These days it is good to be Eva Mendes. While she has appearing in movies since her first gig as the sultry bridesmaid in A Night at the Roxburry, 2003 had been her year. The sultry actress played Monica Fuentes in 2 Fast 2 Furious and the villain’s daughter Ajedrez opposite screen titans Johnny Depp, Antonio Banderas, and Salma Hayek in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. In addition, movie goers found Mendes paired once again with Denzel Washington in Out of Time. Mendes Played Washington’s sexy mistress in 2001’s Training Day. Rounding it out is her performance as April in Stuck on You opposite Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear. Can you say, J-Lo who?

Mendez was born in Houston, but raised in Los Angeles and Miami. She didn’t really consider acting until she starred in a small feature film while studying marketing. When an agent spotted her photo at Mendes’ neighbor’s house, the agent persuaded her to drop the books and pursue Hollywood instead. Her first jobs were in music videos for Aerosmith and Will Smith. A few TV appearances followed and the rest was history. Since she exploded onto the movie scene, she has played a variety or roles and can be seen in movies ranging from Children of the Corn V and Urban Legends: Final Cut to Exit Wounds.

So what’s next for this urban Latina? Recent reports confirm that Mendes will share the screen with Will Smith, this time in a romantic comedy called Last First Kiss. The movie is being directed by Andy Tennant (Sweet Home Alabama) and is set to be released in 2005. In the movie, Mendes plays a reporter who goes undercover to investigate a “love doctor” (Smith), who claims to find soul mates in less than three days. Mendes is also working on a children’s book called Crazy Leggs Beshee.

www.urbanlatino.com

–Ashley Cisneros
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Ashley Cisneros is a co-founder of Chatter Buzz Media, an Orlando Internet marketing firm that helps companies and organizations engage with their target markets through inbound marketing via the Internet. Chatter Buzz Media, which won the Social Madness competition for the Orlando small business market, is a full-service digital marketing firm specializing in website design, search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing and content creation. Prior to founding Chatter Buzz, Ashley worked as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, technical writer, marketing manager, public relations practitioner and freelance journalist. To see Ashley’s content writing, visit www.ashleycisneros.com. You can also reach Ashley on her Google profile.