Eva Mendes

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Eva Mendes
Mendes in Paris, January 2008
Born	Eva Mendes March 5, 1974 (1974-03-05) (age 34) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1998-present

Eva Mendes (born March 5, 1974^[1]) is an American actress. She began acting in the late 1990s, and became known after a series of roles in several major Hollywood films, including 2 Fast 2 Furious, Hitch, Training Day, Ghost Rider and We Own the Night.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Filmography 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Mendes was born in Miami,^[2] to Cuban-American parents and was raised in Los Angeles by her mother after her parents' divorce; Mendes has said that her mother "suffered so much to make my life OK" during her early years.^[2] Her father was a car salesman and her mother, also named Eva, is now an elementary school principal. She is the youngest of four children (she has two sisters and a brother). She was raised Catholic and aspired to be a nun.^[3] As a child, Mendes was teased about her "buck teeth".^[2]

As a child she lived in both Miami, Florida, and Los Angeles, California. She never saw herself as an actress while she was young and deigned to pursue other interests. She attended Hoover High School in Glendale, California and later attended California State University, Northridge to study Marketing, but dropped out after meeting boyfriend Zedrick Threatt, who helped her to seek an acting career. She studied with Ivana Chubbuck.

[edit] Career

One day she caught the eye of an agent who convinced her to pursue acting more steadily. Mendes worked her way up through commercials to music videos (including an appearance in Will Smith's video "Miami" and the Pet Shop Boys music video for "Se a vida é (That’s the way life is)" in 1996 and Aerosmith's video "Hole in My Soul" in 1997) to guest roles in soap operas and supporting film roles. Her first film appearance was in the direct to video Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror.

She received her first big-screen break when she appeared in the award-winning and critically-acclaimed Training Day. That performance led to roles in Stuck on You, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and as the female lead in the comedy Hitch opposite Will Smith. Her role in Once Upon a Time in Mexico also gave her a nomination at the Teen Choice Awards. Mendes has also been in commercials for Gushers, Revlon, and Levi's. Mendes costarred in Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage, and most recently she starred alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Duvall in the film We Own the Night.

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.

Maxim ranked her #7 in its 2007 Hot 100 issue.^[4] Mendes also made her second Maxim cover in the November 2007 issue.^[5]

Mendes, despite resisting offers from Playboy, appeared naked in Flaunt Magazine. Although her breasts weren't exposed, readers did get to see her bare back and buttocks. Mendes said about the shoot, "I actually did a little nude shot. You won't see anything. I was covering myself... but I love Flaunt. I think their artwork is some of the best artwork out there as far as photography is concerned, so I took it off. I felt really comfortable, it was fun. There's something really liberating about it."

In December 2007, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) used a nude photo of Mendes for their anti-fur campaign alongside the tagline "Fur? I'd rather go naked." Mendes is also a spokesmodel for the 2008 Calendar of Campari, inspired in fairy tales, by photographer Marino Parisotto.^[6]

In 2008, Eva starred in The Women, a comedy ensemble film featuring Meg Ryan, Annette Bening and Debra Messing. The film, which was produced by Victoria Pearman and Mick Jagger of Jagged Films, Bill Johnson of Inferno Productions, and English, is being released by Picturehouse, a joint venture of HBO and New Line Cinema.

Mendes was voted as No. 4 in the 2008 edition of AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women.

Eva Mendes posed topless with her breasts exposed for Vogue Italy in May, 2008.^[7]

[edit] Personal life

It was reported on January 31, 2008 Mendes has been in a rehab facility in Utah to battle a substance abuse problem for several weeks.^[8] Her representative told TMZ that she has been "working hard for the past year and made a positive decision to take some much-needed time off to proactively attend to some personal issues that, while not critical, she felt deserved some outside professional support. Out of respect for Eva's privacy, we do not wish to discuss further details."^[9]

[edit] Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror	Kir
	A Night at the Roxbury	Bridesmaid
1999	My Brother the Pig	Matilda
2000	The Disciples	Maria Serranco
	Urban Legends: Final Cut	Vanessa Valdeon
2001	Exit Wounds	Trish
	Training Day	Sara Harris
2002	All About the Benjamins	Gina
2003	2 Fast 2 Furious	Monica Fuentes
	Once Upon a Time in Mexico	Ajedrez
	Out of Time	Alex Diaz Whitlock
	Stuck on You	April
2005	Hitch	Sara Melas
	The Wendell Baker Story	Doreen
	3 & 3	Gabriella
2006	Trust the Man	Faith
2007	Ghost Rider	Roxanne Simpson
	Knocked Up	Herself	(uncredited)
	We Own the Night	Amada Juarez
	Live!	Katy
	Cleaner	Ann Norcut
2008	The Women	Crystal Allen	awaiting release
	The Spirit[10]	Sand Saref	post-production

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Eva Mendes at the Internet Movie Database
• Eva Mendes video interview with stv.tv/movies for Ghost Rider
• Eva Mendes' Maxim November Cover

Persondata
NAME	Mendes, Eva
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actress
DATE OF BIRTH	5 March 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH	Miami, Florida
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH