Woman on the Verge: Leonor Varela

WHO IS SHE?
Raven-haired Chilean actress Leonor Varela stars as Luz in Sleep Dealer, first-time director Alex Rivera’s prize-winning film about a near-future Tijuana that mixes dystopian cyberpunk themes with social commentary about barrios and border-crossings. Varela knows a lot about the latter: Her father, the noted Chilean neuroscientist Francisco Varela Garcia, fled the country with his family when Gen. Augusto Pinochet took power. Varela’s childhood was spent in Costa Rica, Colorado and Germany before arriving as a teenager in Paris, where she trained as a dancer and actress.

WHAT HAS SHE DONE?
Best-known to Arrested Development fans as the original Marta (Michael Arnett’s love interest), Varela has starred in telenovelas and historical epics, indie dramas and biker flicks, working opposite everyone from Timothy Dalton and Billy Zane to John Leguizamo and Michael Madsen.

WHY DO WE CARE?
She brings a fiery intelligence to match her sensual grace, a quality that makes her equally appealing in the arthouse or the grindhouse.

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PLAYBOY: Sleep Dealer is like a Philip K. Dick story set in a border town. Were you a sci-fi fan as a kid?
VARELA: I think more fantasy than science fiction. But Blade Runner must be one of my favorite movies. So when I heard the analogy of Sleep Dealer being a Mexican Blade Runner. I really loved it.

PLAYBOY: The film has a pervasive Big Brother theme, in which everyone is always being watched and privacy is never a given. Have you ever had the urge to spy on someone?
VARELA: I’ve actually…. Heh heh heh. I was breaking up with a boyfriend once. I looked through his emails. I looked through his drawers. I think that’s considered spying. Did he cheat on me? Did he not cheat on me? Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything juicy enough. I was pretty pissed to have done that.

PLAYBOY: What was it like to come of age in Paris?
VARELA: I loved Paris the moment I got there. Literally, fell in love with it. I came there at an age, 13 years old, when you’re so wanting to be stimulated by life. Here I am 13, and I’m going to school on the Champs-Elysées, and you grow up very quickly. And I loved just riding my bike around town and looking at architecture and museums. That had a great influence. I still keep a place there I love it so much.

PLAYBOY: Were you prone to misadventures or…?
VARELA: You could say that.

PLAYBOY: …were you a good girl?
VARELA: I think both. I come from a very academic family. All my family studies and has really serious jobs. I’m the only one out there doing what I do and being crazy. There’s no way I was not going to get good grades, but on the weekends? [Laughs]. Not so wise. Not so wise.

PLAYBOY: What was the worst thing you got away with?
VARELA: What did I not get away with? I think murder is the only thing I didn’t commit. I pretty much experimented with everything at that time in my life.

PLAYBOY: Aren’t Europeans looser and more sophisticated about such things?
VARELA: Let’s put it this way: I wasn’t the only one doing it, whatever “it” means.

PLAYBOY: This is Playboy. You can say it.
VARELA: I’ll just leave it at that.

PLAYBOY: Your father was a neuroscientist. What was that like growing up?
VARELA: Do you understand now why I couldn’t fail school?

PLAYBOY: Did you watch your dad cut up brains?
VARELA: No, no. My dad would never expose me to that. What was wonderful about my dad’s legacy was his ability to bring his spiritual practice into his work. He was a Buddhist and wrote a lot of books about the Dalai Lama. The place we found to share was that space where you ask what is a thought, what is emotion, what does it feel like, how do you meditate, what does that mean, what is perception, how do you communicate that perception? It was more on the border of philosophy than hard science.

PLAYBOY: What turns you on in a leading man?
VARELA: One of the things I find attractive is when people are good at what they do. That’s really sexy to me: talent and dedication. Second is how you treat people. If you see an actor being an a-hole to other people, it’s such a big turn-off. The best example is John Leguizamo. He’s such a frickin’ wonderful dude. He’s so talented and so incredible with everyone. It doesn’t mean you go kissing ass. The third thing is to see how that person is with their friends and family, if they’re just good people.

PLAYBOY: So not like Christian Bale?
VARELA: I don’t know Christian Bale and I don’t know what happened. I don’t condone that but it’s tough sometimes.

PLAYBOY: If you could pick two or three actors, whom would you pick?
VARELA: I mean, Jesus…Johnny Depp! And, actually, Christian Bale.

PLAYBOY: You could redeem him.
VARELA: Yeah, you know [suddenly sultry], I could work my magic. I think he’s a phenomenal actor. He’s so intense. Hmmm. And I would say Brad Pitt, but I also love Philip Seymour Hoffman.

PLAYBOY: They’re very different.
VARELA: I could look at Brad Pitt all day long. And Philip is such a fascinating actor. I would like to sit and just watch him work. Yep!