Eva Mendes
About
Biography
Biography
A growing interest in Latin American film and TV talent during the 1990s helped propel actress Eva Mendes from B-movie supporting player to Hollywood star and sex symbol. Her supporting role as Denzel Washington's girlfriend-on-the-side in "Training Day" (2001) put Mendes on the map, and she continued to woo male fans with action offerings like "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003) and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" (2003). Mendes' pop-culture presence rapidly grew out of proportion to her actual on-screen time, and she became a favorite fashion model, Revlon spokeswoman and a boon to the animal-rights cause PETA when she posed nude in an advertisement that claimed the actress would rather go naked than wear fur. Regardless of the hype surrounding the leggy starlet, Mendes proved that she had real acting talent, offering up increasingly well-received performances in the hit comedy "Hitch" (2005) and the comic-strip-based crime drama "The Spirit" (2008). With over a dozen film credits to her name and an increasing number of successful business ventures, the tough trailblazer emerged as an important role model for the growing ranks of aspiring Latin American entertainers.
Born on March 5, 1974 in Miami, FL, Mendes moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was two years old. Of Cuban descent, her parents fled the island in 1959 before the revolution, but ultimately split up when Mendes was 10 years old. Her mother worked as an accountant to support the family, and was very strict with Mendes and her three elder siblings. She was not even thinking about an acting career when, while attending Cal State Northridge and majoring in marketing, a stroke of luck changed her life forever. Her neighbor - a photographer - took some photographs of her to use in his portfolio and a casting agent noticed the pictures and asked to meet Mendes. The 24-year-old was plucked from obscurity and cast in the straight-to-video release "Children of the Corn V: Field of Terror" (1998).
Mendes was determined not to let her career be defined by a cheesy horror flick, so she began taking acting lessons and got serious about success. She landed newcomer acting gigs in commercials and music videos and added a few more feature films to her resume including "Night at the Roxbury" (1998) starring Will Farrell and Chris Kattan, and "Urban Legends: Final Cut" (2000). Mendes finally got a profile boost in the critically acclaimed "Training Day" (2001) starring Denzel Washington, which generated some buzz over the actress' nudity. The same year, she appeared in Steven Seagal's actioner "Exit Wounds" (2001) and earned a bigger supporting role in "All About the Benjamins" (2002), a diamond heist comedy starring Ice Cube and Mike Epps.
In her first leading screen role, Mendes played an undercover U.S. customs agent who works with a pair of race car drivers (Paul Walker and Tyrese) to ensnare a drug kingpin in John Singleton's "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2002) - the sequel to "The Fast and the Furious" (2001). Mendes' flair for action material led Robert Rodriguez to cast her in the third installment of his Mariachi trilogy, "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" (2003), in which she played a duplicitous Mexican Federale to Johnny Depp's rogue CIA agent. She reunited with Denzel Washington for director Carl Franklin's thriller "Out of Time" (2003), playing the estranged wife of Washington's Florida Chief of Police whose life falls apart when he becomes embroiled in a murder investigation. Around this time, Mendes' became a spokesmodel for Revlon and began to show a little more versatility as an actress with her co-starring role as a gossip reporter who falls for a relationship consultant (Will Smith) she is pursuing for a story in the romantic comedy, "Hitch" (2005).
In the independent romantic comedy "Trust the Man" (2006), Mendes delivered a strong supporting performance as an old college friend who engages in an affair with a guy (Billy Crudup) trapped in a dysfunctional relationship with a longtime girlfriend (Maggie Gyllenhaal) looking to start a family. Mendes raised her profile significantly with the blockbuster comic-book adaptation "Ghost Rider" (2007), playing the childhood sweetheart of a superstar stunt motorcycle rider who becomes bounty hunter of rogue demons (Nicolas Cage). She took on another "girlfriend" role opposite crooked club owner Joaquin Phoenix in the successful crime drama "We Own the Night" (2007), and leveraged her sex appeal again as a cosmetic-counter siren who lures a husband away from his wife in the disappointing remake of George Cukor's classic 1939 film "The Women" (2008). The high-profile actress and spokeswoman expanded her ventures with the release of a line of bedding and a deal to model for Calvin Klein, ending a busy year with a co-starring role in "The Spirit" (2008), a dark comic-book adaptation helmed by Frank Miller.
Reuniting with Cage for Werner Herzog's seedy crime drama "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" (2009), Mendes later returned to lighter fare with a much different kind of cop film, the goofy comedy "The Other Guys" (2010), starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. In 2012, she switched things up yet again, appearing in Leos Carax's mesmerizing art-house film "Holy Motors," before starring with long-rumored boyfriend Ryan Gosling in the tense and sprawling drama "The Place Beyond the Pines." The following year, she finally acknowledged her relationship with Gosling, and filmed her role in his directorial debut, "How to Catch a Monster" (2014).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1998
Had her first screen credit in "A Night at the Roxbury"
2000
Was cast as Vanessa in horror sequel "Urban Legends: Final Cut"
2001
Landed breakout role opposite Denzel Washington in "Training Day"
2001
Was cast alongside Steven Seagal and DMX in "Exit Wounds"
2003
Co-starred with Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear in Farrelly brothers comedy "Stuck on You"
2003
Reunited with Denzel Washington in "Out of Time"
2003
Appeared in Robert Rodriguez's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," the final film in his "Mariachi Trilogy"
2003
Was cast as the female lead in John Singleton's "2 Fast 2 Furious"
2005
Was cast as the object of Will Smith's affection in romantic comedy "Hitch"
2006
Was cast opposite Billy Crudup in Bart Freundlich's "Trust the Man"
2006
Appeared in Lee Daniels' indie film "Shadowboxer"
2007
Co-starred with brothers Luke and Owen Wilson in "The Wendell Baker Story"; co-directed by Luke and Andrew Wilson
2007
Appeared with Joaquin Phoenix and Robert Duvall in "We Own the Night"
2008
Was featured in Diane English's female ensemble "The Women," a remake of 1936 play by Clare Boothe Luce
2008
Played Sand Saref and title character's childhood friend in Frank Miller's adaptation of "The Spirit"
2009
Co-starred with Nicolas Cage in Werner Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans"
2010
Cast opposite Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell in action-comedy "The Other Guys"
2011
Made writing and directorial debut with short film "California Romanza"
2012
Starred as a single mom in comedy-drama "Girl in Progress"
2012
Co-starred with Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling in "The Place Beyond the Pines"
2014
Appeared in her final acting role to-date in partner Ryan Gosling's fantasy drama "Lost River"
Family
