Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez de Pinault (Spanish pronunciation: [?salma ?xa?ek]; born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican American film actress, director and producer. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role as Frida Kahlo in the film Frida.
Chosen by People (USA) magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1996 and 2003.
Is dyslexic.
Was ranked 8th of the 100 Sexiest Women by FHM Taiwan (2001).
Frequently collaborates with Antonio Banderas and Robert Rodriguez, and is godmother to Rodriguez’s children.
Is of Spanish and Lebanese descent, and fluent in Arabic, Spanish, Portugese and English.
Was originally considered for the part of Alicia Larde in A Beautiful Mind (2001) because the character in real life is from El Salvador. But the character for the film was later changed to American and given to Jennifer Connelly.
Salma is an Arabic name that means “peace” or “calm”.
She was sent to a boarding school in Louisiana at age 12, but was soon sent back home after getting in trouble for frequently terrorizing the nuns!
Father was born in Lebanon and came to Mexico to start a small business where he met her mother.
Studied international relations & drama at college in Mexico City.
Won Best Newcomer at the 1989 Novela Awards for “Un nuevo amanecer” (1988).
Has her own production company, Ventanarosa.
Is the second Latin American actress to be nominated for the Best Actress in a Leading Role Academy Award, for her performance in Frida (2002). Brazilian veteran Fernanda Montenegro was the first, for Central do Brasil (1998).
Her brother, Sami, designs custom chairs. His celebrity clients include Jennifer Aniston and her ex-husband, Brad Pitt.
Was named one of the ten most stylish women in the world by Mr. Blackwell (aka Richard Selzer) in 1997. InStyle named her the most stylish celebrity of 2003 and Eonline.com ranked her as the best dressed female celebrity.
Ranked #31 in Stuff magazine’s “102 Sexiest Women in the World” (2002).
Good friend of Penélope Cruz, Ashley Judd and Valeria Golino.
She loves dogs
E! entertainment voted her look at the 1997 Academy Awards one of the 5 most memorable in Oscar history. At the event she wore a beaded Armani gown complemented by a 1920s diamond tiara.
Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005
Her parents are Sami Hayek (oil company executive) and Diana Jimenez Hayek (opera singer).
Played a (mythological creature disguised as a) stripper twice: in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and in Dogma (1999) (A Vampire and a Muse respectively).
Visited Guatemala from 2 May 2005 to 5 May 2005 as ambassador to Youth/AIDS, to promote the prevention of the mortal disease. Ashley Judd and Colombian pop singer Juanes also came with her.
Her younger brother is a highly respected make-up artist in Hollwood.
Named #34 on Maxim magazine’s Hot 100 in 2005, then #90 in 2007. She was also ranked #12 in FHM magazine’s “100 Sexiest Women in the World” in the 2005 special supplement , and then #36 the following year.
As the announcer for the Oscars 2007, she was able to announce best friend Penélope Cruz’ nominations for Best Actress for Volver (2006/I).
Announced engagement on March 9, 2007 to Francois-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive officer of the luxury goods company PPR SA. On Sept. 21, she and Pinault gave birth to their first child, daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault. Pinault has a son Francois (b. 1998) and a daughter Mathide (2001) from his first marriage.
Recently diagnosed with diabetes while pregnant (July 2007).
They called off their engagement in July 2008, but then after months of speculation about whether they were still a couple, Salma and Pinault married in a secret ceremony on Valentine’s Day 2009 in the city hall of the Second Arrondissement in Paris.
Her spokeswoman is Jillian Fowkes.
She and Francois Henri Pinault renewed their vows at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice opera house in late April 2009 with 150 guests present. Among them were Penélope Cruz with boyfriend Javier Bardem, Charlize Theron and boyfriend Stuart Townsend, Woody Harrelson, Hayek’s ex-boyfriend Edward Norton, French president Jacques Chirac, Lucy Lui, Ashley Judd, Antonio Banderas, Anna Wintour, Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Bono and Stella McCartney.
In 2009, musician Prince included a song on his CD “Lotus Flow3r/MPLSound” that is about Salma Hayek. The song shares the same name as her daughter, Valentina.
Returned to work five months after giving birth to her daughter Valentina in order to begin filming Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009).
Was in attendance at the wedding of Reese Witherspoon to Jim Toth (26 March 2011).
