Eva Mendes

She wasn't pursuing an acting career when a talent manager spotted her photo in a friend's portfolio and set the whole thing in motion. The first few years were rough enough that after Children of the Corn V she hired a coach just to get better. Training Day in 2001 was the reset point. Playing opposite Denzel Washington while the film collected Oscar buzz gave her actual industry credibility. Hitch in 2005 did something structurally different: it cast a Cuban-American woman as the romantic lead in a mainstream comedy that grossed $371 million globally, which didn't happen often and still doesn't.

She stepped back from acting in 2014 when her daughters arrived and has said it was "the easiest decision I've ever made." She has also said she got tired of fighting for roles that weren't just typed by ethnicity. While Ryan Gosling went on to La La Land and Barbie, Mendes built a clothing line with New York & Company that cleared $50 million in annual sales. She reappeared publicly in March 2026 when Ryan Gosling surprised her on The Tonight Show for her 52nd birthday, their first major public appearance together in over a decade. The clothing numbers make a stronger case for the pivot than any role she turned down.

Before a talent manager spotted her photo in a friend's portfolio, she was studying marketing at Cal State Northridge and she has said she considered becoming a nun. Her birth name is Eva Mendez, and she dropped the accent for stage purposes. She's publicly vocal about her Cuban heritage while also being clear she identifies as American, not as a "Latin American actress." Her daughters are unimpressed by her films, which she has said. That probably rules out Ghost Rider, which nobody defends.