Valentina Vargas

'Valentina Vargas' (qv) is a Chilean-born French actress. She developed most of her career in France, where she was raised.Vargas began her career in the dramatic art within the workshop of Tania Balachova in Paris and also later at the Yves Pignot School of Los Angeles. Her cinematographic career started via the filming of three French movies, namely Pierre Jolivet's _Strictly Personal (1985)_ (qv), Luc Besson's _The Big Blue (1988)_ (qv) and Jean-Jacques Annaud's _The Name of the Rose (1986)_ (qv). Over the years, Vargas also worked with Samuel Fuller in _Street of No Return (1989)_ (qv), Miguel Littín in _Los Náufragos (1994)_ (qv) and Alfredo Arieta in _Fuegos (1987)_ (qv).Vargas is trilingual in Spanish, French and English. This has enabled her to pass without notice in films as varied as the cinematic horror film _Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)_ (qv) where she played the Cenobite Angelique, to the comedy _Chili con carne (1999)_ (qv) of Thomas Gilou. She appeared opposite Jan Michael Vincent (_Dirty Games (1989)_ (qv)), Malcolm McDowell and Michael Ironside (_Southern Cross (1999)_ (qv)), and James Remar (_Die Tigerin (1992)_ (qv)).After her performance in _Bloody Mallory (2002)_ (qv) where she played "Lady Valentine/Carmina Belladone", she turned to playing roles for television. Initially she played in a version of _Dangerous Liaisons (2003)_ (qv) directed by Josée Dayan. She starred in this production with Catherine Deneuve, Rupert Everett, Leelee Sobieski and Nastassja Kinski.::Frederic JANES