Eva Mendes (born March 5, 1974) is an American actress, model, singer, and homeware and clothing designer. She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of roles in B movies such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998) and Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000), she broke into the Hollywood mainstream with an appearance in Training Day (2001). She has since starred in many films, including All About The Benjamins (2002); 2 Fast 2 Furious, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Out of Time and Stuck on You (all 2003); Hitch (2005); Ghost Rider and We Own the Night (both 2007); The Spirit (2008); The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009); The Other Guys and Last Night (both 2010); Holy Motors and Girl in Progress (both 2012) and The Place Beyond the Pines (2013).

Mendes has worked as a spokesmodel for Cocio chocolate milk, Magnum ice cream, Revlon make-up, Calvin Klein underwear and perfume, Cartier jewelry,Thierry Mugler perfume, Reebok trainers, Campari apéritif, Pantene shampoo, Morgan clothes and Peek & Cloppenburg clothes. Mendes is the creator of a home decor line, Vida, sold exclusively at Macy's. She launched a bedding collection in 2008 and a dinnerware collection in 2010. She designed a fashion collection forNew York & Company in 2013. Mendes is a singer: she has recorded a version of The Windmills of Your Mind and has collaborated with Cee Lo Green on a song entitled Pimps Don't Cry. She lives in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Mendes was born in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents, and was raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, by her mother, after her parents' divorce. Mendes has said that her mother (who was a stay-at-home mom until she became an accountant when Eva went to school) "suffered so much to make my life OK" during Mendes' early years. Her mother worked for an aerospace company and her father ran a meat distribution business. Mendes was raised a Roman Catholic and aspired to be a nun. She attended Hoover High School in Glendale and later attendedCalifornia State University, Northridge to study marketing, but dropped out after wanting to begin an acting career. She studied acting under Ivana Chubbuck.^[5] Before Mendes got her big break, she sold ‘Hot Dog on a Stick’ at Glendale Galleria Mall in California. Growing up, Eva's role model was Cindy Crawford.

She was in a relationship with George Augusto from 2002 to 2010. She was in a relationship with actor Ryan Gosling from September 2011 to December 2013. She lives in Los Feliz, Los Angeles.

Mendes spent several weeks at the Cirque Lodge addiction facility in 2008 to address "some personal issues". She later said that she will never publicly disclose details of her condition because "I have to think of the pain it might bring my mother." She now attends therapy sessions which have "enriched my life. I come from a family and a heritage where you don't really go to therapy unless you're crazy. I want people to know that that's so not the case." Mendes is an avid follower of transcendental meditation.^[50] She has expressed an interest in Ayn Rand, the founder of the individualist philosophy ofObjectivism.