EVA MENDES

'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'' and ''Hitch''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Mendes was born in Miami, Florida^[2] to "lower-middle-class"² 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 is a car salesman and her mother, Eva, is now an elementary school principal. As a child, Mendes was teased about her "buck teeth."² She went to Hoover High School in Glendale, California and later attended California State University, Northridge but dropped out to seek an acting career. She studied with Ivana Chubbuck. Mendes has a sister, Janet, who currently lives in Los Angeles.

Career

Mendes worked her way up through commercials to music videos (including an appearance in Will Smith's video "Miami" and a Pet Shop Boys music video in 1996) to guest roles in television soap operas and supporting film roles. 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. She has been in multiple major movie projects, the more recent, ''Ghost Rider'', in which she costars along with Nicolas Cage. Eva also stars alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Duvall in the upcoming film ''We Own the Night'', set to open on October 12, 2007.
Mendes is a spokesmodel for Revlon. She has also worked in interior design and has written children's books. ''Maxim'' ranked her #27 in its 2006 Hot 100 issue ^[3]and # 7 in 2007 ^[4]. In July of 2007, Eva also appeared on the cover of the last issue of Jane Magazine. ^[5]

Personal life

Mendes has been in a long-term relationship with film maker George Gargurevich.^[6] She lives in the Hollywood Hills.² When not on the set she loves music, hiking, biking, skiing, mountain climbing and interior design. Her favorite movies are ''The Shining'' (1980), ''Blowup'' (1966) and '' (2004)..

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	''	Kir
	''A Night at the Roxbury''	Bridesmaid
1999	''My Brother the Pig''	Matilda
2000	''The Disciples''	Maria Serranco
	''	Vanessa Valdeon
2001	''Exit Wounds''	Trish
	''Training Day''	Sara
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
	''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
2008	''Cleaner''	Ann Norcut
	''The Women''	TBA
2009	''The Spirit''	Sand Saref	[7]

References

1. Born in 1974 according to NY Times Movie Guide, although sometimes 1978 is listed, for instance at AskMen.com and as mentioned on ''Entertainment Tonight'' on March 5, 2007.
2. Viva Eva - one gutsy, cool chick Sal Morgan
3. Hot 100
4. Hot 100
5. Eva appears on Jane's last cover
6. Eva Mendes Biography
7. Mendes moved to join 'Spirit'

External links

★

★ Eva Mendes video interview with stv.tv/movies for ''Ghost Rider''