Elsa Pataky is a Spanish actress, producer, and model, born on July 18, 1976, in Madrid, Spain. Her mother is a publicist of Romanian and Hungarian ancestry, and her father is a Spanish biochemist. She attended the Universidad de San Pablo CEU where she studied journalism and drama. Pataky speaks several languages other than Spanish, such as English, Romanian, Italian ,and French. She joined Teatro Cámara de Ángel Gutiérrez, a theater company in Madrid, and left college when she was offered a role in the long-running Spanish TV series Al salir de clase (1997).