Salma Hayek

Biography

Touted by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez as the first Mexican star to play the female lead in an American movie since Dolores Del Rio, the stunningly beautiful and charismatic Salma Hayek scorched stateside cineplexes as the fiery border town bookseller who romances Antonio Banderas' vengeful mariachi in "Desperado" (1995). Check out her nude photos here.

She had previously won the hearts of her countrymen with two TV roles in the late 1980s, first as an innocent schoolgirl in "Nuevo Amancer" and subsequently as the comely bad girl protagonist of "Teresa" in the extremely popular primetime soap ("novela").

Fearing that Mexican audiences valued her looks more than her thespian skills, sexy Hayek left Mexico at the height of her vogue and headed for L.A. She then took a year-and-a-half off from acting to learn English.

By 1992, Hayek was landing TV guest shots and appeared as a recurring character on a family sitcom, "The Sinbad Show" (Fox, 1993-94), before winning a supporting role in Alison Anders' well-regarded indie feature "Mi Vida Loca/My Crazy Life" (1993).

Hayek's English skills had blossomed but roles remained elusive.

Writer-director Rodriguez heard her lament on comic Paul Rodriguez's talk show and cast her as the female lead in his first 35mm project, "Roadracers" (Showtime, 1994), the hyper-stylized premiere installment of the "Rebel Highway" TV-movie series. His ultimate goal was to cast her as the female lead in his studio-produced sequel to 1992's low-budget marvel "El Mariachi;" the ploy worked, allowing Hayek to beat out all the standard Anglos that the studio attempted to impose upon the production.

Additional Hollywood assignments followed including further collaborations with Rodriguez on two other projects--a cameo with Banderas in the ill-conceived feature "Four Rooms" (also 1995) and as a blood-sucking snake dancer in the Quentin Tarantino-scripted vampire outing, "From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996). Salma has stated her intention to alternate between working in Hollywood genre fare and Mexican art films (e.g., 1995's "Midaq Alley/El Callejon de los Milagros"). She idled for awhile in Hollywood, though, with unremarkable supporting roles in Cindy Crawford's debut outing, "Fair Game" (1995), and the convicts on the run actioner "Fled" (1996).

Salma Hayek then essayed her first romantic comedy role opposite Matthew Perry in "Fools Rush In" (1997), cast as a Mexican woman who hastily marries an American and then proceeds to fall in love. Critics and audiences, however, were less than impressed and the film quickly was relegated to the video shelves.

"Breaking Up" (1997), which teamed her with Russell Crowe as a couple negotiating the pitfalls of love, also failed to excite viewers. Hayek fared somewhat better as the fiery gypsy dancer Esmeralda to Mandy Patinkin's Quasimodo in the small screen remake "The Hunchback" (TNT, 1997).

Pics

Nude movie scene:
Desperado (1995)

Naked picture from:
Frida (1999)