Salma Hayek - The Latin Goddess

Quote:

“I expected him to be a bit nuts. But when we were naked he never looked down one time at my naked body - he looked me in my eyes.”

Early Life and Career

This hot and sexy Salma Hayek was born in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico on the 2nd of September 1966, she is the daughter of a Lebanese oil company executive and a Mexican opera singer. Her family, devout Catholic, was well off and sent her to a boarding school in Louisiana when she was 12. Her education included a stint at a New Orleans convent school, where she pulled pranks on the nuns by setting their clocks back three hours. The nuns running the school asked her to leave because of bad behavior she was soon expelled. She returned to Mexico, only after attending Mexico City's Universidad Iberoamericana did she feel ready to pursue acting seriously. After having seen Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory on 1971 in a local movie theatre, Salma decided she wanted to become an actress. Shortly after she dropped out of college to become an actress she landed a role in "Teresa" a mexican soap opera that made her a star, then in 1991 moved to Los Angeles to study acting under the legendary Stella Adler. She returned to Mexico to film El callejón de los milagros which won more awards than any other film in the history of Mexican Cinema.

After Robert Rodriguez cast her in Desperado Hollywood came calling and she quickly became one of the biggest stars in the world. She has appeared in From Dusk till Dawn (Juliet Lewis), The Faculty (Jordana Brewster, Famke Jansen), Wild Wild West (Frederique Van Der Wal) and Across the Universe (Evan Rachel Wood, T.V. Carpio). It is however, her career as a producer which boosted her to a 4th place ranking in the Hollywood Reporter’s list of the most powerful Latinas in Hollywood. Jennifer Lopez was only 10th. She produced Frida, which she also starred in and received an Oscar nomination and she is the producer of the Emmy winning show “Ugly Betty” (America Ferarra, Rebecca Romijn). At the age of 23, Hayek landed the title role in Teresa on 1989, a successful Mexican telenovela that made her a star in Mexico. In 1994, Hayek starred in the film El Callejón de los Milagros (Miracle Alley), which has won more awards than any other movie in the history of Mexican cinema.

Personal Life

Hayek is a naturalized U.S. citizen. She dated actor Edward Norton between 1999 and 2003, and then Josh Lucas in 2003. She has friends in Los Angeles and Mexico and is best friends with Spanish actress Penélope Cruz. The two co-starred in the 2006 film Bandidas. Hayek studied at Ramtha's School of Enlightenment.

On March 9, 2007, Hayek confirmed she was expecting her first child with PPR CEO Francois-Henri Pinault. On September 21, 2007, she gave birth to daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

On July 18, 2008 she and Pinault announced the end of their engagement.

Her brother, Sami Hayek,is a designer with his own line of products at Target and clients that include Louis Vuitton, Brad Pitt, and the Mexican Government.

Hayek has been a spokesperson for Avon cosmetics since February 2004. She formerly served in the same function for Revlon in 1998. In 2001, she modeled for Chopard and was featured in 2006 Campari adverts as photographed by Mario Testino. On April 3, she helped introduce La Doña, a watch by Cartier inspired by fellow Mexican actress María Félix.

She was also featured in a series of Spanish language commercials for Lincoln cars. Consequently, sales of the Lincoln Navigator among Hispanics increased by twelve percentage points.