Eva Mendes

Eva Mendes is an American actress, model and businesswoman. She began acting in the late 1990s. After a series of roles in B movies such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998) and Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000), she made a career-changing appearance in Training Day (2001). Since then, Mendes has co-starred in films such as All About the Benjamins (2002), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Ghost Rider (2007), We Own the Night (2007), Stuck on You (2003), Hitch (2005), opposite Will Smith. and The Other Guys (2010). She has appeared in several music videos for artists like Will Smith. Mendes has been a model and ambassador for Cocio chocolate milk, Magnum ice cream, Calvin Klein, Cartier, Thierry Mugler perfume, Reebok, Campari apéritif, Pantene shampoo, Morgan, and Peek & Cloppenburg. She designs a fashion collection for New York & Company and is also the creative director of CIRCA Beauty, a makeup line sold at Walgreens.

Eva de la Caridad Méndez was born in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents Eva Pérez Suárez and Juan Carlos Méndez, and was raised by her mother in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale after her parents' divorce. Mendes grew up a Roman Catholic and at one time even considered becoming a Catholic nun. Her mother worked at Mann's Chinese Theatre and later for an aerospace company, and her father ran a meat distribution business. Mendes had one older brother, Juan Carlos Méndez, Jr. (1963-2016), who died from throat cancer. She has an older sister, Janet, and a younger paternal half-brother, Carlos Alberto "Carlo" Méndez. She attended Hoover High School in Glendale, and later studied marketing at California State University, Northridge, but left college to pursue acting under coach Ivana Chubbuck. Mendes began her acting career after a talent manager saw her photo in a friend's portfolio. Her first film appearance was in the direct-to-video Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998). Mendes was disappointed in her performance and she hired an acting coach. She then appeared in the films A Night at the Roxbury, My Brother the Pig, Urban Legends: Final Cut, and Exit Wounds. Mendes' breakthrough role came when she appeared in Antoine Fuqua's crime thriller Training Day (2001), playing the girlfriend of Denzel Washington's character. This then led to roles in All About the Benjamins (2002), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) (which earned her a nomination at the Teen Choice Awards), Out of Time (2003), and Stuck on You (2003).

She was the female lead in the 2005 film Hitch, making her one of the first minority actors to play the lead in a hit romantic comedy. Mendes subsequently starred in The Wendell Baker Story (2005) with Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell, with Luke Wilson directing, as well as Guilty Hearts (2002), Trust the Man (2005), Ghost Rider (2007), We Own the Night (2007), Live! (2007), and Cleaner (2007). In 2008, she was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performance in the all-female comedy film The Women. Mendes then appeared in The Spirit, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, The Other Guys (2010), Last Night (2010), Fast Five (2011), and a spoof short film for Funny or Die. In 2012, Mendes visited Sierra Leone and was featured in the PBS documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. In 2012, she starred in the crime drama film The Place Beyond the Pines, with Entertainment Weekly describing her performance as "quietly heartbreaking". The following year, she appeared in the HBO comedy film Clear History (2013). Mendes appeared in the Pet Shop Boys' music video for "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" in 1996, Aerosmith's music video for "Hole in My Soul" in 1997, and Will Smith's music video for "Miami" in 1998.

She also appeared in the music video for The Strokes' "The End Has No End" in 2004, and appeared nude in a print advertisement for Calvin Klein's Secret Obsession perfume, an ad which was banned in the United States. In December 2007, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) used a nude photo of Mendes for their anti-fur campaign. She also modeled in a Morgan campaign. Mendes was a spokesmodel for the 2008 Campari calendar. In July 2008, she was announced as the international face of Australia's 30 Days of Fashion & Beauty event. She made guest appearances in that country at the month-long festival in September. Mendes has been a spokesperson for Calvin Klein, Magnum, and the chocolate milk brand Cocio. She also promoted Thierry Mugler's Angel fragrance, Reebok shoes, and Pantene shampoo. In 2011, Mendes appeared in a Peek & Cloppenburg clothing catalog. Mendes has a line of bed linens and dinnerware that is sold at Macy's. In 2010, Mendes sang on "Pimps Don't Cry," a song featured in The Other Guys, and performed a duet with CeeLo Green on "Pimps Don't Cry." In 2011, she recorded a version of "The Windmills of Your Mind."

Along with acting, Eva is employed by Revlon Cosmetics as an international spokeswoman. She joins such elite actresses and models as Julianne Moore, Halle Berry and Cindy Crawford, who appear in Revlon's television and print ads. She is also a passionate supporter and active participant in Revlon's fight against breast cancer. Eva's goals are to improve her acting skills by working with such contemporary directors as Steven Soderbergh, Spike Jonze, Pedro Almodóvar, Robert Rodriguez, Carl Franklin, John Singleton, and Antoine Fuqua and learning from such renowned directors as Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni.

She is the creative director of the makeup brand CIRCA Beauty, which launched exclusively at Walgreens in 2015.

Trade Mark

• Natural brunette hair
• Beauty mark on her left cheek
• Curvaceous, buxom figure
• Seductive deep voice

Trivia

• Is Cuban-American and was raised Roman Catholic.
• Was a marketing major at the California State University, Northridge before she dropped out to pursue acting.
• Is writing a book titled "Crazy Leggs Beshee", inspired by her nieces and nephews, that introduces vocabulary, art, history and values through a medium kids understand.
• Loves interior designing and would undertake this profession if not acting.
• Hobbies are music, hiking, biking, skiing, mountain climbing, and interior design.
• Graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale, California. John Cho, Joseph Hahn and Alex Kalognomos were also students there.
• Has played Denzel Washington's wife/girlfriend twice: Training Day (2001) and Out of Time (2003).
• Her favorite films are Blow-Up (1966) and The Shining (1980).
• Ranked #12 on Maxim magazine's "Hot 100 Women of 2005" list.
• Was among the guests at Jessica Simpson's 25th birthday party.
• Ranked #53 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" supplement.
• Ranked #54 on Maxim magazine's "Hot 100 Women of 2002" list.
• Ranked #80 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2004" supplement.
• Ranked #44 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement.
• Was the speaking voice in Will Smith's song "Miami", and appeared in the music video. In 2005, when she was cast opposite Smith in Hitch (2005), she mentioned this to him during rehearsals. Smith sheepishly admitted that he did not remember her.
• Ranked #7 on Maxim magazine's "Hot 100 Women of 2007" list.
• Speaks Spanish fluently. English is her second language.
• Was originally cast as Susan Ortega in Bruce Almighty (2003) but had to be replaced due to scheduling conflicts.
• On February 7, 2008, she has entered the Cinque Lodge rehab facility in Utah to battle substance abuse issues.
• Ranked #7 on Maxim magazine's "Hot 100 Women of 2008" list. She was also ranked #7 on Maxim's "Hot 100 Women of 2007" list.
• Admires the film Network (1976), which inspired her to star in Live! (2007).
• Is the youngest of four children; she has two sisters (Janet and Becky) and one brother (Juan Carlos, d. 2016). She is the only member of her family to be born in the United States.
• Frequently appeared in Calvin Klein underwear advertising campaigns with Jamie Dornan.
• Ranked #11 on Maxim magazine's "Hot 100 Women of 2010" list.
• Owns a Belgian Malinois dog and gives commands to it in French, because it was trained in this language. Belgian Malinois are similar to Alsatians but considered more intelligent. They are used by United States SEAL teams.
• Was in a relationship with filmmaker George Augusto from 2002 to 2010.
• Dating Ryan Gosling since September 2011.
• Has 2 daughters: Esmeralda Amada Gosling (b. September 12, 2014) & Amada Lee Gosling (b. April 29, 2016) with boyfriend, Ryan Gosling.
• Had an older brother named Juan Carlos Méndez, Jr. (1963-2016), who passed away from throat cancer.
• Her birth name is Eva de la Caridad Méndez, with a z.
• Inducted into the Hair Fan's Hall of Fame in 2012.
• Is friends with Cameron Diaz and Will Smith.
• Is close friends with Liv Tyler. One of Mendes' first jobs as an actor was in the 1997 music video for Aerosmith's "Hole in My Soul". Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is Liv's father.
• Has not acted in a starring role since The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) alongside longtime partner Ryan Gosling, and her last film appearance was a cameo in Gosling's directorial debut Lost River (2014). She has since focused on raising the couple's children and overseeing her successful clothing line with New York & Company.
• Among her favorite directors are David Lynch and Pedro Almodóvar.
• In 2009 was announced to play legendary opera singer Maria Callas in a biopic written specifically for her by Gosford Park writer Julian Fellowes. Despite researching Callas for over five years, including obsessively studying her performances and even getting test photographs done to show her resemblance to Callas, the project eventually fell through.
• Like her partner Ryan Gosling, she has a fascination with the macabre, citing interest in cemeteries and contemporary gothic art.
• Born on the same date as Matt Lucas and Kevin Connolly.
• Before Kate del Castillo played Teresa Mendoza in the Telemundo novela La Reina del Sur, Eva was going to play Teresa in a film version of the book based on the novel by Spanish writer Arturo Pérez-Reverte. The iconic role of Teresa Mendoza has since been played by Alice Braga in a USA Network series.

Personal Quotes

• I wanted to go into art history. Acting fell into my lap when a neighbor took pictures of me and showed them to an agent.
• I wanted to be a nun when I was very little. Well, that was until my sister told me that they don't get paid. Then I went off with that idea quickly.
• The celebrity world can be so ugly. Everyone seems to have slept with everyone else and it's some sort of strange weird cycle. I don't want to get into that.
• I don't go to premieres. I attend film openings I'm in, and that's about it. Fame and celebrity doesn't matter to me. The longevity of my career does.
• I have the hugest... overbite. It's so big, my older brothers and sisters used to call me "Bugs". I looked like a bottle opener. But I've never fixed my bite because it's one of the things that makes me me. I used to get teased about the mole on my left cheek. In junior high, the other kids would say, "You've got some chocolate on your face", and I fell for it every time. I said, "The minute I turn 18 I'm going to get that mole removed!". But I'm happy I didn't. My best feature is my big hips. I've got some nice childbearing hips, and I feel very proud of them. When I was younger, I thought they were too big. I wanted to be slimmer. But now I totally embrace them.
• I'm obsessed with Keira Knightley. I think that she's just got it down. She takes chances, she's edgy, but she's always a lady. She is so unconventionally beautiful.
• I know I walk a fine line between being a respected actor and being what they call a sex symbol. It's a hard one to walk if you want to be known as a real, credible actor. But I've never felt objectified. Nothing you see me do is an accident. I might act like it's an accident, but the opposite is true. I'm incredibly calculated when it comes to my career.
• I don't believe in the institution of marriage, for me. If you love somebody and have a commitment that is strong and spiritual, then I just don't think a piece of paper makes any difference. I'm part of that whole school of thought that says when homosexuals can get married, maybe I'll start opening my mind to it.
• I feel I'll take on the responsibility of showing the world a whole different kind of Latin woman.
• It's fun to be a woman. It's fun to flirt and wear makeup and have boobs.
• I grew up right by Glendale Galleria in Los Angeles and I loved the women who spritzed perfume at the makeup counters. When I was in 7th grade, I went to an Estée Lauder counter and the woman asked if I would like a sample - she gave me Knowing. I've loved it and have been wearing it ever since because, in my mind, it smells exactly like a woman should smell. My mother still gives it to me every year for Christmas.
• It's Eh-va. But honestly, I just go by Ay-va, because if you don't speak Spanish, my proper name is hard to pronounce.