In this cover story interview, she is interviewed and talked to another Spanish-speaking beauty, Penélope Cruz. During the interview, the two also shared their experience of getting acquainted, Hayek had seen many movies starring her long before Cruz entered Hollywood, and expressed the idea of working with her directly during media interviews, and they have been connected since then.
When they met, Hayek had been coming to Hollywood from Mexico for several years, and his career was on the rise, so he also suggested that Cruz could consider coming to Hollywood for development, and after Cruz came to Los Angeles, Hayek picked up his home directly from the airport. The two hit it off at first sight, and this friendship lasted for more than 20 years.
In 2000, at the Oscars
In 2006, Cruz and Hayek were in Hollywood
In 2006, they also fulfilled their wish to work together and co-starred in a comedy film called The Phantom of Theft Trojan, produced and written by Luc Besson. In the film, the two of them combined to form a "robber duo", telling a story against a cruel law enforcer, and the two amorous beauties are in the same frame, which is really eye-catching.
Returning to Salma Hayek herself, compared to the title that many people know for her "Kering Boss Lady", the charm of this Mexican beauty as an actress is actually much more wonderful than this so-called title. Not long ago, Madonna made a surprise appearance on a tour in Mexico City, and her look is even more recognizable in the "Frida" style - from her masterpiece "Frida", she plays the famous Mexican female painter Frida Kahlo. Most fans may have first come to know the Mexican actress from the film "Frida", which won her nominations for Best Actress at the Oscar, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Awards, BAFTA Awards and many other prestigious awards.
Salma Hayek was born in Mexico in 1966 to a wealthy family, the daughter of her father, Sami Hayek Domínguez, who owned an industrial equipment company and was an executive at a Mexican oil company, and her mother, Diana Jiménez Medina, was an opera singer and talent scout. She spent two years in the United States in high school, graduating from high school at the age of 15, and then attending the best university in Mexico, the Universidad Iberoamericana, majoring in international relations.
Entering the actor industry is completely out of Hayek's own love, after all, with a wealthy family and successful studies, she could have stayed at home comfortably and became a rich second generation, instead of coming to a foreign country to fight for her career.
She realized her love for film in college and had the idea of trying her hand at acting, and at the age of 18 she decided to drop out of school to pursue an acting career. At that time, her family was not supportive, and her friends thought she was "crazy", because in Mexico at that time, the film industry was declining and there was no market. My father originally thought that she was just having fun, and it was estimated that she would return to school after a year or two, but she didn't expect her to persist for decades.
With her unforgettable appearance and temperament, Hayek got off to a smooth start in the entertainment industry, winning the Best New Actress award at the Mexican Novira Television Awards in her first year of debut, and starring in the TV series "Teresa" the following year, she became a household name in Mexico.
But Hayek isn't content to just make a name for herself in Mexico, her goal is to make a name for herself in Hollywood. In 1991, after finishing the filming of "Teresa", although she was not fluent in English, she still resolutely moved to Los Angeles and enrolled herself in a language course to learn English. However, although the language difficulty was overcome, the real difficulty was far more difficult than imagined.
It was almost the worst period of racism in Hollywood, and for American directors and producers, it was "unthinkable" for Mexican women to lead films, and there were almost no Latin women in the scripts of movies and TV series. In the interview, she even said that at that time, someone would even tell her bluntly, "Your accent will remind moviegoers of 'butler'." ”
In the three years since, she has only won a few supporting roles, but that still hasn't dampened her desire to continue in Hollywood. Until 1995, she starred in the feature film "Erotic Street", which tells the life of the Mexican immigrant class, which was shortlisted for the main competition of that year's Berlinale and won the Special Mention Award. Hayek was nominated for Best Actress at the Ariel Awards in Mexico for her outstanding performance. This work opened up a certain amount of international popularity for her.
In the next two years, she had a series of breakthrough works in Hollywood: in 1995, she collaborated with Antonio Banderas on the Latin action film "Outlaw", in which her performance was hot and eye-catching; In 1996's "Kill a Dawn", one of her snake dances became the highlight of the whole film. At this point, she can be said to be one of the actors in Hollywood who can best interpret Latin style.
In 1999, Hayek founded his own film and television production company, Ventanarosa, which focuses on making films set in Mexico or Latin America.
Ventanarosa, which means "pink window" in Spanish, is also a more concrete expression of Hayek's desire to provide more opportunities for Latin women who aspire to enter the show business, "because I have been drenched in the rain, I always want to hold an umbrella for others". She unlocked her status as a producer herself, and the first film she produced, "Nobody Writes to the Colonel", was shortlisted for the main competition in Cannes.
Frida is also one of the works she participated in as a producer, in fact, since 1997, she has had the idea of bringing the story of the legendary painter Frida Kahlo to the screen, in her mind, Frida is not only her muse, but also the spiritual pillar of her determination to pursue a career as an actress.
Left: Vogue America, October 2002, Frida shoot Right: Portrait of Frida Kahlo herself
In order to be able to present this work perfectly, she has put in a lot of work behind her, looking for investment and distribution, "My mission is to depict the life of this extraordinary artist and to show my native Mexico in a way that fights stereotypes." When talking about the original intention of playing this role, she said.
She captured Frida's genius and tear to the fullest, and Frida was nominated for six Academy Awards that year, winning two awards for Best Original Score and Best Makeup. She herself was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress, becoming the first Mexican actress to be nominated for an Oscar.
In the 2003 Oscars, Hayek and Edward Norton, the latter were both the film's star and her boyfriend at the time
In addition, some of the stories that happened during the production process were not revealed to the public until many years later. In 2017, Hayek published a lengthy article in The New York Times accusing Harvey Weinstein (the owner of the film's distributor, Miramax Films) of harassment and obstructing her during filming. Hayek once filmed a collapse, but in order for this work that he has put a lot of effort into to move forward smoothly, he has no choice but to endure.
She also has a good eye for film selection as a producer, and she also starred in the American TV series "Ugly Betty", which is adapted from the Colombian TV series "Yo Soy Betty La Fea", which was an instant hit after it aired on ABC and swept many awards.
Actress America Ferrera won the Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Comedy, as well as two Golden Globe Awards for Best Comedy TV Series and Best Actress in a Comedy TV Series.
2007 Golden Globe Awards, Hayek and the crew of "Ugly Betty".
In the following years, while she was juggling her identity as an actress, she did not fall behind at all as a producer, and made history again and again. In the 2021 Marvel movie Eternals, she became the first Arab actress to play a major role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In 2007, Hayek entered the palace of marriage, and then unlocked the identity of motherhood, and when everyone thought that Hayek would gradually fade out of the screen and return to family life, her appearance frequency did not decrease.
What's even more commendable is that in addition to a thriving work and career, she also manages her family relationship very harmoniously, and she can often be seen in her social media to post loving moments with her husband and children.
From the girl who was not famous enough and no brand was willing to lend her clothes when she broke into Hollywood in the early years, to now she can wear what she wants and go to any stage she wants without relying on anyone, Hayek's steps are still moving forward, and the story she wants to tell continues.