Eva Mendes
After stealing scenes in Training Day, 2 Fast 2 Furious and Once upon a Time in Mexico, the suddenly ubiquitous Eva Mendes, who lives with her boyfriend in L.A., reteams with Denzel Washington in the thriller Out of Time.
ON PLYING A COP "I hung out with female detectives in Miami. I thought I'd have to act tough, but these women were surprisingly feminine. They really celebrate their sexuality. I went to a shooting range, but I don't like guns. It scared me."
ON HER CUBAN HERITAGE "I was born in Miami but raised in Los Angeles. My parents are from Cuba. They were very happy I was born here. My mother always said, 'You're American. You can do anything you want.' "
ON HER FIRST ACTING JOB "I didn't get any commercials. They had this audition for [1998's] Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. It was so funny, I actually got it. And I sucked so bad. It woke me up, challenged me. I quit school [Cal State Northridge] and I started looking for an acting coach. The first two years I was like, 'What am I doing?' "
ON DOING LOVE SCENES WITH DENZEL IN TRAINING DAY "That changed everything. I had two very small scenes. But the thing was, it was enough. I went nude for the part. I really put myself out there emotionally and physically. After that, I had a new understanding of myself. I felt like for the first time I was a part of something."
ON HER AGE "Ageism is so disgusting in Hollywood. [Mendes won't discuss her age; according to reports, she's 29.] You have George Clooney who made it at 40. But it's not the same for girls."
ON HER UPCOMING COMEDY STUCK ON YOU WITH MATT DAMON AND GREG KINNEAR "I love it. To give you an idea of how I love comedy, Dumb and Dumber was my Gone with the Wind."
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