Eva Mendes

Mendes was born in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents, and was raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, by her mother, after her parents' divorce. Mendes has said that her mother (who was a stay-at-home mom until she became an accountant when Eva went to school) "suffered so much to make my life OK" during Mendes' early years. Her mother worked for an aerospace company and her father ran a meat distribution business. Mendes was raised a Roman Catholic and aspired to be a nun. She attended Hoover High School in Glendale and later attended California State University, Northridge to study marketing, but dropped out after wanting to begin an acting career. She studied acting under Ivana Chubbuck. Before Mendes got her big break, she sold ‘Hot Dog on a Stick’ at Glendale Galleria Mall in California. Growing up, Eva's role model was Cindy Crawford.
Acting career
While Mendes "always had high hopes" for herself, she didn't consider an acting career until a talent manager saw her photo in a friend's portfolio. Her first film appearance was in the direct-to-video Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. Mendes was "so ashamed" by her performance in the film that she decided to hire an acting coach so that she wouldn't "squirm" when watching herself in future roles. In this period of her career, she also starred in A Night at the Roxbury, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, My Brother the Pig, The Disciples, Urban Legends: Final Cut and Exit Wounds.