Salma Hayek

Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez-Pinault (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsalma ˈxaʝek]; born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican actress, director and producer. She is one of the most prominent Mexican figures in Hollywood. She received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role as Frida Kahlo in the movie Frida.

Salma Hayek on Letterman - Breasts



Salma Hayek on Ugly Betty




Early life

Hayek was born in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico, the daughter of Diana Jiménez Medina, an opera singer and talent scout, and Sami Hayek Dominguez, an oil company executive who once ran for mayor of Coatzacoalcos.[1][2][3][4] Hayek's father is of Lebanese descent, while her mother is of Spanish descent.[5][6] Her first given name, Salma, is Arabic for "safe".[7] Raised in a wealthy, devoutly Roman Catholic[8] family, she was sent to the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, at the age of twelve.[4] While there, she was diagnosed with dyslexia.[9][10] She attended college in Mexico City, where she studied International Relations at the Universidad Iberoamericana.[4]
[edit]Career

[edit]Mexico
At the age of 23, Hayek landed the title role in Teresa (1989), a successful Mexican telenovela that made her a star in Mexico. In 1994, Hayek starred in the film El Callejón de los Milagros (Miracle Alley), which has won more awards than any other movie in the history of Mexican cinema.[citation needed] For her performance, Hayek was nominated for an Ariel Award.[11]
[edit]Early Hollywood acting work
Hayek moved to Los Angeles, California in 1991 to study acting under Stella Adler.[12] She had limited fluency in English, which was attributed to her suffering from dyslexia.[13] Robert Rodriguez and his producer and then wife Elizabeth Avellan soon gave Hayek a starring role opposite Antonio Banderas in 1995's Desperado.[4]
Hayek had a starring part opposite Matthew Perry in the 1997 romantic comedy Fools Rush In. She followed her role in Desperado with a brief role as a vampire queen in From Dusk Till Dawn, in which she performed a table-top snake dance. In 1999, she co-starred in Will Smith's big-budget Wild Wild West, and played a supporting role in Kevin Smith's Dogma.[4] In 2000, Hayek had an uncredited acting part opposite Benicio del Toro in Traffic. In 2003, she reprised her role from Desperado by appearing in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, the final film of the Mariachi Trilogy.
[edit]Director, producer and actress
Around 2000, Hayek founded film production company Ventanarosa, through which she produces film and television projects. Her first feature as a producer was 1999's El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba, Mexico's official selection for submission for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars.[14]
Frida, co-produced by Hayek, was released in 2002. Starring Hayek as Frida Kahlo, and Alfred Molina as her unfaithful husband, Diego Rivera, the film was directed by Julie Taymor and featured an entourage of stars in supporting and minor roles (Valeria Golino, Ashley Judd, Edward Norton, Geoffrey Rush) and cameos (Antonio Banderas). She earned a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her performance.[4]
In the Time of the Butterflies is a 2001 feature film based on the Julia Álvarez book of the same name, covering the lives of the Mirabal sisters. In the movie, Salma Hayek plays one of the sisters, Minerva, and Edward James Olmos plays the Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo whom the sisters opposed. Marc Anthony plays a brief role as Minerva's first love, and as the motivation for her later revolutionary activities.
In 2003, Hayek produced and directed The Maldonado Miracle, a Showtime movie based on the book of the same name, winning her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Children/Youth/Family Special.[15] In December 2005, she directed a music video for Prince, titled "Te Amo Corazon" ("I love you, sweetheart") that featured Mia Maestro.[16]


Hayek at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
Hayek was an executive producer of Ugly Betty, a television series that aired around the world from 2006 to 2010. Hayek adapted the series for American television with Ben Silverman, who acquired the rights and scripts from the Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea in 2001. Originally intended as a half hour sitcom for NBC in 2004, the project would later be picked up by ABC for the 2006–2007 season with Silvio Horta also producing. Hayek guest-starred on Ugly Betty as Sofia Reyes, a magazine editor. She also had a cameo playing an actress in the telenovela within the show. The show won a Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy Series in 2007. Hayek's performance as Sofia resulted in a nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards.[17]
In April 2007, Hayek finalized negotiations with MGM to become the CEO of her own Latin themed film production company, Ventanarosa.[18] The following month, she signed a two year deal with ABC for Ventanarosa to develop projects for the network.[19]
Hayek is developing and producing La Banda, a Spanish-language romantic comedy set in Mexico, written by Issa Lopez.[citation needed]
Hayek had a guest stint on 30 Rock as Elisa, the nurse for Jack Donaghy's mother, for whom Jack falls.[citation needed]
Hayek stars as the wife of Adam Sandler in Grown Ups, which also co-stars Chris Rock and Kevin James.[20] Salma is set to co-star with Antonio Banderas in the Shrek spin-off film Puss in Boots as the voice of the character Kitty Softpaws, who serves as Puss' female counterpart and love interest.[21]
[edit]Singing credits
Hayek has been credited as a song performer in three movies. The first was Desperado for the song Quedate Aquí. In Frida she performed the Mexican folk song La Bruja with the band Los Vega. She also recorded Siente mi amor, which played during the end credits of Once Upon a Time in Mexico. She contributed to Happiness is a Warm Gun in Across the Universe as the singing nurses.[citation needed]
[edit]Promotional work


Hayek featured on the cover of Veronica magazine, as seen here on an SUV in Amsterdam
Hayek has been a spokesperson for Avon cosmetics since February 2004.[22] She formerly acted as spokesperson for Revlon in 1998.[citation needed] In 2001, she modeled for Chopard[23] and was featured in 2006 Campari adverts, photographed by Mario Testino.[24] On April 3, 2009, she helped introduce La Doña, a watch by Cartier inspired by fellow Mexican actress María Félix.[25]
Hayek was also featured in a series of Spanish language commercials for Lincoln cars.
[edit]In art
In spring 2006, the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center in San Antonio, Texas displayed 16 portrait paintings by muralist George Yepes and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez of Hayek as Aztec goddess Itzapapalotl.[dead link][26]
[edit]Personal life

Hayek is a naturalized United States citizen.[27] She dated actor Edward Norton between 1999 and 2003, and then Josh Lucas in 2003. Hayek studied at Ramtha's School of Enlightenment,[28] and is a practitioner of yoga.[29] Her brother, Sami Hayek,[30] is a designer with his own line of products at Target[31] and clients that include Louis Vuitton, Brad Pitt, and the Mexican Government.[32]
On March 9, 2007, Hayek confirmed her engagement to French billionaire and PPR CEO François-Henri Pinault as well as her pregnancy. On September 21, 2007, she gave birth to daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. On July 18, 2008, Hayek and Pinault announced the end of their engagement.[33] They later reconciled and were married on Valentine's Day, 2009 in Paris.[34] On April 25, 2009, they were married a second time in Venice.[35]
[edit]Charity work
Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants.[36][dead link] On July 19, 2005, Hayek testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary supporting reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.[37] In February 2006, she donated $25,000 to a Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, shelter for battered women and another $50,000 to Monterrey based anti-domestic violence groups.[38] Hayek is a board member of V-Day, the charity founded by playwright Eve Ensler.[citation needed]
Since the birth of her daughter, Hayek has worked to help mothers in developing nations worldwide, teaming up with Pampers and UNICEF to help stop the spread of life-threatening maternal and neonatal tetanus. She is a global spokesperson for the Pampers/UNICEF partnership 1 Pack = 1 Vaccine to help raise awareness of the program.[39]
Hayek also advocates breastfeeding. During a UNICEF fact-finding trip to Sierra Leone, she breastfed a hungry week-old baby whose mother could not produce milk.[40]
In 2010, Hayek's humanitarian work earned her a nomination for the VH1 Do Something Awards.[41]
Hayek is a member of the board of Global Green USA, with whom she works to fight global warming and to help provide clean drinking water to nearly 2.5 billion people who are without it. Her Los Angeles home is outfitted with solar panels, and she drives a fuel-efficient hybrid to help reduce CO2 emissions.[42][clarification needed]
[edit]Honors

Recipient of Glamour magazine Woman of the Year Award in October 2001.[43]
Recipient of Producers Guild of America Celebration of Diversity Award in 2003.[44]
Recipient of Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year Award in February 2006.[45]
Recipient of Time magazine 25 Most Influential Hispanics in 2005.[46]
In July 2007, The Hollywood Reporter ranked Hayek fourth in their inaugural Latino Power 50, a list of the most powerful members of the Hollywood Latino community.[47] That same month, a poll found Hayek to be the "sexiest celebrity" out of a field of 3,000 celebrities (male and female); according to the poll, "65 percent of the U.S. population would use the term 'sexy' to describe her".[48] In 2008, she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television[49] In December of that year, Entertainment Weekly ranked Hayek number 17 in their list of the "25 Smartest People in TV."[50]
[edit]Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1993 Mi Vida Loca Gata
1994 Roadracers Donna
1995 El Callejón de los Milagros Alma (Midaq Alley) Spanish-language
Nominated—Ariel Award for Best Actress[11]
1995 Desperado Carolina Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Antonio Banderas)
1995 Fair Game Rita
1995 Four Rooms TV Dancing Girl
1996 From Dusk Till Dawn Santanico Pandemonium
1996 Follow Me Home Betty
1996 Fled Cora
1997 Fools Rush In Isabel Fuentes Nominated—Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film
1997 Breaking Up Monica
1997 Sistole Diastole Carmelita
1997 The Hunchback Esméralda
1998 54 Anita Nominated—Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film
1998 The Velocity of Gary Mary Carmen Producer
1998 The Faculty Nurse Harper
1999 Dogma Serendipity
1999 El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba Julia (No One Writes to the Colonel)
Producer; Spanish-language
1999 Wild Wild West Rita Escobar Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress - Action
Nominated—Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film
2000 Timecode Rose
2000 La Gran Vida Lola (Living it Up) Spanish-language
2000 Chain of Fools Sgt. Meredith Kolko Direct-to-video release
2000 Traffic Rosario uncredited
2001 Hotel Charlee Boux
2001 In the Time of the Butterflies Minerva Mirabel
2002 Frida Frida Kahlo Producer
Golden Camera for Best International Actress
Imagen Award for Best Actress - Film
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2003 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over Francesca Giggles
2003 Once Upon a Time in Mexico Carolina
2003 V-Day: Until the Violence Stops herself
2004 After the Sunset Lola Cirillo
2006 Ask the Dust Camilla Lopez
2006 Bandidas Sara Sandoval
2007 Lonely Hearts Martha Beck
2007 Across the Universe Bang Bang Shoot Shoot Nurses
2009 Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Madame Truska
2010 Grown Ups Roxanne Chase-Feder
2011 Puss in Boots Kitty Softpaws (Voice)
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1988 Un Nuevo Amanecer Spanish-language telenovela
1989 Teresa Teresa Spanish-language telenovela
1993 The Sinbad Show Gloria Contreras recurring character
1994 Roadracers Donna
1994 El Vuelo del Águila Juana Cata Spanish-language telenovela
1997 The Hunchback Esmeralda Nominated—ALMA Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Made-for-Television Movie or Mini-Series in a Crossover Role
1999 Action Herself guest star
2001 In the Time of the Butterflies Minerva Mirabal Producer; feature
Nominated—ALMA Award for Outstanding Actor/Actress in a Made for Television Movie or Miniseries
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association for Best Actress in a Picture Made for Television
2003 The Maldonado Miracle Feature; producer, director. Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Children/Youth/Family Special
2003 Saturday Night Live Guest Host March 15
2006–
2007 Ugly Betty Sofia Reyes Producer and guest star
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Comedy Series — 2007
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series — 2007
Nominated—Producers Guild of America Television Producer of the Year Award
2009 30 Rock Elisa guest star
[edit]Event appearances

Was a member of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival jury.[51]
Co-hosted the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert with Julianne Moore in Oslo, Norway on December 11, 2005.[52]
References from Wikipedia.com