	Arquitectura efímera deconstruida	Vídeo 'Retorciendo palabras'	Video
2005	Ninette	Alajandra 'Ninette'
2006	Snakes on a Plane	Maria
2007	Manuale d'amore 2[16]	Cecilia
2008	Máncora	Ximena Saavedra
2008	Skate or Die	Dany
2008	Santos	Laura Luna
2009	Giallo	Celine
2009	Give 'Em Hell, Malone	Evelyn
2010	Mr. Nice	Ilza Kadegis
2010	Di Di Hollywood[16]	Di Di
2011	La importancia de llamarse Enesto[17]		Short
2011	Fast Five	Elena Neves
2011	Where the Road Meets the Sun[18]	Michelle
2011	Snowflake, the White Gorilla / Copito de nieve[16]	Bruja del Norte
2012	All Things to All Men	Sophia Peters
2012	The Wine of Summer	Veronica	Post-production
2013	Fast & Furious 6	Elena Neves

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Al salir de clase	Raquel Alonso	192 Episodes
1998	Tio Willy		1 Episode
1998	La vida en el aire		13 Episodes
2000	Hospital Central	Maribel	2 Episodes
2000	Queen of Swords	Vera Hidalgo	14 Episodes
2002	Clara[citation needed]		TV movie
2002	Paraíso	Luisa	1 Episode: "El cebo"
2003	7 vidas	Cristina	1 Episode: "La jaula de las locas"
2003	Los Serrano	Raquel Albaladejo	11 Episodes
2005	Films to Keep You Awake: The Christmas Tale[19]	Ekran	TV movie
2009	Mujeres asesinas	Paula Moncada	1 Episode: "Ana y Paula, ultrajadas"