Real Cuban Heat, and her name is Eva Mendes!

Born in Miami to Cuban-American parents, Eva moved with her mother to Los Angeles after her parents divorced. While attending Hoover High School in Glendale, California (which is like a less Burbank-y Burbank), Eva was often teased about her buck teeth, overbite and facial mole. (Oh, how times change.) After dropping out of Cal-State Northridge to pursue acting, she snagged early thespian work in guest roles on soap operas and as a tightly dressed vixen in music videos for Pet Shop Boys and Will Smith. (Eva not only appears in Smith’s video for "Miami," she’s the sexy bilingual voice behind the lyric, "Welcome to Miami…Bienvenido a Miami.")

Her major career jump came as Denzel Washington’s girlfriend in the quite-badass Training Day (with Charlotte Ayanna). The much-deserved attention she gained from that role (FYI, she’s naked in it) led to parts in All About the Benjamins (Carmen Chaplin, Valarie Rae Miller), 2 Fast 2 Furious, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Out of Time, Stuck on You and—coming full circle—opposite Will Smith in the romantic comedy Hitch (Amber Valletta, Julie Ann Emery).

More recently, Eva shared an impressively erotic sex scene with Joaquin Phoenix in We Own the Night, and in 2008 she’ll star as shopgirl Crystal Allen in The Women (Meg Ryan, Jada Pinkett Smith). We only wish all the women in The Women could look as great as Eva.

Before Eva got her big break, she sold hot dogs at ‘Hot Dog on a Stick’ at Glendale Galleria Mall in California.

Eva's favorite films are The Shining and Blow up.

back to top