Matias Varela

Louis Matias Karl Padin Varela (born June 23, 1980) is a Swedish actor. 2Early life Varela was born and grew up in Södermalm 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 Skarsgård, son of internationally noted Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård. Varela did not then know of the famous Skarsgård family because he mostly watched Spanish satellite television. When his friend Skarsgård applied to a selective upper secondary school, Södra Latin’s drama program near where both boys lived, Varela wanted to do the same. The elder Skarsgård gave the young Varela a few hours of acting instructions and he was accepted by the school. Varela said he was surprised, because he had shown up in a track suit and looked more like a homeboy/chav than an aspiring actor. 2Career After a brief appearance in the soap opera Nya tider, he left 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 Salina