Actress turns 50
Eva Mendes has turned her life around
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Eva Mendes is one of Hollywood's women who appears almost ageless. Ryan Gosling's partner is already celebrating her 50th birthday. But she had turned her life around long before that. Instead of acting, the focus today is on her children.
Eva Mendes is a big “Barbie” fan – and for good reason. The American actress wrote on Instagram in January after the Oscar nominations were announced that she was so proud of being Ken's Barbie: “So proud of my husband.” Despite hate and ridicule in the media about his role as Ken, he created an original, hilarious, heartbreaking and iconic character and made it to the Oscars, the actress enthused.
Mendes, who is now celebrating her 50th birthday, is the wife of Ken actor Ryan Gosling. They are parents of two girls, Esmeralda and Amada, aged nine and seven.
The filming of the film “The Place Beyond the Pines” brought together the Canadian and the Florida-born actress of Cuban descent. In the drama, Gosling plays a stunt driver and bank robber, while Mendes plays his ex-girlfriend and mother of his son. Their first child was born in September 2014, followed by their second daughter in April 2016.
Private things remain private
The actors' colleagues usually keep a very low profile about their private lives. In January 2017, Gosling made an exception on the Golden Globe stage. With the Globe trophy for best actor in the musical “La La Land” in his hand, he expressly thanked his “sweetheart”. While he was allowed to shoot the film, his “lady” looked after their daughter at home and also helped her brother, who was suffering from cancer, while she was pregnant. Without their support, he would not have made it here, said Gosling, visibly touched.
For a long time it wasn't clear whether the two were actually married to each other. Nothing had been made public about a wedding. On Australia's “Today” talk show in November 2022, Mendes casually made it official when she referred to Gosling as her “husband.”
While the actor continued to be in the spotlight with films like “Gangster Squad,” “La La Land,” “Blade Runner 2049” and now “Barbie,” Mendes retreated from the Hollywood business. She had a long career with action and comedy hits.
Last role ten years ago
Mendes first attracted the attention of moviegoers in 2001 alongside Denzel Washington in the thriller “Training Day.” She then took on a larger role in the action films “2 Fast 2 Furious”, “Out of Time” and “Sometime in Mexico”. She appeared in front of the camera with Matt Damon for the comedy “Inseparable” and with Will Smith for the comedy hit “Hitch – The Date Doctor”. With Meg Ryan, Annette Bening and Bette Midler she made the comedy “The Women – Of Big and Small Affairs”. The German director Werner Herzog brought the Latina beauty on board in 2009 alongside Nicolas Cage for the cop thriller “Bad Lieutenant – Cop without Conscience” in the role of a drug-addicted high-class prostitute.
After the romantic drama “Last Night” with Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington, Mendes played her last film role ten years ago in the dark apocalyptic drama “Lost River” – it was her husband's directorial debut.
Children are the focus
Mendes said in an interview with the industry publication “Variety” in 2022 that she doesn’t really miss acting. Back then, she was tired of being cast as Latina characters and having to fight for good roles. She also wanted to devote herself entirely to her children.
The former model, who also launched her own fashion collection at times, continues to work as a businesswoman. Mendes co-owns a household company that specializes in antimicrobial kitchen sponges. “I'm Cuban, of course I always do the dishes,” she says in a video she posted on Instagram in February. In it, Mendes whirls through a sparkling kitchen in a promotionally effective way.
A few weeks before her milestone anniversary, Mendes announced another project – “a true affair of the heart,” she wrote on Instagram. Inspired by her daughters, she wrote her first children's book. The picture book about a little girl who, with the help of her mother, learns to overcome her fears of nighttime monsters, is scheduled to be published in English and Spanish this fall.
Glamorous appearance at Fashion Week
However, Mendes has not forgotten how to make glamorous appearances. At Milan Fashion Week, the star recently turned heads in black leather, leopard print and teased hair. “Mommy's first fashion week in over ten years!” she shared on Instagram. She hasn't attended a fashion event since the birth of her first daughter.
Shortly after her 50th birthday, Mendes could be in the spotlight again – at the 96th Academy Awards on March 10 alongside Ryan Gosling. Her Ken is nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in “Barbie.”
