She spent eight years fighting to make one movie nobody wanted, and that stubbornness turned out to be her entire career strategy.
At a glance
- Known for
- Oscar-nominated star of *Frida*, *Desperado*, and the *Puss in Boots* franchise
- Before fame
- Already a telenovela star in Mexico before moving to LA speaking almost no English
- Off-screen
- Married to Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault, whose family is worth over $25 billion
Rise to Fame
A Mexican talk show was mocking her for being a background extra in Mi Vida Loca when Robert Rodriguez happened to be watching. He fought the studio to cast her in Desperado over their preference for Cameron Diaz, reportedly for reasons that had nothing to do with talent. She'd already been a star in Mexico, the lead of the telenovela Teresa at 22, but Hollywood didn't care about telenovela credentials.
The From Dusk Till Dawn snake dance cemented something the industry couldn't ignore. She has ophidiophobia. Tarantino told her Madonna was ready to take the role. She did eight weeks of hypnotherapy and reportedly has little memory of filming the scene. That kind of bet, terrified but refusing to lose the part, became a pattern.
In the Spotlight
Getting Frida made took eight years. Weinstein set demands designed to kill it: rewrite the script, raise $10 million, cast name actors in four smaller roles. She met every one. The Oscar nomination, the first for a Mexican actress in Best Actress, came from a production designed to fail. In 2017, she called him "my monster too" in a New York Times op-ed.
She married into the family behind Gucci, Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga, a family that pledged $113 million for Notre-Dame without claiming the tax credit and acquired Hollywood's top talent agency for $7 billion. That kind of wealth makes most careers optional. She covered Sports Illustrated Swimsuit at 58 and stood beside Mexico's president to launch a cinema tax incentive instead.
Side Notes
Her father was an oil executive who ran for mayor of Coatzacoalcos. The family money had dried up around the time she moved to LA speaking almost no English and diagnosed with dyslexia. Producers refused her the lead of Six Days Seven Nights for being Mexican (the lead's race couldn't be changed, unlike the bimbo's), and she threatened to sue. The response was reportedly, "now we hate her."
On a 2009 UNICEF trip to Sierra Leone, she breastfed a stranger's malnourished newborn on camera. Millions of views, equal amounts of praise and hate mail. She never signed a prenup with Pinault despite his billions, and has said she supports herself financially. People assumed the marriage was arranged for money. She still seems more annoyed by the accusation than interested in correcting it.