- Sexy New Pics of Eva Mendes, Click to View Full Pictures

     Eva Mendes was born in Miami, Florida, and raised in Los Angeles of Cuban-American heritage. In college Eva Mendes began acting, studying underneath acting coach Ivana Chubbuck. This led to her desire to appear in feature films. Though taking many smaller roles in movies, Eva Mendes was little known until playing the girlfriend of Denzel Washington's character in Training Day (2001). Since then Eva Mendes has been featured in a wider range of roles, from comedic to dramatic. These gave her the ability to work with many highly regarded directors, such as Robert Rodriguez Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), Carl Franklin (Out of Time (2003/I)), John Singleton 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day (2001)) and the Farrelly Bros., Stuck On You (2003). Most recently Eva has co-starred in an independent film, The Wendell Baker Story (2005) with Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell, with Luke Wilson directing. Before that, her biggest movie was Hitch (2005/I), a romantic comedy that had her playing opposite Will Smith. Eva is currently (2005) working on the sci-fi/comic book adaptation of Ghost Rider (2007), starring Nicolas Cage, directed by Mark Steven Johnson and planned for release in 2006.