Jelena Veljaca was born April 23, 1981 in Zagreb, Croatia is a Croatian actress and screenwriter. Veljaca is best known in the role of "Maja Zupan" in the Croatian telenovela Ljubav u zaledu Love in the Offside. She also appeared in the first Croatian telenovela ever Villa Maria. She has also co-written the script for the telenovelas Obicni ljudi Ordinary people and Ponos Ratkajevih (Pride of the Ratkaj Family). She also appeared in the Croatian political thriller series Urota. In 2006 it was announced that she would be one of the writers on the upcoming Croatian edition of Survivor. Her 2009 book Mama vam je cijelo vrijeme lagala is a collection of weekly newspaper columns written for Jutarnji list.