Elsa Lafuente Medianu (born 18 July 1976), known professionally as Elsa Pataky, is a Spanish model, actress, and film producer. Elsa Pataky was born in Madrid, Spain, the daughter of José Francisco Lafuente, a Spanish biochemist, and Cristina Pataky Medianu, a publicist of Romanian and Hungarian ancestry. Pataky attended the CEU San Pablo University, studying journalism and taking acting classes. In addition to Spanish, she is fluent in English, Romanian, Italian, and French. 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. 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