Patricia Carola Velásquez Semprún (born 31 January 1971) is a Venezuelan actress and fashion model, considered by some to be the first Native American supermodel.
Born in Guajira, Venezuela, Velásquez, the fifth of six children, was the daughter of Venezuelan parents. Her father is mestizo and her mother a member of the indigenous Wayuu people. Her parents were both teachers; her father also worked for UNESCO and as a result, she spent some of her childhood in Mexico and France. She attended San Vicente de Paul High School, graduating in 1987. In 1989, she participated in the Miss Venezuela 1989, where she represented Guárico, and placed as 2nd runner-up (technically 7th place in the 1989 edition of the pageant). After 3 years of college studies, Velásquez left for Milan, Italy, in pursuit of a modelling career.
In 1997, she studied acting in Los Angeles and New York. 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 modelling career, she appeared in several issues of the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. This led to a large number of further modeling engagements, which ultimately culminated in her being ranked No. 45 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2001 and No. 16 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" poll in 2002.
As of February 2024, she has amassed 224,000 followers on her Instagram platform.
