She secretly married her boyfriend and announced it with her tattoo: Who is Eva Mendes?

The unknowns of the life and career of actress and designer Eva Mendes, who gained great fame with her films "Hitch" and "2 Fast 2 Furious" and is seen as a sex symbol in many media outlets because of her beauty. 

By Stephen McWright Published on 26 Ocak 2023 : 23:06.
She secretly married her boyfriend and announced it with her tattoo: Who is Eva Mendes?

Eva Mendes was born on March 5, 1974 in Miami, Florida. Mendes' parents are Eva Pérez Suárez and Juan Carlos Méndez. Eva Mendes is of Cuban descent. Mendes was raised by her mother in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles after her parents divorced. She attended Hoover High School in Glendale and later studied marketing at California State University, Northridge. But she dropped out of college to pursue acting under Ivana Chubbuck.

Mendes started her acting career after a talent manager saw a herself photo. Her first movie role was as one of a group of teenagers who went missing in Central America in the direct to video horror movie Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. Mendes was disappointed with her performance and soon hired an acting coach.

She then had the bridesmaid role with Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan in the comedy A Night at the Roxbury (1998). She took on the role of housekeeper in the fantasy family movie My Brother the Pig (1999), opposite Scarlett Johansson. And she played the role of an ill fated film student in the slasher movie Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000).

Mendes starred in the Steven Seagal action thriller Exit Wounds (2001). Her breakthrough came later in 2001 with her performance in Antoine Fuqua's detective thriller Training Day with Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. She described the this role as "very important" in her career. Training Day film was a box office hit.

Her role on Training Day led to larger movie episodes, and Mendes soon established herself as a Hollywood actor. Her only film in 2002 was the crime comedy All About the Benjamins, in which she played the girlfriend of a con artist. Mendes starred in four studio feature films released throughout 2003.

2 Fast 2 Furious reunited her with Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson in the role of a secret agent. The film was critically acclaimed worldwide and helped make Mendes even more famous. She played in the western action movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico, co-starring Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek as the daughter of a Mexican drug lord. Reviews for the film were mixed, but it was a success.

Mendes reunited with Denzel Washington for the thriller Out of Time, in which she plays the future ex-wife of a police chief. The film was a moderate commercial success. She starred as the love interest of a professional dating counselor (Will Smith) in her next movie, Hitch (2005). This made her one of the first minority actors to star in a romantic comedy. USA Today described it as "her best on screen role to date".

Based on the Marvel Comics character and critically acclaimed Ghost Rider (2007), it featured Mendes as the lead character's love interest. The film performed well commercially, peaking at the North American box office with a huge profit. In 2008, Mendes landed the role of a perfume saleswoman in the all female comedy The Women. Despite being a commercial success, The Women was panicked by critics. Mendes was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performance.

Her only movie in 2009 was the crime drama Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Although the film found a limited audience in movie theaters, it was critically acclaimed and appeared on top ten film lists of the year. In 2010, she played the co-worker and lover interest of a devoted man, alongside Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington in Massy Tadjedin's romantic drama Last Night.

In 2012, she starred in the drama Girl in Progress as a single mother raising her fourteen year old daughter. She then landed her role as Kay M in the art fantasy drama Holy Motors (2012). Girl in Progress earned Mendes an ALMA Award nomination for Favorite Movie Actress.

In 2013, Mendes was cast as a formerly dignified woman in the HBO comedy Clear History. In 2014, she starred as a cabaret show performer in Ryan Gosling's directorial debut Lost River, which competed in Un Certain Regard. This would be her last acting role until she voiced a character in the animated series Bluey in 2021's "Born Yesterday". 

Private life

Mendes has a range of bedding and dinnerware for sale at Macy's. In February 2013, she partnered New York & Co. to launch her own fashion brand, Eva by Eva Mendes. She is also the creative director of makeup brand CIRCA Beauty, which was exclusively launched at Walgreens in 2015.

Mendes was in a relationship with filmmaker George Augusto from 2002 to 2010. She started dating Ryan Gosling shortly after filming The Place Beyond the Pines in September 2011. And the couple married film actor Ryan Gosling in 2011. She lives in Los Feliz, a part of Los Angeles. They have two daughters born in 2014 and 2016. Also, Mendes is a pescatarian for both ethical and health reasons. Additionally, she practices Transcendental Meditation.