De la Huerta was raised by her mother, along with her older sister Rafaela de la Paz (born November 5, 1981) in the New York City neighborhood of SoHo, located in Lower Manhattan. Her parents are Ricardo Ignacio de la Huerta y Ozores, the Spanish XVII Duke of Mandas and Villanueva (born November 17, 1944, in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain), and Judith Bruce (born October 23, 1946, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States). De la Huerta was born with recurrent cystic hygroma under her arm, which she has had treated with multiple surgeries. Her mother worked as an authority on birth control and women\'s issues in Third World countries. She attended private Saint Ann\'s School in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, with fellow student and future fashion designer, Zac Posen, for whom she has since modeled. She also attended the performing arts camp Buck\'s Rock. De la Huerta spent summers with her father in Spain while attending high school.\n', '

De la Huerta began modeling in her adolescence and became a runway model before transitioning into film. She made her film debut with a small role in the 1998 romantic comedy The Object of My Affection, and the next year appeared opposite Michael Caine and Charlize Theron in The Cider House Rules.\n', '

In 2002, she appeared opposite Shane West and Mandy Moore in A Walk to Remember, an American coming-of-age romantic drama film based on the Nicholas Sparks\' novel. The film opened at No. 3 at the U.S. box office raking in $12,177,488 in its opening weekend, behind Snow Dogs and Black Hawk Down. Even though not a critical success, it was a modest box office hit, earning $41,281,092 in the United States alone, and a sleeper hit in Asia. The total revenue generated worldwide was $47,494,916.\n', '

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