Patricia Velásquez (born January 31, 1971 in the village of Guajira, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan actress and fashion model. Her full name Patricia Carola Velásquez Semprún. She is an Amerindian of Wayu tribal ancestry, with some Spanish ancestry. She is the fifth of the six children of a couple of Latin-American teachers. In her early life, she also lived in Mexico and France. Velásquez identifies as bisexual. She dated comedian Sandra Bernhard in the mid-1990s. She is 5'9-1/2" tall (177 cm).
Velásquez appeared in the role of Anck Su Namun in the 1999 film The Mummy and its 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns. Her character makes her first entrance in the film in remarkably intricate body paint.
The body of film work Velásquez has been involved in is substantial, especially compared to many other models who try out at acting.
She also had a recurring role on the television series Arrested Development, playing Marta Estrella.
Her movie credits normally omit the acute accent mark over the a in her surname, because accent marks aren't used in English.
After a year of college studies, Velásquez left for Milan, Italy. in pursuit of a modeling career. In 1998, she paced down runways in ready-to-wear fashion shows for designers such as Antonio Berardi, Bella Freud, Corinne Cobson, Claude Montana, and Dolce & Gabbana. As for print advertising, Velásquez appeared in ads for Chanel's Allure, Roberto Verino's Verino fragrance, as well as Victoria's Secret.
Early in her modeling career, she appeared in several issues of the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. This lead to a large number of further modeling engagements, which ultimately culminated in her being ranked #16 in Stuff Magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" poll in 2002. She is one of the highest-paid and most accomplished Hispanic models in history. Now a L'Oréal model, she competed in the 1989 Miss Venezuela pageant representing Peninsula Goajira, placing seventh.
