Elsa Pataky

Elsa Pataky was born in Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Jos Francisco Lafuente, a Spanish biochemist, and Cristina Pataky Medianu, a publicist of mixed Romanian and Hungarian ancestry.

Pataky attended the Universidad de San Pablo CEU,studying journalism and taking acting classes. In addition to Spanish, she is fluent in English, Romanian, Italian, and French.

Pataky was a member of the Madrid theatre company Teatro Cmara de ngel Gutirrez. Eventually, she left school when she was cast in the television series Al salir de clase.

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 Seora 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.

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.