Salma Hayek Jimenez is an award-winning Mexican-American actress, director and producer. She was born on September 2, 1966 and raised in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico. Her mother is Diana Jimenez, an opera singer and talent scout, and her father, Sami Hayek, is an oil company executive of Lebanese-Assyrian descent. Her mother is Spanish and deeply religious. Salma was raised in a wealthy and devout family and her parents wanted to ensure that she would get a good education. She was sent to the Academy of the Scared Heart, Grand Coteau, Louisiana when she was twelve years old. The religious sisters running the Academy sent her back home for being a prankster. The young Salma was then sent to Houston, Texas and stayed with her aunt until she was seventeen. She attended Universidad Iberoaamericana in Mexico City, where she studied International Relations. But she did not finish her studies and dropped out to pursue her dream of becoming an actress.
She started her acting career doing theater including a role as the female lead in a local production of “Alladin and His Marvelous Lamp”. Her work in theaters led to commercials and finally led to television. Salma landed the title role in “Teresa”, a popular telenovela that made her an instant star in Mexico.
Not satisfied with her success in her homeland, Salma set her sights on Hollywood. She moved to Los Angeles, California in 1991 to study under acting coach Stella Adler. With limited fluency in English, she studied the language for eighteen months and at the same time honing her acting skills with Stella’s guidance. She was an unknown in a city full of aspiring actors. She made up for her limited English proficiency with hard work and sheer determination. After spending four months auditioning for a lead role that eventually went to another actress, the director of “Mi Vida Loca” cast her in a small role in the same film. Impressed with her determination, Salma caught director Robert Rodriguez’s eye. He cast her opposite Antonio Banderas in 1995’s “Desperado”. The hard-working Mexican actress finally got her big break.
Out of loyalty to Rodriguez, Salma went on to star in the director’s other films such as the “Spy Kids” trilogy and the last instalment in the Mariachi trilogy, “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”. She went on to appear in more than thirty films and has performed as an actress in Hollywood, Mexico and Spain. She is the first Mexican national to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. She joined two other Latin-Americans to achieve a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
She branched out from acting and founded Ventanarosa, a production company through which she produces film and television projects. Her first production, 1999’s “El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba” was Mexico’s official selection for submission for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. Her most successful achievement to date, 2002’s “Frida”, was co-produced by herself and lead to her nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year.
Salma is also the executive producer of the hit television series “Ugly Betty”. The show quickly became a ratings hit and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy Series in 2007. She also had a cameo in the series, playing an actress in the telenovela within the show. Her performance resulted in a nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Her meteoric rise to success continued to manifest itself when she finalized negotiations with MGM to become the CEO of her own Latin themed film production company, Ventanazul. Shortly after, she signed a two-year deal with ABC to develop projects for the network through her production company, Ventanarosa. She is currently developing and producing “La Banda”, a romantic comedy set in Mexico.
Aside from her work as an actress and producer, she has also been a spokesperson for Avon cosmetics since 2004. She was also the former spokesperson for Revlon. She did modeling work for Chopard and was featured in the 2006 Campari ads. Salma helped introduce La Doña, a watch created by Cartier and inspired by fellow Mexican actress Maria Felix. A series of commercials for Lincoln cars caused the sales of the Lincoln Navigator to increase among Hispanics by twelve percent.
Salma Hayek is a naturalized U.S. citizen. She dated actor Edward Norton between 1999 and 2003. She got involved with Josh Lucas shortly after her breakup with Norton. She has many friends in the industry, both in Mexico and Los Angeles, and considers Spanish superstar and fellow actress Penelope Cruz as her best friend. On September 21, 2007, Salma gave birth to daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The baby girl is her first child with PPR CEO Francois-Henri Pinault.
