Salma Hayek

Born on September 2, 1966
Salma Hayek Jiménez is a Mexican-American actress, director, television and film producer. Hayek has appeared in more than thirty films and performed as an actress outside of Hollywood in Mexico and Spain. Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants

Hayek is the first Mexican national to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. She is one of the most prominent Mexican figures in Hollywood, since the legendary Dolores del Rio. She is also, after Fernanda Montenegro, the second of four Latin American actresses to achieve a Best Actress Oscar nomination.

In July 2007, The Hollywood Reporter ranked Hayek fourth in their inaugural Latino Power 50, a list of the most powerful members of the Hollywood Latino community. That same month, a poll found Hayek to be the "sexiest celebrity" out of a field of 3,000 celebrities (male and female); according to the poll, "65 percent of the U.S. population would use the term 'sexy' to describe her


At the age of 23, Hayek landed the title role in Teresa (1989), a successful Mexican telenovela that made her a star in Mexico. In 1994, Hayek starred in the film El Callejón de los Milagros (Miracle Alley), which has won more awards than any other movie in the history of Mexican cinema. For her performance, Hayek was nominated for an Ariel Award


Hayek moved to Los Angeles, California in 1991 to study acting under Stella Adler, hoping for a career in Hollywood, despite limited fluency in English, attributed to her suffering from dyslexia. Robert Rodriguez and his producer wife Elizabeth Avellan soon gave Hayek the break she needed, a starring role opposite Antonio Banderas in 1995's Desperado. The movie caught Hollywood's attention, as moviegoers proved to be dazzled by Hayek as Rodriguez had been. Due to Hayek's loyalty to the director, she would later decline playing the role Catherine Zeta-Jones eventually took in The Mask of Zorro after Rodriguez abandoned the project. She has also appeared in the Spy Kids trilogy

Around the year 2000, Hayek founded production company Ventanarosa, through which she produces film and television projects. Her first feature as a producer was 1999's El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba, Mexico's official selection for submission for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars.
She earned a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her performance.This made Hayek, along with Katy Jurado and Adriana Barraza, one of only three Mexican actresses to have been nominated for an Academy Award. The film earned two Oscars


Hayek has been credited as a song performer in three movies. The first was Desperado for the song Quedate Aquí. In Frida she performed with band Los Vega the Mexican folk song La Bruja. She also recorded Siente mi amor, which played during the end credits of Once Upon a Time in Mexico. She also contributed to Happiness is a Warm Gun in "Across the Universe" as the singing nurses


On July 19, 2005 Hayek testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary supporting reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. In February 2006, she donated $25,000 to a Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, shelter for battered women and another $50,000 to Monterrey based anti-domestic violence groups.

Since the birth of her daughter, Hayek has worked to help mothers in developing nations worldwide, teaming up with Pampers and UNICEF to help stop the spread of life-threatening maternal and neonatal tetanus. She is the spokesperson for the Pampers/UNICEF partnership in the U.S. and Canada called: 1 Pack = 1 Vaccine to help raise awareness of this program


Honors


* Recipient of Glamour magazine Woman of the Year Award in October 2001.
* Recipient of Producers Guild of America Celebration of Diversity Award in 2003.
* Recipient of Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year Award in February 2006
Was a member of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival jury.[39]
Co-hosted the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert with Julianne Moore in Oslo, Norway on December 11, 2005.