SALMA HAYEK

Happy Birthday to the actress and film producer SALMA HAYEK.

Hayek's first screen appearance was in the television series in UN NUEVO AMANECER (1988), which earned her the TVyNovelas Award for Best Debut Actress.

Determined to pursue a film career in Hollywood, Hayek moved to Los Angeles in 1991 following the conclusion of Teresa.

With limited fluency in English and dyslexia, she soon enrolled in English lessons and studied acting under Stella Adler.

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".

During this period, she secured guest-spots in television series such as DREAM ON On (1992) and THE SINBAD SHOW (1993) as well as supporting roles in the drama MI VIDA LOCA (1993), and the made-for-Showtime thriller ROADRACERS (1994), her first collaboration with director Robert Rodriguez.

In 1994, Hayek was cast as Alma, a poverty-stricken young woman who becomes a sex worker, in Jorge Fons's drama EL CALLEJÓN DE LOS MILAGROS (Miracle Alley), which was based on the 1940s eponymous novel by Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz and translated from Cairo to Mexico City.

Robert Rodriguez and his co-producer and

Robert Rodriguez and his co-producer and then-wife, Elizabeth Avellan, cast Hayek in the starring role of the self-confident and feisty Carolina, opposite Antonio Banderas, in DESPERADO (1995)

She followed it with a brief role as a vampire queen in Rodriguez's cult horror film FROM DUSK STILL DAWN (1996).

In 1996, she also appeared in the drama FOLLOW ME HOME and the cop comedy FLED.

In 1999, Hayek was unorthodoxly cast 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", with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, in Kevin Smith's religious satire DOGMA.

Her first feature as a producer was EL COLONEL NO TIENE QUIEN LE ESCRIBA (1999).

In 2000, Hayek had an uncredited role opposite Benicio del Toro in TRAFFIC.

She produced and starred in the television film IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES (2001).

In Julie Taymor's biographical film FRIDA (2002), Hayek served as a producer and starred as surrealist painter Frida Kahlo.

In 2003, 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.

In Brett Ratner's action comedy AFTER THE SUNSET (2004), Hayek starred as the girlfriend of a master thief, with Pierce Brosnan.

Hayek appeared alongside her good friend Penélope 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.

Her last film of 2006 was LONELY HEARTS, a neo-noir crime drama.

Hayek served as an executive producer for the American television series UGLY BETTY (2006–2010).

In 2007, 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 (2009), was Hayek's first acting project following the birth of her daughter.

In 2010, Hayek played a fashion designer and the wife of a Hollywood talent agent (Adam Sandler) in the comedy GROWN UPS.

She is the voice of Kitty Softpaws, a street-savvy Tuxedo cat, alongside Antonio Banderas in PUSS IN BOOTS (2011).

In 2012, Hayek directed Jada Pinkett Smith in the music video "Nada Se Compara", lent her voice for Peter Lord's animated film THE PIRATES!

In an Adventure with Scientists!, and played a cartel leader in Oliver Stone's action film SAVAGES and a school nurse in Frank Coraci's comedy HERE COMES THE BOOM.

She reprised her role in GROWN UPS 2 (2013) which, like the first film, was a commercial success despite a negative critical response.

Hayek served as a producer and provided her voice for the character of Kamila, a widowed mother, in THE PROPHET (2014), adapted from the 1923 book by Kahlil Gibran.

In 2014, she made a brief appearance in James Bobin’s comedy sequel MUPPETS MOST WANTED, starred as a woman forced into sexual slavery in Joe Lynch's action drama EVERLY, and reunited with Pierce Brosnam to play his love interest in Tom Vaughan's romantic comedy SOME KIND OF BEAUTIFUL.

In TALE OF TALES (2015), a European fantasy film directed and written by Matteo Garrone, Hayek appeared as the 17th-century Queen of Longtrellis.

Hayek took on the role of a holistic medicine practitioner who attends a wealthy client's dinner party in Miguel Arteta's drama BEATRIZ AT DINNER (2017).

Her last film outing of 2017 was Patrick Hughes's action comedy THE HITMAN'S BODYGUARD.

Hayek was cast as Eva Torres, a high-frequency trading executive, alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgård, in Kim Nguyen's tech drama THE HUMMINGBIRD PROJECT (2018), 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 (2019).

In 2020, Hayek appeared as a cosmetics mogul in Miguel Arteta's comedy LIKE A BOSS and the alternative wife of a man in Sally Potter’s drama THE ROADS NOT TAKEN.

THE DRAMA BLISS (2021), which starred Hayek as a homeless woman befriending a recently divorced man (Owen Wilson), was released on Amazon Prime Video.

She 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.

Her last film of 2021 was Ridley Scott's biographical crime drama HOUSE OF GUCCI, in which she played the friend and confidante of Patrizia Reggiani, Giuseppina “Pina” Auriemma, alongside Lady Gaga as Reggiani, Adam Driver, and her Lonely Hearts co-star Jared Leto.

Hayek then reprised her role as Kitty Softpaws in PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH.

In June 2022, Hayek was cast in Angelina Jolie’s upcoming film, WITHOUT BLOOD, based on the bestselling Italian novel by Alessandro Baricco.

In 2023, she appeared in the episode "Joan Is Awful" of the Netflix anthology BLACK MIRROR.