Sexy Eva Mendes 2 Fast 2 Furious, Hitch and We Own the Night

Sexy Eva Mendes 2 Fast 2 Furious, Hitch and We Own the Night

Eva Mendes

Mendes in Paris in January 2008
Born     March 5, 1974 (1974-03-05) (age 33)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Occupation     Actress

Eva Mendes (born March 16, 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 and We Own the Night.
Contents

    * 1 Biography
          o 1.1 Early life
          o 1.2 Career
    * 2 Personal life
    * 3 Filmography
    * 4 References
    * 5 External links

Biography

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 is a car salesman and her mother, Eva, is now an elementary school principal. She had a Catholic upbringing and aspired to be a nun.[3] 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 to study Marketing but dropped out after meeting boyfriend Zedrick Threatt, who helped her to seek an acting career. She studied with Ivana Chubbuck.

Career

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.

Mendes made her big-screen debut in 1998 in the horror film Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. Later that year she had a memorable role in A Night at the Roxbury starring opposite Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan. "It was only my second job in the business," she says, "and seeing them work and have fun made me decide that I could do it too."

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 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, Mendes posed nude for the anti-fur campaign of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) 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 hilarious ensemble film featuring Meg Ryan, Annette Benning 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.

Personal life

It was reported on January 31, 2008, that Mendes has been in a rehab facility in Utah to battle a substance abuse problem for several weeks. Her representative tells TMZ "Eva 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." [7]

Her hobbies are music, sports (hiking, biking, skiing, and mountain climbing) and interior design, and would undertake the previous profession if not acting.

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    
2008     Cleaner     Ann Norcut    
The Women     Crystal Allen    
2009     The Spirit [8]     Sand Saref