Her status as a Latina bomba is not enough for her! Eva Mendès, wants to take
up other challenges than those which condemn her to the roles of foil, and
secretly hopes to know the career of her models Julianne Moore or Annette
Bening.
Born on March 5, 1974 to Cuban parents, the actress is the youngest of four
children and the only one to be born in the United States, in Florida in
Miami. After her parents' divorce, she grew up in the suburb of Glendale, Los
Angeles. Very quickly, she abandoned her marketing studies and the University
of Northridge to devote herself to acting, advised by coach Ivana Chubbuck.
After a remarkable debut in successful series (Urgences in 1998) she landed
her first major role in 2001 with Training Day alongside Denzel Washington.
She continues with equally muscular blockbusters, 2 Fast 2 Furious and
Desperado in 2002. For the filming of the jet ski scenes in the comedy Hitch,
she trains diligently with her partner Will Smith. Nothing scares this sports
enthusiast who practices yoga, bodybuilding and fitness daily. No wonder
Reebook chose her in 2011 to be the face of their Easytone fitness collection.
Since 2007, notably with The Night Belongs to Us by James Gray, she has begun
a turning point in her career and offers a new facet of her acting game by
breaking her image as a sex symbol. Thus we also see her appear in Leos
Carax's film, Holy Motors, in 2012. However, she does not forget the
cinematographic genre which made her famous and turns in the sequel to Fast
and Furious in 2011 or Very Bad Cops (2010). Cosmetics brands offer her many
advertising contracts, she notably signs with Revlon, Calvin Klein or Thierry
Mugler.
The actress shares the life of Ryan Gosling, met on the set of the film The
Place beyond the pines, released in 2013. She previously had a long romance
with the director of Peruvian origin, Georges Augusto (2000-2010). When she's
not walking on the arm of Ryan Gosling, you can see the actress walking in
Beverly Hills with Hugo...a Malinois shepherd, her other bodyguard. In July
2014, persistent rumors revealed that Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling were
expecting a child. On September 12, 2014, the actress gave birth to a baby
girl named Esmeralda Amada. On April 29, 2016, the family grew with the birth
of their second daughter, Amada.
