Mini Biography

Salma Hayek was born in Coatzacoalos, Veracruz, Mexico, on September 2 1966. As a young girl salma hoped of one day becoming a moviestar and realized her dream somewhat when she started getting famous in her native Mexico as a soap opera star in the late 80s.

Passionate as she is, Salma was not satisfied just being a soap opera actress and at long last made her way to Hollywood when she arrived in the early 90s. Her early days in Hollywood were rough as a Mexican actress with an accent, struggling to get any respectable parts outside of playing the maid or the prostitute.

It was in 1995 when she got her big break starring opposite Antonio Banderas in Robert Rodriguez's 'Desperado' which put her on the Hollywood map. After her break she got parts playing a sexy seductive vampire in Quentin Tarantino's 'From dusk till dawn'. Followed by leading roles in 'Fools rush in' opposite Matthew perry and 'Breaking up' with Russel Crowe. They somehow failed to establish Hayek as a serious actress and her following parts in movies including '54' 'Dogma' and 'Wild wild west' all had her star as the pretty sexy bombshell.

A few years later, in 2002 she gained a wide respect and finally proved herself a serious actress with the title role in 'Frida' which she also co-produced.

Hayek's passionate portrayal of the legendary Mexican painter Frida Kahlo garnered her an Academy Award nomination and with it became the first Latin American actress to do so.

In the same year she expanded her horizons when she directed her first movie for Showtime called 'The Maldonado miracle' starring Peter Fonda and Mare Winningham. Currently Salma is working on numerous productions including 'After the sunset' opposite Pierce Brosnan which is scheduled for release in late 2004. and in 2003 Salma starred again opposite Antonio Banderas in the blockbuster 'Once upon a time in Mexico' which was a sequel to 'Desperado'.

Trivia

Personal Quotes

"I keep waiting to meet a man who has more balls than I do."

"I act tall!" "But look how short I am...I can't even act to be tall. I'm five-two. I can't even create the illusion that I am tall!"

"I don't believe in the so-called Latino explosion when it comes to movies. Jennifer Lopez doesn't have an accent. She grew up in New York speaking English not Spanish. Her success is very important because she represents a different culture, but it doesn't help me. I grew up in Mexico, not the US, and the fact is that there just aren't any parts for Latin actresses. I have to persuade people that my accent won't be a problem, but an asset. Everyone's afraid of doing something a bit risky. Everyone wants a $200 million hit and anything they think might get in the way of that kind of success is considered a liability."

What worries me the most is that most men are so weak. Because of that they act like they don't care and like machos - because they are too fragile inside. They're scared of confrontation and afraid of so many things. And because of this they build up their life so they have to deal with their feelings as little as possible. I find feminine men unbelievably sexy. But most men are completely incapable of getting in touch with their feminine side.

What am I supposed to talk about with a man who doesn't know what it's like to be a woman? "At the beginning [my career] was hard. People were like, 'Who is this Mexican jumping bean?"