Young, talented and beautiful, Latino actress Eva Mendes rose to stardom on sheer luck and timing. Just five years prior to her starring role in “2 Fast 2 Furious” (2003), the sequel to the unexpected hit, “The Fast and the Furious” (2001), Mendes wasn’t even thinking about an acting career, much less actively pursuing one. But fortune shined it’s light on the energetic actress, and with her passion and zest for life, seized the moment and never looked back.
Born on March 5, 1978 in Miami, 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 when Mendes was ten. Her mother worked as an accountant to support the family, and was very strict on Mendes and her three elder siblings. Mendes later attended Cal State Northridge where she majored in marketing, though she wasn’t terribly interested in the subject.
Then a stroke of dumb luck changed her life forever: her neighbor—a photographer—took a photographs of her at a garage sale. When the photographer was applying for a job, a casting agent noticed the pictures of Mendes and asked to meet her. Mendes was called into their office and was soon cast in her first movie, the straight-to-video release “Children of the Corn V: Field of Terror” (1998). The experience wasn’t a good one for Mendes: her performance was, according to her, “horrific.”
Determined not to let her career be defined by a cheesy horror flick, Mendes joined a few acting classes and spent the next few years in serious study of her craft. Along the way, she landed a few roles in commercials and music videos, including Will Smith’s “Miami” and Aerosmith’s “Hole in My Soul.” Mendes also continued to appear in less awful movies, including “Night at the Roxbury” (1998), starring SNL regulars Will Farrell and Chris Kattan, and “Urban Legends: Final Cut” (2000), with Jennifer Morrison and Matthew Davis.
Her break-out role, however, was in the critically acclaimed “Training Day” (2001), starring Oscar winner Denzel Washington. Though her role as Washington’s girlfriend was small, it was memorable; in a film revealing the acting chops of its lead actors, Mendes revealed something a bit different: her entire body. Mendes went on to appear in Steven Seagal’s comeback actioner, “Exit Wounds” (2001), co-staring rap star DMX. She also had a supporting role in “All About the Benjamins” (2002), a diamond heist comedy starring Ice Cube and Mike Epps. Then came her star turn in “2 Fast 2 Furious”, co-starring Paul Walker and Tyrese.
Mendes played a U.S. Customs agent who recruits Walker and Tyrese to ensnare a drug kingpin. Her flare for action led Paul 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. Then the actress reunited with 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. To top off her career, Mendes became a spokesmodel for Revlon. As she became more a presence in the pop culture, her on-screen profile rose as well with her winning starring role as Will Smith's love interest, a gossip reporter unknowingly falling for a relationship consultant she's also pursuing a story about, in the romantic comedy "Hitch" (2005).
In the dark romantic comedy “Trust the Man” (2005), Mendes delivered a strong supporting performance as an old college friend who engages in an affair with a man (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 (Nicolas Cage) who made a deal with the devil to protect his loved ones and finds himself paying his due by being unwillingly transformed into a flame-skulled bounty hunter of rogue demons. She then retreated the low-budget confines of “The Wendell Baker Story” (shot in 2005; released in 2007), the directorial debut of brothers Andrew and Luke Wilson about a good-hearted conman (Luke Wilson) who—after being released from prison—finds a job at a nursing home, only to lead a spirited rebellion against the home’s evil nurse (Owen Wilson).