Background
Celi, a Mexican-American, was born Araceli Valdez in El Paso, Texas, one of six children.
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Ara Celi
Edit ProfileEducation
She attended J. M. Hanks High School, graduating in 1992. She later attended the University of Texas at El Paso.
Career
She had a starring role in the minor 1997 dance movie Looking for Lola, but she is probably best known for her role as Ampata Gutierrez aka "Inca Mummy Girl" from season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She is now most often seen in television advertisements alongside an Austin Powers impersonator for a car dealership in Austin, Texas. While at Hanks, she appeared in student productions of Splendor in the Grass, Crimes of the Heart, and The Wiz.
She moved to Mexico at age 18 where she had a role on a Spanish language soap opera.
After three months she decided to move to Los Angeles where she landed a guest appearance on Saved by the Bell: The College Years. She made several other guest appearances in television series including The Brothers García, Nip/Tuck and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
In 1999, she played Raquel Dion Santos in a nine-month attachment to All My Children. She was also in Bruce Almighty, American Beauty and From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman"s Daughter, playing Esmeralda.
She acted in the 2000 independent feature film Go Fish, directed by Lawrence L. Simeone.
She has also provided her voice as Katarina DeLeon in Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat. She recently played a reporter in Robert Rodriguez" film Machete (2010).
Achievements
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Born
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Nationality
United States