Eva Mendes Biography:

Fresh, artistic and stunning, Latino actress Eva Mendes shot to sexy celebrity stardom on pure chance and timing. Just six years before her starring role in “2 Fast 2 Furious” (2003), the sequel to the surprising smash hit, “The Fast and the Furious” starring Vin Diesel in 2001, Mendes was not even considering an acting career, much less actively seeking one. But destiny shined it’s light on the vigorous artist, and with her enthusiasm and gusto for life, held the moment and never looked back.

Born on March 5, 1978 in Miami Florida, Eva Mendes relocated to Los Angeles with her family when she was three years old. Of Cuban descent, her parents left the island in 1959 before the revolution, but eventually divorced when Mendes was ten. Her mother worked as an accountant to carry the family, and was very firm with Mendes and her three elder siblings. Mendes later attended California State University Northridge where she majored in marketing, despite the fact that she wasn’t that interested in the subject.

Then a stroke of luck and chance changed her life forever - her neighbor took a series of photographs of her at a garage sale - and when he was later applying for a job, a casting agent noticed the pictures of Mendes and asked to meet her. Mendes was summoned to their office and was soon hired and cast in her first movie, the direct to video release “Children of the Corn V: Field of Terror” (1998). The encounter was not a pleasant one for Mendes - her work was, according to her, “dreadful.”

Determined not to let her career be defined by a tasteless horror film, Eva Mendes attended several acting classes and spent the next few years in dedicated study of her craft. Eva got a few small roles in television commercials and music videos, including Will Smith’s “Miami” and Aerosmith’s “Hole in My Soul.” Mendes also appeared in better quality projects and movies, including “Night at the Roxbury” (1998), starring Saturday Night Live Will Farrell and Chris Kattan, and then “Urban Legends: Final Cut” (2000), with Jennifer Morrison and Matthew Davis.

Her break out role was in the well received “Training Day” (2001), starring Oscar winner Denzel Washington. Though her role as Washington’s love interest was tiny, it was brilliant; in a film illuminating the acting talents of its lead actors, Mendes showed something a little different - her entire body - as she played a nude scene where various camera angles showed her complete naked body. Mendes went on to emerge in Steven Seagal’s comeback action thriller, “Exit Wounds” (2001), co-staring rap music legend and star DMX. She also played a supporting role in “All About the Benjamins” (2002), a diamond theft comedy starring Ice Cube and Mike Epps. Then came her star role in “2 Fast 2 Furious”, co-starring Paul Walker and Tyrese.

Mendes then portrayed a United States Customs agent who employees Walker and Tyrese to catch a drug kingpin. Her talent for action led Paul Rodriguez to hire and cast her in the third installment of his Mariachi trilogy, “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” with a star studded cast including Antonio Banderas, Johnny Depp and Salma Hayek in 2003, in which she played a two-faced Mexican agent to Johnny Depp’s wild CIA agent. Then the actress teamed with Denzel Washington and Dean Cain for director Carl Franklin’s action thriller “Out of Time” (2003), playing the separated wife of Washington’s Florida chief of police whose life falls apart when he becomes mixed up in a murder investigation. 

Eva Mendes also became a spokesmodel for Revlon. As she became more famous and with her celebrity presence in the pop culture, her movie profile rose as well with her being cast in the starring role as Will Smith's romantic love interest, a gossip reporter innocently falling for a relationship counselor she's also writing a story about, in the romantic comedy "Hitch" (2005).

In the black romantic comedy “Trust the Man” starring David Duchovny (2005), Mendes gave a solid supporting performance as an old university friend who has a love affair with a man (Billy Crudup) trapped in a broken relationship with a longtime girlfriend (Maggie Gyllenhaal) looking to start a family. 

Mendes increased her status as sexy celebrity significantly with the blockbuster comic book variation “Ghost Rider” (2007), portraying the childhood sweetheart of a megastar stunt motorcycle rider (Nicolas Cage) who makes a deal with the devil to protect his loved ones, but finds himself paying the price by being unwillingly transformed into a bounty hunter of rogue demons. 

Eva Mendes then was cast in the movie “The Wendell Baker Story” (2007), the directing debut of brothers Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson about a good natured conman (Luke Wilson) who, after being released from prison, finds a job at a nursing home, only to control a brave rebellion against the home’s evil nurse (Owen Wilson).

• Born:
  on 03/05/1978 in Houston, Texas
• Job Titles:
  Actress

Family

• Mother: Eva Mendes.

Significant Others

• Companion: George Augusto.

Education

• California State Northridge, Northridge, California, marketing

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