Award-winning actress, history-making supermodel, steadfast philanthropist, activist, and author Patricia Velásquez applies an endless artistic spirit to everything she does, whether it be performing in blockbusters The Curse of the Weeping Woman, The Mummy Returns and participating on the UNESCO Board.
Regardless, she makes significant strides by drawing on instinct and deliberately paving her way. Besides, she is a public figure who produces her line of cosmetics and writes books.
Biography of Patricia Velásquez
Patricia Velásquez was born in a low-income family managed to achieve dizzying progress in her youth, be dubbed the “first Latina supermodel,” work with the biggest fashion houses, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Chanel, Carolina Herrera, and also star in the Hollywood blockbusters The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.
Childhood and Youth of Patricia Velásquez
Patricia Carola Velásquez Semprún was born in Maracaibo, one of the biggest cities in Venezuela, on January 31, 1971. The girl grew up in a family of educators and had five brothers and sisters. Although the family was not wealthy, they were peaceful and happy. Having become well-known, the actress revealed in an interview how she and her family had to carry water on the 15th floor daily due to difficulties with the water supply and elevator.
Thanks to the father’s job, they achieved to live in Paris and Mexico. However, before entering college, the girl turned to her homeland to study engineering. During her student years, Patricia started to pursue a modeling career.
The modeling career of Patricia Velásquez
Young Velásquez’s classmate and a friend saw the girl’s talents and posted her photos to a local modeling agency. Until that moment, Patricia was actively associated with dancing and connected her life with it. But life had other plans; modeling agencies liked the student’s appearance and figure. At the age of 17, she already participated in the fashion show for Dolce & Gabbana.
The girl became successful immediately, and she was showered with offers from designers from around the world, including Japan, the UK, Italy, France, Spain. Exotic face made Patricia a Latin American runway star. At the age of 18, Velásquez participated in the Miss Venezuela 1989 competition and finished seventh.
During her modeling profession, the woman took part in the advertising for Chanel and Roberto Verino’s fragrances, modeled in lingerie and a bikini for Victoria’s Secret catalog, and also appeared on the cover of fashion magazines such as Bazaar, Vogue, and Marie Claire.
In 1997, the model chose to quit the modeling career and devote herself to the film industry. She started to attend acting classes, which encouraged her to pave a new career path. Nevertheless, the woman has always spoken kind words about these years of her life, calling this time extremely interesting and fruitful.
Movies of Patricia Velásquez
At first, Velásquez thought that it was useless to become an actress after completing a modeling career. For a while, she even thought about continuing to pursue an engineering career. Patricia first performed in a feature film in 1996. She acted a heroine named Maya in the French adventure comedy Le Jaguar, starring Jean Reno and Patrick Bruel.
Although the movie funnily showed everything, it highlighted important issues about the future of the Amazon forests and local Indians. The actress, who was a remote descendant of the Wayuu tribe, enthusiastically agreed to work. However, the woman had made an acting appearance four years earlier when she appeared in the video for the song “Breaking the Girl” by the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Next time, the beginning actress performed in a movie only in 1999. She landed a minor role in the fantasy-horror movie Beowulf directed by Graham Baker, based on the Old English epic poem of the same name, created in the 8th century. Film critics were dubious because of corny dialogs, unprofessional acting, and deviations from the source material.
Velásquez made a breakthrough the same year. She performed Pharaoh’s concubine Anck-Su-Namun, who dedicated her life for her beloved man in the adventure movie The Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.
It was initially a low-budget horror, but the movie turned into a successful and commercially flourishing project. Two years later, the second part, named The Mummy Returns, premiered, receiving positive reviewers.
The filmography of the actress also has little parts in TV series of different genres, including The L Word (about the life of lesbians in Los Angeles), Save me (about the work of firefighters), Arrested Development (about former rich people trying to roar back) and others.
Patricia has also performed on the stage. She was a judge on reality television series and competitions, a guest in the legendary Oprah Winfrey Show, and even produced films.
Personal life
Patricia Velásquez is an open lesbian and the first model of Latin origin who has come out as gay. She first unveiled the details of her personal life and orientation in 2015, writing an autobiographical book called “Straight Walk.” The actress told about a poverty-stricken childhood, her way to stardom, and relations with her girlfriend Sandra Bernhard, a famous American singer and comedian.
Their love story was tragic because Velásquez fell madly in love with Bernhard, who was in a relationship with pop singer Madonna. According to the model, Sandra was her first same-sex partner with whom she kissed. Bernhard encouraged the model to understand her sexual orientation altogether.
Patricia communicated in the book that she encountered the most powerful feelings for the American woman and hurt after parting for two years. She also confessed that she had tried to develop relationships with men, but no good could come of it. The woman has no children.
Velásquez is an active Instagram user; she posts the events of her social activities. She is the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and the Wayuu Taya nonprofit fund creator, which promotes the living conditions of indigenous groups, photos of traveling, and filming. The actress has a fabulous figure and appearance.
Patricia Velásquez Now
The actress has performed one of the title roles in aspiring director Michael Chaves’s detective horror film The Curse of La Llorona, which is currently in the works.
The movie tells about the revengeful ghost, La Llorona, who drowned his children.
Patricia Velásquez has an estimated net worth of$100,000 – $1M
Trivia facts of Patricia Velásquez
- A former model. Both of her parents are educators. Her father worked for the UNESCO. Her mother’s heritage derives from the Wayu group in Zulia state in Venezuela.
- Had a tough childhood with very little material possessions. This gave her a valuable lesson in appreciating any fortune bestowed upon her. As a result, she has developed a very strong character, including being a vocal spokesperson for Hispanic causes.
- Her mother derives from The Wayu group from Venezuela.
- Spent a couple of years in Milan, which helped her to become a more sophisticated, classy and stylish woman.
- Signed with Ford models in New York, IMG in Paris, and Models 1 in London. She also extended her resume by appearing on the pages of Vogue and Elle.
- Ranked #16 in Stuff magazine’s “102 Sexiest Women in the World” (2002)
- Spent the first four years in her life in Paris. After Paris, the family relocated to Mexico for a few years then returned to Venezuela.
- She is fluent in English, French, Italian, and Spanish.
- In 2015, she published her memoir, Straight Walk, in which she publicly came out as a lesbian.
- She has a daughter, Maya, with her ex-girlfriend Lauren.
- She is the world’s first openly lesbian Latina supermodel.
Personal Quotes of Patricia Velásquez
- There was a time when I used to live in Spain that it went really crazy with drugs and stuff like that.
- OK, I’ve been very wild, but I’ve never really been the sort of person who goes that crazy!
- You need a routine, to be able to spend some time with a person, and my lifestyle is constantly on the move.
- Always work hard, be honest, and be proud of who you are.
- It takes one person to give you a big chance.
- I have no doubt I was someone very interesting in a past life.
- Every time you play a bad girl or guy in a movie, you really come from a place of pain.
- If there is one creature that represents my essence, it’s butterflies.
- Thank God I had all these family values or who knows where I’d be now.
- I used to be a dancer, and for me, it was a really good combination of dance and acting.
- I enjoyed working as a model a lot as it let me travel and I got to do some really interesting projects.
- If I need something, even a pair of socks, my assistant has to get them for me.
- I think if I could have a boyfriend like my brothers I’d be really happy. But without the brother thing.
- So struggling for work here has been very good for me, but it’s also been very hard to handle rejection.
- I live in New York, and I was only there for two weeks all last year.
- Clothes, thank God I can get them from designers.
Because of her hard work and performance in some well-known movies Patricia Velásquez is known as one of the talented actress and model of her times.
