Salma Hayek was born on the 2nd of September 1966 in Coatzacoalcos, Vera Cruz, Mexico.
Salma decided she wanted to become an actress at age five after seeing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
She was expelled from a nuns school in New Orleans for setting the clocks back three hours.
Her break in acting was a lead role in the tv soap Teresa which she left after two years to pursue a film career. Salma soon found out that typecasting was a problem as she appeared in a number of bit part roles, frustrated by not being able to fulfil her dreams and ambitions she vented her feelings on a late night Spanish talk show.
She would go on to take acting classes and work on developing her english accent as she knew this was holding her back in Hollywood. It was four years later that Salma finally got her big break in the Robert Rodriguez action film Desperado with Antonio Banderas.
Rodriguez would give her a small cameo role the following year in the cult vampire film From Dusk Till Dawn and she would also appear in the forgettable Fled the same year.
Miss Hayek received star billing for her next film Fools Rush In which was a romantic comedy with Matthew Perry from the television show Friends, Fools Rush In was not really a huge box office hit but it got Salma noticed and she continued to be offered good roles.
Films such as Dogma earned her cult status. In Dogma Salma would perform a seductive sexy striptease onstage which stayed in the mind long after the film ended.
Salma continued to be offered parts such as her role in The Faculty but didn't always make the right career choices and as an example i cite the so bad its almost good Wild Wild West.
Her production company is called Ventanarosa and its first production was El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba. ( No One Writes To The Colonel )
For years Salma had been wanting to make a film based on Frida Kalo who was a famous Mexican painter, she finally got her wish, she co-produced the film Frida which was released to widespread critical acclaim in 2002, the film received six Oscar nominations including a best actress nomination for Salma, Nicole Kidman would end up winning the Oscar for The Hours but just receiving the nomination meant she was taken more seriously as an actress.
Frida did win two Oscars for best makeup and best original music score.
Salma Hayek then directed The Maldonado Miracle which received good reviews.
Some of her other films are Once Upon A Time In Mexico, After The Sunset, Bandidas, Ask The Dust, Lonely Hearts, Across The Universe and Cirque De Freak: The Vampires Assistant.
Future films to look out for are Grown Ups, Puss In Boots ( Shrek spin off ) Diego Ascending, Bones Family, La Banda and Wild Roses, Tender Roses.
Her production company is behind box office hit Ugly Betty and Salma appeared in several episodes of the show, she also has appeared in hit show 30 Rock.
Her real name is Salma Valgarma Hayek Jimenez. ( Now thats a mouthful )
She can speak English, Arabic, Spanish and Portugese and she loves dogs. Miss Hayek continues to act and give wonderful performances on film and television and it would not surprise me to see her move into producing and directing films in the future.
Read some Salma Hayek Quotes below.
I keep waiting to meet a man who has more balls than I do.
What worries me the most is that most men are so weak. Because of that they act like they don't care and like machos – because they are too fragile inside. They're scared of confrontation and afraid of so many things. And because of this they build up their life so they have to deal with their feelings as little as possible. I find feminine men unbelievably sexy. But most men are completely incapable of getting in touch with their feminine side. What am I supposed to talk about with a man who doesn't know what it's like to be a woman?
If a man lets all of my dogs sleep in the bed with us, then that is the most romantic thing. You must love my dogs in order to love me. A man who is nice to my animals and doesn't shoo them away – well, that's the height of romance.
It sounds trite to go after men who are nice but when you've been hurt a lot it becomes appealing.
( On being pregnant ) You are like a swollen whale and never looked worse in your life. And somebody goes, 'You're glowing.' They don't have the courage to tell you how bad you look.
At the beginning of my career it was hard. People were like, "Who is this Mexican jumping bean."?
Check out our Salma Hayek picture gallery below – Double click an image to close it
i love u salma u r the most incredible and sexiest woman on earth,i know about that, estoy tan orgulloso de tener una paisana tan hermosa y a la ves tan inteligente , eres un ejemplo para toda mujer en general,no se diga la para la mujer latina, y no se diga especicamente y lo digo con mucho respeto para la mexicana, puedes tocar cualquier tema y te desenvuelves con gracia y soltura, mantente hermosa y sigue cultivando tu intelecto que es lo que perdura cuando la bellesa se acaba .