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Elsa Pataky
Elsa Pataky
	Pataky in 2007
Born	Elsa Lafuente Medianu; 18 July 1976 (age 48); Madrid, Spain
Alma mater	Universidad CEU San Pablo
Occupations	Model; actress;
Years active	1997–present
Spouse	Chris Hemsworth (m. 2010)
Partner(s)	Michaël Youn (2004–2006); Adrien Brody (2006–2009)
Children	3

Elsa Lafuente Medianu (Spanish: [ˈelsa laˈfwente meˈðjanu]; born 18 July 1976),^[1] known professionally as Elsa Pataky, is a Spanish model and actress. Pataky is known for her leading role of Raquel Alonso in the Spanish teen drama Al salir de Clase (1997-2002), before garnering international recognition as Elena Neves in the Fast & Furious franchise. She has appeared in the films Snakes on a Plane (2006), Giallo (2009) and Give 'Em Hell, Malone (2009). She also starred in the Spanish film Di Di Hollywood (2010) and played Mr. Norton and the Vuvalini General in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) in a dual role.

Early life

Pataky was born Elsa Lafuente Medianu in Madrid, Spain,^[1] the daughter of José Francisco Lafuente, a Spanish biochemist, and Cristina Medianu Pataky, a Romanian publicist.^[2]^[3]^[4] She has a younger half-brother: Cristian Prieto Medianu, a cinematographic director. She uses the surname Pataky in homage to her Hungarian Greek maternal grandmother Rosa Pataky.^[5]

Pataky attended the Universidad CEU San Pablo,^[6] studying journalism and taking acting classes. In addition to Spanish and Romanian, she is fluent in English, Italian, Portuguese, and French.^[7]^[8]

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.^[3] 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).^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Pataky became the female face for the first collection of Time Force's jewelry line Ultimate Jewel, opposite football star Cristiano Ronaldo.^[9] She played Officer Elena Neves in the movie Fast Five, with Dwayne Johnson as her partner, Luke Hobbs. MTV Networks' NextMovie.com named her one of the Breakout Stars to Watch for in 2011.^[10] Pataky was a stand in for Natalie Portman in the post end credit scene in Thor: The Dark World.^[11]

Pataky reprised her role as Elena Neves in Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), and The Fate of the Furious (2017), the sixth, seventh and eighth installments of Fast & Furious film series respectively.^[12]

In 2018, Pataky starred in the Australian web television series Tidelands as Adrielle Cuthbert. It was released on 14 December 2018 on Netflix.^[13]

Pataky played the lead role in Interceptor, directed by Matthew Reilly, which was released in June 2022.^[14]

Pataky co-founded a skincare brand called Purely Byron. The brand launched its first product in 2022. In March 2023, Purely Byron was placed in administration and put up for sale.^[15] At the time, BWX Group owned a 47.4 per cent stake in the company, while Ido Leffler and Lance Kalish held about 22 per cent each, and Chris Hemsworth's Byron Bay 1st Management owned a 3.2 per cent stake.^[16]

Personal life

Pataky dated French actor Michaël Youn from 2004 to 2006 and American actor Adrien Brody from 2006 to 2009.^[17] She started dating Australian actor Chris Hemsworth in early 2010 after meeting through their mutual representatives. Pataky and Hemsworth married during the Christmas holidays in 2010.^[18] They have three children together: a daughter and twin sons.^[19]^[20]^[21] In 2015, the family moved from Los Angeles to Byron Bay, Australia.^[22]

In September 2012, Pataky won €310,000 in a ruling by the Supreme Court of Spain against publishing group Ediciones Zeta. In March 2007, Interviu, a magazine owned by the Zeta group, published topless photos of Pataky that had been taken with a long lens while Pataky was changing clothes during a photoshoot for Elle magazine. The Zeta group said it would appeal against the decision.^[23]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Solo en la buhardilla	Chica revista	Short film
2000	The Art of Dying	Candela	^[24]
	Tatawo	Blanqui	^[24]
	Less Is More	Diana	^[24]
2001	Don't Tempt Me	Waitress in Hell
2001	Twelfth Night [es]	Marta Cuspineda	^[24]
2002	Peor imposible ¿qué puede fallar? [es]	Fátima	^[24]
2003	Beyond Re-Animator	Laura Olney
	El furgón [es]	Nina	^[24]
	Atraco a las 3... y media [ca]	Katya	^[24]
2004	Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt	Barbara
2004	Tiovivo c. 1950	Balbina
2005	Iznogoud	Prehti-Ouhman
	Arquitectura efímera deconstruida	Vídeo 'Retorciendo palabras'	Direct-to-video
	Ninette	Alajandra 'Ninette'
2006	Snakes on a Plane	Maria
2007	Manual of Love 2	Cecilia
2008	Máncora	Ximena Saavedra	^[24]
	Skate or Die	Dany
	Santos	Laura Luna	^[24]
2009	Giallo	Celine
2009	Give 'Em Hell, Malone	Evelyn
2009	Shorts	Allie Hamilton (Spanish dub)	^[24]
2010	Mr. Nice	Ilza Kadegis
2010	Di Di Hollywood	Di Di
2011	La importancia de llamarse Enesto		Short film
	Fast Five	Elena Neves
	Where the Road Meets the Sun	Michelle	^[25]
	Snowflake, the White Gorilla	Bruja del Norte	^[24]
2013	All Things to All Men	Sophia Peters
	The Wine of Summer	Veronica	Also producer
	Fast & Furious 6	Elena Neves
2015	Furious 7
2017	The Fate of the Furious		^[26]
2018	12 Strong	Jean Nelson
2022	Interceptor	JJ Collins	^[14]
	Thor: Love and Thunder	Wolf Woman
	Poker Face	Penelope
	Carmen	Gabrielle
2024	Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga	Mr. Norton Vuvalini General	^[27]

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		TV movie
2002	Paraíso	Luisa	Episode: "El cebo"
2003	7 vidas	Cristina	Episode: "La jaula de las locas"
2003	Los Serrano	Raquel Albaladejo	11 episodes
2005	Films to Keep You Awake: The Christmas Tale	Ekran	TV movie^[28]
2009	Mujeres asesinas	Paula Moncada	Episode: "Ana y Paula, ultrajadas"
2018	Tidelands	Adrielle Cuthbert	Main role