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 film production company Tre Vänner was adapting the book for the big screen he set his sights on starring as the Swedish-Chilean drug dealer Jorge Salinas. Varela convinced the director
Daniel Espinosa to give him a screen test. Espinosa, who himself is of Chilean descent, had stated he wanted someone with roots in
Chile, and Varela would eventually land the role. and Varela went on to star in both sequels:
Easy Money II: Hard to Kill (2012) and
Easy Money III: Life Deluxe (2013). He also got the part of Police Detective Jorge Chavez in the big budget TV series
Arne Dahl. In series 2
Alexander Salzberger replaced him. Varela had his first international role in an episode of
Covert Affairs as a
Basque terrorist. In 2013 he was in several episodes of
Showtime's
The Borgias in the prominent part of
Ferdinand II of Naples. Among his projects in 2015 and 2016 were
Johan Renck's quirky crime drama
Ettor och nollor alongside his old friend Gustaf Skarsgård, the 2015 remake
Point Break, and the video game adaptation ''
Assassin's Creed'', with
Michael Fassbender. In 2017, he starred as
Jorge Salcedo Cabrera, the head of security for the
Cali Cartel in season three of the
Netflix series
Narcos. In 2020, he reprised the role in the second season of
Narcos: Mexico. In 2019 he co-starred again with Gustaf Skarsgård in
438 dagar (
438 Days) based on the true story of two Swedish journalists who spent over year in an Ethiopian prison;
Fartblinda (2019, 2022), a Swedish TV series set in the world of finance; and American independent film
Heavy. In 2020, he starred in
HBO Max's
Raised by Wolves by director
Ridley Scott and
Scott Free Productions. In 2025, he has a supporting role in the romantic comedy feature
The Dance Club. ==Personal life==