Eva Mendes: Snapshot

Eva Mendes: Video

Eva Mendes: Five Fun Facts

1. Eva Mendes said she used to get teased about the mole on her left cheek. "In junior high the other kids would say, 'You've got some chocolate on your face,' and I fell for it every time," she recalled to PEOPLE in 2005. "I said, 'The minute I turn 18 I'm going to get that mole removed!' But I'm happy I didn't."
2. Eva Mendes does not like sex scenes. "I'd much rather be fully naked in a scene than have to simulate sex with someone," Mendes told Premiere in 2005. "Even kissing is really intimate."
3. "I'm the world's best spooner," Eva Mendes told Cosmopolitan in 2007. "I lock in and don't let go...like spoon lockdown".
4. Eva Mendes always has a bottle of crushed red pepper in her purse to spice up any meal. "Seriously, I carry it with me at all times."
5. Eva Mendes was featured in Will Smith's ''Miami'' music video in 1998. But when she became a full-fledged star, Mendes costarred with Smith in 2005's Hitch.

Eva Mendes: Biography

2001

October 05

Taking Off

Mendes has a star-making nude scene as Denzel Washington's (right) wife in Training Day. "After Training Day came out, people were not only recognizing me, they were responding to my character," she tells New York's Daily News. "I appreciated that because I went totally naked for the role – emotionally and physically – and the response felt amazing." In 2003, Mendes plays a detective opposite Washington in Out of Time.

2002

October

Pitching Revlon

Mendes joins Halle Berry as the new face of Revlon cosmetics, where she will appear in commercials (left) and advertisements. "One of the perks of being a girl is playing with makeup and I take full advantage of that," she says in a statement. "This will be an ideal relationship for me!"

2005

February 11

Historical Hitch

"There's sort of an accepted myth that if you have two black actors, a male and a female, in the lead of a romantic comedy, that people around the world don’t want to see it," Will Smith tells the Birmingham Post. In comes Mendes, cast as the object of Smith's affection in Hitch (right). They are the first minority actors to play leads in a hit romantic comedy (the film opens at No.1 and grosses more than $179 million worldwide). "In Hollywood logic, to pair a black woman and a black male makes a black movie. A white woman and a black male becomes a little controversial. It's much more acceptable to have a Latin woman with a black male," Mendes tells L.A's Times.

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Eva Mendes: Special Feature