The Cuban American actress was raised in Los Angeles. After graduating from Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale, she headed to Cal State Northridge to study marketing. (Anacleto Rapping / Los Angeles Times)
Once Mendes started studying with acting coach Ivana Chubbuck (who also trained Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron and Halle Berry), it was bye-bye marketing, hello Hollywood. She dropped out of college in the late ‘90s to pursue acting. (Jim Cooper / Associated Press)
It’s no surprise that Mendes has become a permanent fixture in the pages of FHM and Maxim -- she oozes confidence and sexuality. “It’s fun to be a woman. It’s fun to flirt and wear makeup and have boobs,” she told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2005. (Peter Kramer / Getty Images)
If Mendes’ Hollywood career hadn’t taken off, you might have one beautiful babe picking out sconces for your living room. She is passionate about interior designing. (Angela Weiss / Getty Images)
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Eva Mendes and actor-director Ryan Gosling became parents of a baby girl this month. (Warren Toda / EPA)
