Salma Hayek: working Mexican magic on Hollywood: nominations for both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award - Top Ten Latinos

Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, Dec, 2003 by Gabriela Velazquez

SALMA HAYEK JIMENEZ was born on September 2, 1966, and raised in Coatzacoalcos, a small town in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Her stunning beauty is the result of the blend of a Lebanese father and a Spanish mother.

Whenever asked about her childhood, she admits to having been spoiled and carefree, although she had not quite figured out what her place was. Her pranks got her expelled from a Louisiana Catholic boarding school. She quit school while she was pursuing a major in a Mexico City university and decided to pursue her childhood dream of becoming an actress. Acting was the first thing to which she committed herself seriously.

Her efforts paid off quickly, and she landed a role in a soap opera after having done some local theater and commercials. A year after that, in 1990, she starred in Teresa, a soap that had the highest ratings on Mexican television.

For someone so physically short, Salma certainly aims high. Her popularity as a Mexican diva was not enough to satisfy this woman's ambition. So she set her sights on Hollywood's big screen and moved to Los Angeles in the midst of her successful career, much to the astonishment of her followers. She made a splash probably not made by any Mexican actress in Hollywood since Dolores del Rio and Lupe Velez.

This Mexican celebrity had to start from scratch once in California. She studied English and acting, and auditioned until she began to land guest spots on some shows and small parts in movies. The boost in Salma's Hollywood career came when Robert Rodriguez spotted her in a Spanish-language cable talk show and cast her for the lead role in the 1995 film Desperado, opposite Antonio Banderas.

Despite this role she often complained that actresses who speak English with a foreign accent cannot get major parts. Another thorn in her side is the Mexican press, which constantly attacks her.

After Desperado her repertoire expanded with titles such as From Dusk Till Dawn; Fools Rush In; Dogma; Wild West; and her own production, Frida, for which she got nominations for both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award. She has also been involved in independent films such as The Velocity of Gary and Follow Me Home, and has been back to Mexico to film movies and make TV cameo appearances; from the Mexican productions the most relevant are El Coronel no Tiene Quien le Escriba (No One Writes to the Colonel) and El Callejon de los Milagros.

Spy Kids 3-D and Once Upon a T/me in Mexico are her releases this year. Her production company, Ventanarosa, is working with Miramax and has signed with Sony to develop Spanish-language shows for Sony International and English-language shows for Columbia Tristar.

Even though some of the films she has appeared in have not been box office hits, her onscreen presence has been indelible, and her film, Frida, which she both produced and starred in, has been a commercial success and made her a power to reckon with. So, it is by no means far-fetched to suppose her biggest film role is lurking in the near future, and the only real question is, will she also produce and direct it?