Matias Varela Biography

Louis Matias Karl Padin Varela (born June 23, 1980) is a Swedish actor.

Early life

Varela was born and grew up in Sdermalm on the south side of Stockholm. Both parents are from Spain and he did not learn proper Swedish until he started school. During middle school a new friend was Gustaf Skarsgrd, son of internationally noted Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgrd. Varela did not then know of the famous Skarsgrd family because he mostly watched Spanish satellite television. When his friend Skarsgrd applied to a selective upper secondary school, Sdra Latin"?s drama program near where both boys lived, Varela wanted to do the same. The elder Skarsgrd gave the young Varela a few hours of acting instructions and he was accepted by the school. Varela said he was surprised, becauses he had shown up in a track suit and looked more like a homeboy/chav than an aspiring actor.

Career

After a brief appearance in the soap opera Nya tider, he left the Sweden for a while and on returning worked as a construction worker with small acting jobs for a sideline. After reading the bestselling Swedish crime novel Snabba cash and hearing that a production company was adapting the book for the big screen he set his sights on starring as the Swedish-Chilean drug dealer Jorge Salinas. Varela convinced the director Daniel Espinosa to give him a screen test. Espinosa, who himself is of Chilean descent, had stated he wanted someone with roots in Chile, and Varela would eventually land the role.

Easy Money was a success and Varela went on to star in both sequels: Easy Money II: Hard to Kill (2012) and Easy Money III: Life Deluxe (2013). He also got the part of Police Detective Jorge Chavez in the big budget TV-series Arne Dahl. In series 2 Alexander Salzberger replaced him.

Varela had his first international role in an episode of Covert Affairs as a Basque terrorist. In 2013 he was in several episodes of Showtime's The Borgias in the prominent part of Ferdinand II of Naples.

Among 2015/2016 projects were Johan Renck's quirky crime drama Ettor och nollor alongside his old friend Gustaf Skarsgrd (see above), the 2015 remake Point Break, and the video game adaptation Assassin's Creed, with Michael Fassbender.