Salma Valgarma Hayek Pinault (/ˈhaɪɛk/HY-ek,[3]Spanish:[ˈsalmaˈxaʝek];néeHayek Jiménez; born September 2, 1966)[4][5][6] is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in thetelenovelaTeresa (1989–1991) as well as the romantic dramaMidaq Alley (1995). She soon established herself in Hollywood with appearances in films such asDesperado (1995),From Dusk till Dawn (1996),Wild Wild West (1999), andDogma (1999).
As a public figure, Hayek has been cited as one of Hollywood's most powerful and influential Latina actresses as well as one of the world's most beautiful women by various media outlets.Time magazine named her one of the100 most influential people in the world in 2023.[9] In 2021, she was honored with a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame. She is married to business magnateFrançois-Henri Pinault, with whom she has a daughter.
Early life
Salma Hayek was born inCoatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico.[10] Her father, Sami Hayek Domínguez, is ofLebanese descent.[11] His ancestors hail from the city ofBaabdat, Lebanon, a city Salma and her father visited in 2015 to promote her movieKahlil Gibran's The Prophet.[12][13][14][15] He owns an industrial-equipment firm and is an oil company executive in Mexico;[10] he once ran for mayor of Coatzacoalcos.[16][17] Her mother, Diana Jiménez Medina, is an opera singer and talent scout; she is ofSpanish descent. While visitingMadrid in an interview in 2015 withUn Nuevo Día, Hayek described herself as fifty percent Lebanese and fifty percent Spanish, saying that her grandmother/maternal great-grandparents were from Spain.[11][18][19][20] Her younger brother, Sami, is a furniture designer.[10]
Hayek's first screen appearance was in the television series inUn Nuevo Amanecer (1988), which earned her theTVyNovelas Award for Best Debut Actress.Televisa subsequently selected Hayek, who was 23 at the time, to play the title role inTeresa (1989–1991), a successful Mexicantelenovela that made her a star in Mexico.[24] The series ran for two years and 125 episodes, and earned her the 1990TVyNovelas Award for Best Female Revelation.
Determined to pursue a film career in Hollywood, Hayek moved to Los Angeles in 1991 following the conclusion ofTeresa.[25] With limited fluency in English and dyslexia,[26] she soon enrolled in English lessons and studied acting underStella Adler.[27][28] Hayek initially struggled with the lack of acting job offers after moving to the United States, recalling that "there was no industry or parts forLatin women",[26] and was once even told that her accent would "make moviegoers think ofhousekeepers".[26] During this period, she secured guest-spots in television series such asDream On (1992) andThe Sinbad Show (1993) as well as supporting roles in the dramaMi Vida Loca (1993), and the made-for-Showtime thrillerRoadracers (1994), her first collaboration with directorRobert Rodriguez.
In 1994, Hayek was cast as Alma, a poverty-stricken young woman who becomes asex worker, inJorge Fons's dramaEl callejón de los milagros (Miracle Alley), which was based on the 1940s eponymous novel by EgyptianNaguib Mahfouz and translated fromCairo toMexico City. The film was the subject of critical acclaim, reportedly won more awards than any other movie in the history ofMexican cinema, and earned Hayek a nomination for theAriel Award for Best Actress.[29] Hayek was one of the few actresses permitted to appear on both Televisa andTV Azteca, through a special dispensation fromEmilio Azcárraga Milmo, who tried to persuade her to return to Mexico with an exclusive deal, which she declined in order to pursue a career in Hollywood.[30]
In 1995, Robert Rodriguez and his co-producer and then-wife, Elizabeth Avellan,[25] cast Hayek oppositeAntonio Banderas in the starring role of self-confident and feisty Carolina inDesperado, her breakout film.[31][11][25] Describing the film's process as "grueling",[26] Hayek had to audition several times for Rodriguez before landing the part, and a love scene in the script proved particularly difficult for her to film because she did not want to be nude on camera. She once remarked: "It took eight hours [to film] instead of an hour".[26] Budgeted at $7 million,Desperado was a commercial success, grossing $25.4 million in the United States.[32] A brief role as avampire queen followed in Rodriguez's cult horror filmFrom Dusk till Dawn (1996), in which she performed an erotic table-top snake dance.[33][34] She also appeared in the 1996 dramaFollow Me Home and the cop comedyFled.
Hayek next starred in the romantic comedyFools Rush In (1997) as a photographer in anon-and-off relationship with a New York City architect, played byMatthew Perry. CriticRoger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and described it as "a sweet, entertaining retread of an ancient formula", elevated by good performances (particularly Hayek's) and an insightful "level of observation and human comedy".[35]Fools Rush In was a moderate commercial success and earned Hayek anALMA Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film. In another romantic comedy,Breaking Up (also 1997), she andRussell Crowe portrayed a couple whose relationship leads to an out-of-the-blue marriage. Ken Eisner ofVariety wrote: "Russell Crowe and Salma Hayek make attractive leads, but they have neither the marquee power nor the requisite chemistry to keepBreaking Up from getting left at the altar of general distribution."[36] Indeed, the film was distributed for selected markets in the United States only.[37]
In 1998, Hayek played an aspiring young singer in the 1970s New York City nightlife scene inMark Christopher's drama54, a doughnut shop waitress inDan Ireland's dramedyThe Velocity of Gary and a nurse in Rodriguez's supernatural horror filmThe Faculty. In 1999, Hayek was unorthodoxly cast inKevin Smith's religious satireDogma as Serendipity, "the [Muse] who throughout history inspired all the geniuses of art and music, likeMozart andMichelangelo, and never got any of the credit".[38] She also portrayed the alleged daughter of a kidnapped scientist alongsideWill Smith in the period WesternWild Wild West.Dogma was well received by critics and audiences, butWild Wild West proved a commercial failure despite being one of themost expensive films ever made at the time of its release.[39][40]
InJulie Taymor's biographical filmFrida (2002), Hayek served as a producer and starred assurrealist painterFrida Kahlo. She became interested in the role several years prior to commencing production for the film, having "been fascinated by Kahlo's work from the time she was 13 or 14", although not immediately a fan: "At that age I did not like her work [...] I found it ugly and grotesque. But something intrigued me, and the more I learned, the more I started to appreciate her work. There was a lot of passion and depth. Some people see only pain, but I also see irony and humor. I think what draws me to her is what [husband] Diego saw in her. She was a fighter. Many things could have diminished her spirit, like the accident or Diego's infidelities. But she wasn't crushed by anything".[44] She was so determined to play the role that she sought outDolores Olmedo Patino, longtime-lover of Diego Rivera, and, after his death, administrator to the rights of Frida and Rivera's art, which Rivera had "willed [...] to the Mexican people", bequeathing the trust to Olmedo.[45] Hayek personally secured access to Kahlo's paintings from Kahlo and began to assemble a supporting cast, approachingAlfred Molina for the role of Rivera in 1998. Upon its release,Frida was a critical darling and an arthouse success. In his review for the film, David Denby ofThe New Yorker concluded: "Smart, willful, and perverse, this Frida is nobody's servant, and the tiny Hayek plays her with head held high". Her portrayal of Kahlo made her the first Mexican actress to be nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Actress and earned herGolden Globe Award,Screen Actors Guild Award andBritish Academy Film Award nominations for Best Actress.
In 2003, Hayek produced and directedThe Maldonado Miracle, a Showtime film based on the book of the same name, for which she won theDaytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Children Special,[46] reunited with Robert Rodriguez forSpy Kids 3-D: Game Over andOnce Upon a Time in Mexico,[47] and made an appearance in the documentaryV-Day: Until the Violence Stops.Once Upon a Time in Mexico, which made $98.2 million worldwide,[48] was the final film of theMariachi Trilogy and featured Hayek reprising her role fromDesperado.
Hayek appeared alongside her good friendPenélope Cruz in the 2006Western comedyBandidas, portraying two women who become a bank robbing duo in an effort to combat a ruthless enforcer terrorizing their town. Randy Cordova of theArizona Republic said the film "sports" Hayek and her co-star Penélope Cruz as the "lusty dream team" and that they were the "marketing fantasy" for the film.[54]Bandidas was followed byAsk the Dust, a period romance set in Los Angeles based on a John Fante novel[55] and co-starringColin Farrell. Peter Bradshaw ofThe Guardian found "something a little forced in both lead performances",[56] and with a limited theatrical release, the film was not a financial success.[57] Her last film of 2006 wasLonely Hearts, a neo-noir crime drama chronicling the notorious "lonely hearts killers" of the 1940s,Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, in which Hayek played Beck, withJared Leto taking on the role of Fernandez. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but the cast garnered praise.Peter Travers ofRolling Stone stated: "When Hayek and Leto are onscreen, you do not look away."[58]
Hayek served as an executive producer for the American television seriesUgly Betty (2006–2010), after adapting the story for American television withBen Silverman, who acquired the rights and scripts from the ColombiantelenovelaYo Soy Betty La Fea in 2001. Originally intended as a half-hour sitcom for NBC in 2004, the project would later be picked up byABC for the 2006–2007 season withSilvio Horta also producing. She guest-starred on the series asSofia Reyes, a magazine editor.Ugly Betty was a success with critics and audiences, won aGolden Globe Award for Best Comedy Series in 2007, and earned Hayek nominations for bothOutstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Comedy Series at the59th Primetime Emmy Awards.[59] After finalizing negotiations withMGM to become the CEO of her own Latin-themed film production company, Ventanarosa, in 2007,[60] Hayek signed a two-year deal with ABC for Ventanarosa to develop projects for the network.[61]
In 2007, Hayek made a cameo appearance, as a nurse singing a cover ofThe Beatles song "Happiness Is A Warm Gun", in Julie Taymor's jukebox musical romantic dramaAcross the Universe. The role of Madame Truska, a woman who can grow an indestructible beard, inCirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009), was Hayek's first acting project following the birth of her daughter. She characterized the film, which was an adaptation of the book seriesThe Saga of Darren Shan by authorDarren Shan, as "a little bit of hard work. But it's not like I have to be emotionally devastated for months".[62] The film was a critical and commercial failure.[63][64]Screen Rant felt that Hayek is "fun as the bearded lady Madame Truska but [...] is unable to single-handedly elevate the material".[65]
Hayek served as a producer and provided her voice for the character of Kamila, a widowed mother, inThe Prophet (2014), adapted from the 1923 book byKahlil Gibran. Describing the film as a "love letter to my heritage", Hayek said it helped her explore her relationship with her late grandfather, who was a fan of the book, and remarked: "Between all the connections of our ancestors and the memories of the ones that are no longer with us, I hope they are proud of this film because I did it also for them".[73] In 2014, she made a brief appearance inJames Bobin's comedy sequelMuppets Most Wanted, starred as a woman forced intosexual slavery inJoe Lynch's action dramaEverly, and reunited with Pierce Brosnam to play his love interest inTom Vaughan's romantic comedySome Kind of Beautiful.Everly andSome Kind of Beautiful were both distributed for online markets and poorly received; while critics noted that the former "benefits from Joe Lynch's stylish direction and Salma Hayek's starring work, but it's too thinly written and sleazily violent to fully recommend",[74]Rotten Tomatoes gave the latter a 6% rating based on 34 reviews.[75]
InTale of Tales (2015), a European fantasy film directed and written byMatteo Garrone, Hayek appeared as the 17th-century Queen of Longtrellis. A screen adaptation based on collections of tales byItalian poet and courtierGiambattista Basile, the film competed for thePalme d'Or at the68th Cannes Film Festival.[76][77] In 2016, Hayek voiced the role of Teresa del Taco inSausage Party, an adult animated film she described as "the naughtiest thing I've ever done. I never thought I'd ever say some of those things out loud. But, I had a lot of fun [...] It's a different kind of crazy".[78] The highest grossing R-rated animated film of all time,Sausage Party grossed $140.4 million worldwide.[79]
The dramaBliss (2021), which starred Hayek as a homeless woman befriending a recently divorced man (Owen Wilson), was released onAmazon Prime Video.[85] She next reunited with director Patrick Hughes and actors Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson inHitman's Wife's Bodyguard, the sequel for the 2017 filmThe Hitman's Bodyguard, which was released on June 16, 2021, to mediocre reviews. John Defore ofThe Hollywood Reporter, however, praised Hayek's "foul-mouthed" portrayal, writing: "The one smart thing the film does is promote Salma Hayek, as the eponymous spouse of Samuel L. Jackson's hitman, from the small but scene-stealing role she played in the first film. [...] At least we can appreciate Hayek's enthusiasm for the over-the-top role".[86] Unlike the first film,Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard had lackluster box office returns.[citation needed]
Hayek portrayedAjak, the wise and spiritual leader of the titular group, in theMarvel Cinematic Universe pictureEternals, directed byChloé Zhao, who "personally selected" her for the role.[87] Initially surprised byMarvel's interest on her casting,[87] Hayek described her involvement in the film as "empowering" and recalled getting "emotional" upon seeing her character's superhero costume, stating: "It was because it means so much to so many people that, to think that for a Mexican girl —a Mexican woman in her 50s— was able to be a superhero. I felt a lot of pride to have my superhero outfit on. It meant something".[88] Hayek, who is of bothSpanish andLebanese descent, subsequently became the firstArab actress with a main role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[89] The film, released in the United States on November 5, 2021,[90] generated a divergent critical response and made $401 million worldwide.[91] She has since signed a deal to star in multipleMarvel Cinematic Universe projects.[92] Her last film of 2021 wasRidley Scott's biographical crime dramaHouse of Gucci, in which she played the friend and confidante ofPatrizia Reggiani, Giuseppina "Pina" Auriemma, alongsideLady Gaga as Reggiani,Adam Driver, and herLonely Hearts co-star Jared Leto.[93] Hayek then reprised her role as Kitty Softpaws inPuss in Boots: The Last Wish,[94] which received critical acclaim, grossed $485.3 million,[95][96] and like its predecessor was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants.[100] On July 19, 2005, Hayek testified before theU.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary supporting reauthorizing theViolence Against Women Act.[101] In February 2006, she donated $25,000 to a Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, shelter for battered women and another $50,000 toMonterrey based anti-domestic violence groups.[102] She is a board member ofV-Day, the charity founded by playwrightEve Ensler. While Hayek previously stated that she is not a feminist,[103] she later revised her stance, stating: "I am a feminist because a lot of amazing women have made me who I am today. [...] But – it should not be just because I am a woman".[104]
Hayek also advocatesbreastfeeding. During a 2009 UNICEF fact-finding trip toSierra Leone,she breastfed a hungry week-old baby whose mother could not produce milk.[105] Hayek said she did it to reduce the stigma associated with breastfeeding and to encourage infant nutrition.[106] In 2010, Hayek's humanitarian work earned her a nomination for the VH1Do Something Awards.[107] In 2013, alongsideBeyoncé andFrida Giannini, Hayek launched "Chime for Change", aGucci campaign that aims to spread female empowerment.[108] ForInternational Women's Day 2014 Hayek was one of the artist signatories ofAmnesty International's letter, to then British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron, campaigning for women's rights inAfghanistan.[109] Following her visit toLebanon in 2015, Hayek criticized the discrimination against women there.[15]
On December 13, 2017, Hayek published an op-ed inThe New York Times stating that she had been harassed and abused by film producerHarvey Weinstein during the production ofFrida.[110]
Hayek was a spokeswoman forRevlon in 1998 and has been a spokeswoman forAvon cosmetics since February 2004.[113] She modeled forChopard in 2001, was featured in a series of Spanish language commercials forLincoln cars in 2002,[114] and inCampari ads, photographed byMario Testino, in 2006.[115] On April 3, 2009, she helped introduce La Doña, a watch byCartier inspired by fellow Mexican actressMaría Félix.[116]
Hayek has worked with theProcter & Gamble Company andUNICEF to promote the funding (through disposable diaper sales) of vaccines against maternal andneonatal tetanus. She is a global spokesperson for the Pampers/UNICEF partnership to help raise awareness of the program.[117] The partnership involves Procter & Gamble donating the cost of one tetanus vaccination (approximately 24 cents)[118] for every pack of Pampers sold.[119]
In 2008, Hayek co-founded Juice Generation's juice delivery program Cooler Cleanse.[120][121] After writing the foreword to Juice Generation founder Eric Helms' 2014 bookThe Juice Generation: 100 Recipes for Fresh Juices and Superfood Smoothies,[122] she and Helms launched the beauty subscription delivery service Blend It Yourself in 2017, based on Hayek's personal beauty elixirs, which supplies subscribers with the prepared organic frozen smoothie and acai bowl ingredients.[120][123]
In 2011, Hayek launched her own line of cosmetics, skincare, and haircare products called Nuance by Salma Hayek, to be sold atCVS stores in North America.[124]
Early in her career, Hayek came to be regarded as asex symbol, and most of her early films, it has been noted, such as the action-orientedDesperado,From Dusk Till Dawn, andFled, "predominantly featured her in racy sex symbol type of roles" and ultimately made Hayek a familiar face with mainstream audiences.[125] Various media publications have cited her as one of Hollywood's most beautiful actresses.People named her one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1996, 2003 and 2008,[126]Maxim ranked her 34th and 90th on their Hot 100 list in 2005 and 2007, respectively,[126] andFHM included her on their100 Sexiest Women in the World list in 2005 and 2006.[126] A July 2007 poll by E-Poll Market Research found Hayek to be the "sexiest celebrity" among a group of 3,000 public figures, with 65 percent of respondents using the term "sexy" to describe her.[127] TheArmani dress Hayek wore to the1997 Academy Awards was voted byE! Entertainment as one of the five most memorable in Oscar history.[126]
From April 7 to June 18, 2006, the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center inSan Antonio, Texas hosted an exhibition called "Solamente Salma" (Spanish for "Only Salma"), consisting of 16 portrait paintings bymuralist George Yepes and filmmakerRobert Rodriguez[128] of Hayek as theAztec goddessItzpapalotl.[129][130] In July 2007,The Hollywood Reporter ranked Hayek 4th in their Latino Power 50, a list of the most powerful Latin members of Hollywood.[131] In 2008, she was awarded theWomen in Film Lucy Award, in recognition of her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television,[132] andEntertainment Weekly ranked her 17th in their list of the 25 Smartest People in TV.[133]
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^"Salma Hayek".Hello!. Archived fromthe original on May 15, 2010. RetrievedJune 24, 2010....raised in a conservative Catholic family...
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^"Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, the School of Ancient Wisdom". 2006. Archived fromthe original on September 10, 2006. RetrievedOctober 21, 2006.Having been a skeptic for most of my life, Ramtha has taught me about the possibilities we all have to influence reality using science to explain the mechanics in a way that finally makes sense to me. His technique on creating the day has been very effective in my life.
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