Eva Mendes made her breakthrough in the acting industry after her performance in Training Day, opposite Denzel Washington. Even though she wasn’t a leading role in the film, this definitely did put her name on the map and people were suddenly captivated by her beauty. Eva later went on to take on bigger roles and seemed to settle into the comedy niche, but what happened after that? Over the past few years or so, there hasn’t been munch news concerning her or her acting career. We’re going to dig a little deeper to find out what exactly happened to the beautiful starlet.
The Early Life of Eva Mendes
Religion was extremely important to her growing up and she was raised a practicing Roman Catholic. At one point in her life, Eva even contemplated becoming a Catholic nun because she felt so extremely devoted to her faith. Of course nothing came of that contemplation. Instead she decided to pursue a degree in marketing. After graduating from Hoover High School in Glendale, she began attending classes at CSU, Northridge. It seemed as if she had finally found her path, but Eva discovered that she had a passion for acting when she began studying under Ivana Chubbuck.
After she left college in order to pursue a career in acting, a talent manager noticed her photo’s within a friend’s portfolio and helped her land a small role within the movie Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. Though it was extremely exciting that she had landed her first role in a film, Mendes was not so impressed with her acting after watching it later. This pushed her into hiring an acting coach so that she might improve her talent and work towards perfecting the art of acting.
The acting lessons definitely helped her out, but the only real way to get better on screen was by having more experience under her belt. That was why Mendes took on a handful of roles in smaller films. She appeared in A Night at the Roxbury, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, Exit Wounds, My Brother the Pig, Urban Legends: Final Cut. Even though these films are not extremely recognizable films, they did help get her name out there and ultimately gave her the acting experience she needed to move on to bigger and better things. In addition to appearing in smaller films, Mendes was also featured in a handful of music videos for artists like Will Smith and Aerosmith. These weren’t exactly the kind of jobs she was hoping to be doing, but the more practice the better.
Eva Mendes – The Breakthrough
When the film Training Day was released in 2001, Mendes received a new wave of recognition for her work playing Denzel Washington’s girlfriend. The flick earned a lot of positive reviews from websites like Rotten Tomatoes because of the gritty performances given by not only the leading actors, but also the supporting actors. This ultimately led to her landing parts in 2 Fast 2 Furious, Out of Time, and Stuck on You. The Teen Choice Awards also gave her a nomination for her performance in Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
Mendes later made in 2005 history by starring alongside Will Smith in the romantic comedy Hitch. She broke ground as a minority woman to play a leading role in a blockbuster RomCom. Not only that, but her character in Hitch was a strong willed woman who didn’t fall so easily for the charm of a man who believed he knew all there was to know about women. She was definitely breaking ground with her performances and becoming a more popular face in Hollywood.
Calvin Klein took Mendes on for a photo shoot to promote their new perfume Secret Obsession. In the photo, she appeared completely nude which later caused the ad to be banned within the United States. This didn’t stop her of course, because in 2007 she took yet another nude photo, but this time it had purpose. PETA featured an explicity picture of her for some of their campaigns.
After that she became a spokesmodel for a handful of other companies, businesses, and organizations such as Pantene, Reebok, and Magnum.
For a while, the life of Eva Mendes was booming with activity. She was all over magazines and television screens. She even produced her own line of kitchenware and bed linens that were sold exclusively at Macy’s. However, news concerning the Star’s life and future plans began to slow down around 2012 after she made her appearance in the film Place Beyond the Pines.
What is Eva Mendes Up to in 2016
After Place Beyond the Pines was released, the media did a lot of speculation regarding the personal relationship between herself and her co-star Ryan Gosling. Fans went wild at the news of their relationship, but after the first year or so, things went quiet again until suddenly some curious pictures surfaced in 2014. Mendes had gone off the radar for a few months and paparazzi only managed to snap a few pictures of her here and there. It was later discovered that she was pregnant with her and Gosling’s first child.
Naturally, this news erupted all over the internet and people were hungry for answers. Neither Mendes or 
Since the birth of her child, Mendes appeared in Gosling’s film Lost River which didn’t fair so well with reviews. On IMBD it says that she is set to appear in Fast 8 but this is only rumored information. Mendes has apparently decided to spend more time focusing on the clothing line she has with New York & Company in addition to the line of cosmetics that is supplied at Walgreens. She has begun to post regularly on her Instagram account concerning both of these business endeavors, and even posts a personal picture or two. Unfortunately there is still no new news concerning her daughter or her potentially reentering the acting scene.
