Ana Layevska: Biography

Anna Laevski Rastsvetaeva (Ukrainian: Анна Лаєвська Расцвєтаєва) (born January 10, 1982), better known as Ana Layevska, is a Ukrainian-Mexican actress. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Ana is the only child of Ukrainian parents, actor and actress: Sergei Laevski and Inna Rastsvetaeva. Ana and her family moved to Mexico when she was nine years old. She started playing the violin when she was five and started acting upon moving to Mexico.

In Mexico Ana studied acting in the Centro de Educación Artística of Televisa. Thanks to her skills she obtained some roles in novelas such as Preciosa (1998) and Amor Gitano (1999), acting with Mauricio Islas and Mariana Seoane. Those were relatively small roles but they were good experience as well.

Eventually, producer Pedro Damián called her to participate in telenovelas Primer amor... a mil por hora (2000), in which she shared credits with Kuno Becker, Mauricio Islas, Valentino Lanús and Anahí. She won the TVyNovelas Award for best female revelation, as well as the Palmas de Oro prize in the same category.

In 2001, she starred in her first film, In the Time of the Butterflies, where she had the opportunity of acting with Salma Hayek and Edward James Olmos. In 2005, she participated in the reality TV show Bailando Por Un Sueño, where celebrities are paired with contestants in a dance-based competition. Despite being unpopular with the judges, she was saved from eviction three times by public telephone voting, eventually placing third overall.

Her most recent appearance is in the hit telenovela El Fantasma de Elena as Elena Calcaño from Telemundo Studios. She will be taking her second Main Villain role in Telemundo's Mi Corazón Insiste alongside of Jencarlos Canela, Carmen Villalobos, and Angelica Maria. In 2012, she will be a part of Telemundo's Relaciones Peligrosas as Paty, a Main Lead Role, alongside Sandra Echeverría, Maritza Bustamante, & Gabriel Coronel.

Other than acting, Layevska also sings and plays two instruments: violin and piano. When she was younger, she took classes in classical music.

She is fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish and English. She stands at 5' 6½".In 2013 she is going to start along with Mauricio Ochmann the Soap opera Veronica decide morir, an adaptation of the novel of Paulo Coelho.