Salma Hayek

Assumed by many as the first Mexican actress to become a Hollywood movie star since Dolores Del Rio, Salma Hayek is not only known for her sole physical beauty, but most of all for her exceptional acting career. Born Salma Hayek Jimenez on September 2, 1966, in the oil boomtown of Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, her father is a Lebanese businessman who once ran for mayor of their city, while her Mexican mother Diana Jimenez, is an opera singer and talent scout. She has only one brother named Sami, who designs custom chairs famous among celebrities including Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt. Raised in a devoutly Catholic family, Hayek was sent to a Louisiana Chatolic boarding school at the age of 12 for two years before then sent back home by the nuns worked in the school after getting into trouble for terrorizing them. After that she lived with her aunt in Houston, Texas for a couple of years and headed back to her hometown Mexico to go to college when she was 17 years old. Studied International Relations as a university student after being forced by her parents, she at last decided to drop out in order to pursue a career as an actress, a dream she's been long for since her very young age.

A Mexico City's Universidad Iberoamericana graduate, Hayek did feel ready to start an acting career early on, landed the title role in "Teresa" (1989), a hugely successful soap opera which earned her the star status in her homeland. Won several acting awards, still she felt the need to explore her talent and passion that later on left the hugely successful soap and her homeland and headed for L.A. After taking a year to learn English and study acting with Stella Adler, by 1992 the beauty landed only bit parts, appeared on "Street Justice" (1991), "The Sinbad Show" (1993), "Nurses" (1991), and as a sexy maid on the HBO series "Dream On" (1990). It was not until Allison Anders cast her in a supporting role in "Mi Vida Loca" (1993) that Hayek got her first big break. Obtained a Screen Actors Guild card, the road to success was at first tough for her to pass, but not anymore by the time she made an appearance on a Spanish-language cable access talk show in 1992 that happened to count director Robert Rodriguez amongst its viewers. Immediately smitten with her knack, he promptly cast her as the female lead in the 1995 "Desperado," giving her the big break she desperately longing for.