Born: 16 March 1974, in Miami, Florida, US.

Eva Mendes is an American actress. She began acting in the late 1990s, and became known after a series of roles in several major Hollywood films, including 2 Fast 2 Furious, Hitch and We Own the Night.

Mendes was born in Miami, to Cuban-American parents and was raised in Los Angeles by her mother after her parents' divorce. She had a Catholic upbringing and aspired to be a nun. As a child, Mendes was teased about her buck teeth. She attended California State University, Northridge to study Marketing but dropped out after meeting boyfriend Zedrick Threatt, who helped her to seek an acting career.

Her debut in acting came because she needed a little extra spending money and appeared as an extra on various films. One day she caught the eye of an agent who convinced her to pursue acting more steadily. Mendes worked her way up through commercials to music videos (including an appearance 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) to guest roles in soap operas and supporting film roles.

It's fun to be a woman. It's fun to flirt and wear makeup and have boobs.

Mendes made her big-screen debut in 1998 in the horror film Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. Later that year she had a memorable role in A Night at the Roxbury starring opposite Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan. She received her first big-screen break when she appeared in the award-winning and critically-acclaimed Training Day. That performance led to roles in Stuck on You, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and as the female lead in the comedy Hitch opposite Will Smith. Mendes costarred in Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage, and starred alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Duvall in the film We Own the Night. In 2008, Eva starred in The Women, am ensemble film featuring Meg Ryan, Annette Benning and Debra Messing.

Along with acting, Eva is employed by Revlon Cosmetics as an international spokeswoman. Her hobbies are music, sports (hiking, biking, skiing, and mountain climbing) and interior design, and would undertake the previous profession if not acting.