Early life

Mendes was born in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents Juan Carlos Mendez and Eva Perez Suarez, and raised by her mother in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale after her parents' divorce. Mendes was raised a Roman Catholic and at one time even considered becoming a Catholic nun. Her mother worked at Mann's Chinese Theatre and later for an aerospace company; her father ran a meat distribution business. She attended Hoover High School in Glendale and later attended California State University, Northridge, to study marketing but left college to study acting under Ivana Chubbuck.

Career

As actress

Mendes began her acting career after a talent manager saw her photo in a friend's portfolio. Her first film appearance was in the direct-to-video Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. Mendes was disappointed in her performance and she hired an acting coach. She then appeared in the films A Night at the Roxbury, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, My Brother the Pig, The Disciples, Urban Legends: Final Cut and Exit Wounds.

Mendes' breakthrough role came when she appeared in Training Day and led to roles in All About the Benjamins, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Once Upon a Time in Mexico (which earned her a nomination at the Teen Choice Awards), Out of Time and Stuck on You. She was the female lead in the 2005 comedy Hitch and was one of the first minority actors to play the lead in a hit romantic comedy. She starred in The Wendell Baker Story, Guilty Hearts, Trust the Man, Ghost Rider, We Own the Night, Live! and Cleaner.

In 2008, she was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performance in The Women. She appeared in The Spirit, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, The Other Guys, Last Night, Fast Five and the spoof video, Funny or Die. In 2012, Eva Mendes visited Sierra Leone and was featured in the PBS documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. She starred in the 2013 movie The Place Beyond the Pines. Entertainment Weekly described her performance as "quietly heartbreaking."

As model and spokesperson

Mendes appeared in Will Smith's video "Miami" and the Pet Shop Boys' music video for "Se a vida é (That's the way life is)" in 1996 and Aerosmith's video "Hole in My Soul" in 1997. She also appeared in the video for "The End Has No End" by The Strokes in 2004. Mendes was employed by Revlon Cosmetics as an international spokeswoman and participant in Revlon's campaign to raise funds for breast cancer research. Mendes appeared nude in a print ad for Calvin Klein's Secret Obsession perfume; the ad was banned in the United States. In December 2007, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) used a nude photo of Mendes for their anti-fur campaign. She modelled in a Morgan campaign. Mendes was a spokesmodel for the 2008 Campari calendar. Mendes was announced as the international face of Australia's 30 Days of Fashion & Beauty event in July 2008. She made guest appearances in that country at the month-long festival in September. Mendes has been a spokesperson for Calvin Klein, Magnum, and the chocolate milk brand Cocio. She also promoted Thierry Mugler's Angel fragrance. Reebok shoes and Pantene shampoo. She appeared in a Peek & Cloppenburg clothing catalog in 2011.

Other work

Mendes has a line of bed linens and dinnerware that is sold at Macy's. In 2010, Mendes sang on "Pimps Don't Cry", a song featured in The Other Guys, and performed a duet with CeeLo Green on "Pimps Don't Cry". In 2011, she recorded a version of "The Windmills of Your Mind".

In the media

Mendes was voted number four in the 2008 edition, and number one in the 2009 edition, of AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women. Maxim ranked Mendes number seven in its 2007 Hot 100 issue. She appeared on the cover of Maxim for the second time in November 2007. Maxim ranked Mendes #11 in its 2010 Hot 100 issue. People named her one of 2012 Most Beautiful at Every Age.

Personal life

Mendes dated George Augusto from 2002 to 2010.

In 2011, she began dating her The Place Beyond the Pines co-star Ryan Gosling. They have two daughters: Esmeralda (born on September 12, 2014) and Amada (born on April 29, 2016).

She is a vegetarian for both ethical and health reasons. Mendes practices Transcendental Meditation.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror	Kir
	A Night at the Roxbury	Bridesmaid
1998	Mortal Kombat: Konquest	Hanna	Guest star, one episode
1999	My Brother the Pig	Matilda
2000	The Disciples	Maria Serranco
	Urban Legends: Final Cut	Vanessa Valdeon
2001	Exit Wounds	Trish
	Training Day	Sara Harris
2002	All About the Benjamins	Gina
2003	2 Fast 2 Furious	Monica Fuentes
	Once Upon a Time in Mexico	Ajedrez Barillo
	Out of Time	Alex Díaz Whitlock
	Stuck on You	April
2005	Hitch	Sara Melas
	The Wendell Baker Story	Doreen
	Guilty Hearts	Gabriella
2006	Trust the Man	Faith
2007	Ghost Rider	Roxanne Simpson
	Knocked Up	Herself	Uncredited
	We Own the Night	Amada Juarez
	Live!	Katy	Executive producer
	Cleaner	Ann Norcut
2008	The Women	Crystal Allen
	The Spirit	Sand Saref
2009	The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans	Frankie Donnenfeld
2010	The Other Guys	Sheila Gamble
	Last Night	Laura
2011	Fast Five	Monica Fuentes	Uncredited
2012	Holy Motors	Kay M
	Girl in Progress	Grace
	The Place Beyond the Pines	Romina
2013	Clear History	Jennifer
2014	Lost River	Cat
2017	Fast 8	Monica Fuentes	Filming

Awards and nominations

Year	Awards	Category	Recipient	Outcome	Ref.
2002	ALMA Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Training Day	Nominated
2004	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Breakout Star: Female	2 Fast 2 Furious, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Out of Time and Stuck on You	Nominated
2005	Capri Hollywood Awards	Capri Global Award	N/A	Won
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie: Love Scene	Will Smith tells Eva Mendes he loves her - Hitch	Nominated
2006	ALMA Award	Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture	Hitch	Nominated
2007	ALMA Award	Outstanding Actress - Motion Picture	Trust the Man	Nominated
	Imagen Foundation Awards	Best Actress - Film	Ghost Rider	Nominated
2009	ALMA Award	Actress in Film	The Women/The Spirit	Nominated
	Giffoni Film Festival	Giffoni Award	N/A	Won
2011	ALMA Award	Favorite Movie Actress - Comedy/Musical	The Other Guys	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actress - Comedy		Nominated
2012	Imagen Foundation Awards	Best Actress/Feature Film	Girl in Progress	Nominated
	ALMA Award	Favorite Movie Actress - Drama/Adventure		Nominated
2013	Imagen Foundation Awards	Best Actress/Supporting Actress - Feature Film	The Place Beyond the Pines	Nominated

Charities

Eva Mendes supports the following charitable causes: Women's Issues, Cancer.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]