Born on September 2, 1966, Salma Hayek is a Mexican director, film producer and actress. She is one of the few Mexican women to have been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress category.
Born into a well-to-do family, she studied at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Louisiana, but was kicked out for disciplinary reasons a short time later. She returned to Mexico for a time, though she then returned to the USA to live with an aunt in Texas. She began to study International Relations in Mexico City, but dropped out to pursue an acting career.
She landed the main role in a successful Mexican soap opera, which quickly made her a national star. She eventually moved to Los Angeles, where she learned English and – like Benicio del Toro – studied acting under Stella Adler. Her big movie break came in 1994 with a starring role in El Callejón de los Milagros (Miracle Alley), the most award-winning film in the history of Mexican cinema.
She was cast opposite Antonio Bandera's in 1995's Desperado, after which followed Hollywood films like Fools Rush In, From Dusk Till Dawn, Wild Wild West, Dogma and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
She founded her own film production company, Ventanarosa, and went on to star in and co-produce 2002's Frida, about artist Frida Kahlo, which earned her widespread acclaim and an Oscar nomination. While she continues to work in film, she is very active as a film and television producer and director.