Eva Mendes
Why she didn’t feel like Hollywood anymore
Eva Mendes would have wished for other roles than just “the Latina”.
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Eva Mendes has revealed why she turned her back on Hollywood a good ten years ago: she didn’t feel like playing “the Latina” forever.
Eva Mendes (48) has no plans to get back into acting in the near future. In conversation with the industry magazine “Variety” the actress said on the sidelines of an event: “I don’t really miss it.”
Mendes began her career as an actress in the 1990s, and in the years that followed she appeared in films such as “2 Fast 2 Furious” or “Hitch – The Date Doctor”. Her last film “Lost River”, the directorial debut of her partner Ryan Gosling (41), was released in 2014. Almost a decade later, she now says: “It was tiring to have to fight for good roles.”
“Right now I’m staying at home with my kids”
She briefly flirted with the idea of becoming a producer herself: “There was just a point where I was like, ‘I’m going to create my own opportunities and be a producer and create my own material,’ but it worked for me didn’t feel like it was worth it.” Shortly thereafter, Mendes – who has been dating Hollywood darling Gosling since 2011 – became a mother. The couple have two daughters, Esmeralda (7) and Amada (6). “Oh, that’s what I’m supposed to do now,” she thought at the time.
There are now more opportunities for Latina actresses, Mendes explains. “But when I left ten years ago, I wasn’t offered roles that weren’t specifically Latina.” However, a comeback is not completely out of the question either: “It’s exciting that things are different now, so who knows what I’ll do in the future. But for the moment I’m staying at home with my children.”