66 Facts About Salma Hayek

Salma Hayek began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela Teresa as well as the romantic drama Midaq Alley.

Salma Hayek soon established herself in Hollywood with appearances in films such as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, Wild Wild West, and Dogma.

In subsequent years, Salma Hayek focused more on producing while starring in the action-centered pictures Once Upon a Time in Mexico, After the Sunset and Bandidas.

Salma Hayek achieved further commercial success with the comedies Grown Ups, Grown Ups 2 and The Hitman's Bodyguard, and lent her voice for the animated Puss in Boots, Sausage Party and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Salma Hayek earned critical acclaim for her performances in the dramas Tale of Tales, Beatriz at Dinner and House of Gucci.

Salma Hayek played Ajak in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals, which emerged as her highest-grossing live action film.

Salma Hayek's directing, producing and acting work on television has earned her four Emmy Awards nominations.

Salma Hayek won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Children Special for The Maldonado Miracle and received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, one for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series and the other for Outstanding Comedy Series, for her work on the ABC television comedy-drama Ugly Betty.

Salma Hayek produced and played Minerva Mirabal in the Showtime film In the Time of the Butterflies and guest-starred on the NBC comedy series 30 Rock.

Salma Hayek is married to business magnate Francois-Henri Pinault, with whom she has a daughter.

Salma Hayek's mother, Diana Jimenez Medina, is an opera singer and talent scout; she is of Spanish descent.

Salma Hayek was raised in a wealthy, devout Catholic family, and at age 12 opted to study at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana.

Salma Hayek attended university at the Universidad Iberoamericana studying international relations.

Televisa subsequently selected Salma Hayek, who was 23 at the time, to play the title role in Teresa, a successful Mexican telenovela that made her a star in Mexico.

Salma Hayek initially struggled with the lack of acting job offers after moving to the United States, recalling that "there was no industry or parts for Latin women", and was once even told that her accent would "make moviegoers think of housekeepers".

Salma Hayek once remarked: "It took eight hours [to film] instead of an hour".

Salma Hayek appeared in the 1996 drama Follow Me Home and the cop comedy Fled.

Salma Hayek next starred in the romantic comedy Fools Rush In as a photographer in an on-and-off relationship with a New York City architect, played by Matthew Perry.

In 1998, Salma Hayek played an aspiring young singer in the 1970s New York City nightlife scene in Mark Christopher's drama 54, a doughnut shop waitress in Dan Ireland's dramedy The Velocity of Gary and a nurse in Rodriguez's supernatural horror film The Faculty.

In 1999, Salma Hayek was unorthodoxly cast in Kevin Smith's religious satire Dogma as Serendipity, "the [Muse] who throughout history inspired all the geniuses of art and music, like Mozart and Michelangelo, and never got any of the credit".

Salma Hayek portrayed the alleged daughter of a kidnapped scientist alongside Will Smith in the period Western Wild Wild West.

Salma Hayek founded her production company, Ventanarosa, in 1999, through which she produces film and television projects.

In 2000, Salma Hayek had an uncredited role in Traffic, and played an aspiring actress in Mike Figgis' experimental film Timecode, a waitress in the Spanish drama Living It Up, and a cop and Playboy model in the heist comedy Chain of Fools.

Salma Hayek produced and starred in the television film In the Time of the Butterflies, based on the book by Julia Alvarez book about the Mirabal sisters.

Salma Hayek played one of the sisters, Minerva, and Edward James Olmos played the Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, whom the sisters opposed.

In Julie Taymor's biographical film Frida, Salma Hayek served as a producer and starred as surrealist painter Frida Kahlo.

Salma Hayek personally secured access to Kahlo's paintings from Kahlo and began to assemble a supporting cast, approaching Alfred Molina for the role of Rivera in 1998.

In 2003, Salma Hayek produced and directed The Maldonado Miracle, a Showtime film based on the book of the same name, for which she won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Children Special, reunited with Robert Rodriguez for Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and made an appearance in the documentary V-Day: Until the Violence Stops.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico, which made $98.2 million worldwide, was the final film of the Mariachi Trilogy and featured Salma Hayek reprising her role from Desperado.

In Brett Ratner's action comedy After the Sunset, Salma Hayek starred as the girlfriend of a master thief, with Pierce Brosnan.

Salma Hayek appeared alongside her good friend Penelope Cruz in the 2006 Western comedy Bandidas, portraying two women who become a bank robbing duo in an effort to combat a ruthless enforcer terrorizing their town.

Salma Hayek served as an executive producer for the American television series Ugly Betty, after adapting the story for American television with Ben Silverman, who acquired the rights and scripts from the Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea in 2001.

Salma Hayek guest-starred on the series as Sofia Reyes, a magazine editor.

In 2007, Salma Hayek made a cameo appearance, as a nurse singing a cover of The Beatles song "Happiness Is A Warm Gun", in Julie Taymor's jukebox musical romantic drama Across the Universe.

The role of Madame Truska, a woman who can grow an indestructible beard, in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, was Salma Hayek's first acting project following the birth of her daughter.

In 2010, Salma Hayek played a fashion designer and the wife of a Hollywood talent agent in the comedy Grown Ups which, despite a negative critical reception, made $271.4 million globally.

Salma Hayek is the voice of Kitty Softpaws, a street-savvy Tuxedo cat, alongside Antonio Banderas in Puss in Boots.

Salma Hayek reprised her role in Grown Ups 2 which, like the first film, was a commercial success despite a negative critical response.

Salma Hayek served as a producer and provided her voice for the character of Kamila, a widowed mother, in The Prophet, adapted from the 1923 book by Kahlil Gibran.

In Tale of Tales, a European fantasy film directed and written by Matteo Garrone, Salma Hayek appeared as the 17th-century Queen of Longtrellis.

Salma Hayek was cast as Eva Torres, a high-frequency trading executive, alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgard, in Kim Nguyen's tech drama The Hummingbird Project, and as Nancy Teagarten, one half of a couple experiencing a series of financial crises, with Alec Baldwin, in Fred Wolf's comedy Drunk Parents.

In 2020, Salma Hayek appeared as a cosmetics mogul in Miguel Arteta's comedy Like a Boss, with Rose Byrne and Tiffany Haddish, and the alternative wife of a man in Sally Potter's drama The Roads Not Taken, with Javier Bardem and Elle Fanning.

Salma Hayek next reunited with director Patrick Hughes and actors Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson in Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, the sequel for the 2017 film The Hitman's Bodyguard, which was released on June 16,2021, to mediocre reviews.

Salma Hayek portrayed Ajak, the wise and spiritual leader of the titular group, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe picture Eternals, directed by Chloe Zhao, who "personally selected" her for the role.

Salma Hayek, who is of both Spanish and Lebanese descent, subsequently became the first Arab actress with a main role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Salma Hayek has since signed a deal to star in multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe projects.

Salma Hayek then reprised her role as Kitty Softpaws in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which received critical acclaim, grossed $485.3 million, and like its predecessor was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

In June 2022, Salma Hayek was cast in Angelina Jolie's upcoming film, Without Blood, based on the bestselling Italian novel by Alessandro Baricco.

On July 19,2005, Salma Hayek testified before the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary supporting reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

Salma Hayek is a board member of V-Day, the charity founded by playwright Eve Ensler.

Salma Hayek said she did it to reduce the stigma associated with breastfeeding and to encourage infant nutrition.

In 2013, alongside Beyonce and Frida Giannini, Salma Hayek launched "Chime for Change", a Gucci campaign that aims to spread female empowerment.

For International Women's Day 2014 Salma Hayek was one of the artist signatories of Amnesty International's letter, to then British Prime Minister David Cameron, campaigning for women's rights in Afghanistan.

On December 13,2017, Salma Hayek published an op-ed in The New York Times stating that she had been harassed and abused by film producer Harvey Weinstein during the production of Frida.

In 2020, Salma Hayek raised awareness through her Instagram for the disappearance of Vanessa Guillen.

Salma Hayek was a spokeswoman for Revlon in 1998 and has been a spokeswoman for Avon cosmetics since February 2004.

Salma Hayek modeled for Chopard in 2001, was featured in a series of Spanish language commercials for Lincoln cars in 2002, and in Campari ads, photographed by Mario Testino, in 2006.

In 2008, Salma Hayek co-founded Juice Generation's juice delivery program Cooler Cleanse.

In 2011, Hayek launched her own line of cosmetics, skincare, and haircare products called Nuance by Salma Hayek, to be sold at CVS stores in North America.

Salma Hayek was one of fifteen women selected to appear on the cover of the September 2019 issue of British Vogue, by guest editor Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

Salma Hayek has studied at Ramtha's School of Enlightenment and practices yoga.

Salma Hayek, who was raised Catholic, stated in a 2007 interview that she was no longer devout and did not believe in the Church, in part because she disagreed with practices such as its campaign against condoms in Africa, where she said AIDS and overpopulation were rampant, though she clarified that she still believed in Jesus Christ and God.

On March 9,2007, Salma Hayek confirmed her engagement to French billionaire and Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault as well as her pregnancy.

Salma Hayek gave birth to their daughter on September 21,2007, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Salma Hayek won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Children Special for The Maldonado Miracle and received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, one for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series and the other for Outstanding Comedy Series as an executive producer, for her work on Ugly Betty.

In 2011, Salma Hayek was appointed Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the highest French order of merit, and in 2021, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.