Born Salma Hayek-Jimenez, on Sep 2, 1966, in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico. Reportedly 5' 2".

“Expect success, and it'll come,” advise many new-agey self-help tapes. This sounds like a load of self-delusional nonsense, but apparently it works for some people.

Of course, it helps if you're drop-dead gorgeous.

And charismatic.

And rich.

Consider Latin bombshell Salma Hayek. Born into a life of wealth and privilege (“I thought I was a princess, I lived in a castle and my father was a king; I wore tiaras; I was born diva-ish”), she found that things just came naturally to her. She wanted to become an actress, and before long became one of the most popular in Mexico. A few English lessons later and she quickly became a hot commodity in the U.S. as well. More than that, her continuing success has made her something of a national hero in Mexico, an inspiring symbol both of the struggling Hispanic actor in Hollywood still looking for respect and of the NAFTA generation at home that's become fed up with the conditions there. “I've always been spoiled,” she says, “so when all this happened I just thought, Okay, now we're back to normal.”

But simply expecting this kind of normalcy has its limits. While it's true that Salma has been enjoying more or less continuous work since her American debut in Desperado, most of that work — Desperado, Fled, From Dusk Til Dawn, Fools Rush In, The Faculty, Wild Wild West — fell somewhere between profoundly mediocre and profoundly awful. The few films that had more to recommend them you've probably never heard of unless you chanced upon them in the New Releases section at the video store. And though her name has become an international household word, somehow she still finds herself getting turned down for a lot of roles.

How can this be?

“Mexicans are not the most welcome outsiders in America,” Salma concludes. “I remember going to audition for a sci-fi [film] and the studio being aghast at the idea of a Mexican in space. One casting director even told me I should take advantage of my Middle-Eastern sounding name and pretend I was Lebanese. The accent is the big problem.”

Salma has been very vocal about accent-ism in Hollywood, noting that Hispanics who can speak without an accent seem to get a lot more and better work. If Jennifer Lopez is doing well in showbiz, Salma once declared, it's because “she doesn't have the same handicap as me because she can turn the Latin thing on as, and when, it is appropriate. It is more difficult for us actresses with the accent.”

Hmm.

Since most films are about their target audiences, it would be reasonable to expect that most American films would star people speaking in one of the major American accents, just as most Mexican films tend to involve people with Mexican accents. And when non-Mexicans are cast in a Mexican parts, as Catherine Zeta-Jones was in The Mask of Zorro, they're usually required to muster up some sort of credible accent. And that's just for the sake of realism — in Salma's case, intelligibility is also a factor. (Anyone who tried to make sense of her rapid explanation of the Golgotha shit demon in Dogma knows what I'm talking about.) Facility with accents is part of every actor's repertoire; it's part of their range. If Jennifer Lopez can turn the “Latin thing” on and off at will then, regardless of how good an actress Salma might be, one has to concede that Jennifer is more qualified than Salma to play “American” roles.

So just as a New York actor who can't pull a Southern drawl together can't really expect to land a part in a remake of Deliverance, Salma can't really expect the kind of American success she wants unless she can expect it in a Network Standard accent. Even if she is drop-dead gorgeous, charismatic and rich.

Also sprach Golem.
(More recent commentary below)

Salma Hayek Knocked Up
Friday, March 9, 2007
“I keep waiting to meet a man who has more balls than I do,” Salma Hayek once said. And now, it seems, she’s not only found such a man, but is carrying his kid.... Read more

Desperado 2
Saturday, August 23, 2003
There are the films you make because you passionately believe in them (as Salma Hayek did in Frida, though the movie proved to be mediocre), there are the films you do because you couldn’t get anything else, and then there are the films you do because the director feels you owe him.... Read more

Finally Frida
Sunday, September 1, 2002
On the Dave Letterman show, Salma Hayek once related a story about how she prayed at a miracle shrine for a photo-friendly rack when she was a kid, and how she was eventually granted her humble request. Still, for all Salma’s troubling the Almighty, movie audiences have only gotten to see tantalizing glimpses of God’s handiwork, and very rarely at that.... Read more

Film

• Across the Universe (2007)
• Keep Coming Back (2007)
• Ask the Dust (2006) .... Camilla
• Bandidas (2006) .... Sara
• Lonely Hearts (2006) .... Martha Beck
• Murphy's Law (2005) .... Murphy
• Sian Ka'an (2005) .... Maria [voice]
• After the Sunset (2004) .... Lola Cirillo
• Desperado 2: Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) .... Carolina
• Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003) .... Cesca Giggles
• Frida (2002) .... Frida Kahlo
• Hotel (2001) .... Charlie Boo
• In the Time of the Butterflies (2001) .... Minerva Mirabal
• Chain of Fools (2000) .... Sergeant Meredith Kolko
• La Gran vida (2000; aka “Living It Up”) .... Lola
• Timecode (2000) .... Rose
• Traffic (2000) .... Madrigal's Mistress [uncredited]
• The Wild, Wild West (1999) .... Rita Escobar
• Dogma (1998) .... Serendipity
• The Faculty (1998) .... Nurse Harper
• The Velocity of Gary (1998) .... Mary Carmen
• ¿Quién Diablos es Juliette? (1997) .... Herself
• Breaking Up (1997) .... Monica
• Follow Me Home (1997)
• Fools Rush In (1997) .... Isabel Fuentes
• Fled (1996) .... Cora
• Desperado (1995) .... Carolina
• Fair Game (1995) .... Rita
• Four Rooms (1995) .... TV Dancing Girl
• From Dusk Till Dawn (1995) .... Santamico Pandemonium
• Mi Vida Loca (1994) .... Gata
• El Callejón de los Milagros (1995 — aka “Midaq Alley”) .... Alma

• Rebel Highway: Roadracers (1994; Showtime) .... Donna

• Dream On: “Domestic Bliss” (1992; HBO) .... Carmela

• The Hunchback (1997) .... Esmeralda

• Ugly Betty: “Trust, Lust and Must” (Nov 2, 2006) .... Sofía Reyes
• Ugly Betty: “Pilot” (Sep 28, 2006) .... Nurse in the Telenovela
• My VH1 Music Awards (2000)
• The Sinbad Show (1993) .... Gloria
• Nurses (1991) .... Gina's sister, Yolanda Cuevas
• Teresa (1989) .... Teresa

• Salma Hayek, Pinault cancel engagement
  Reuters (Jul 19, 2008)
  Actress Salma Hayek has called off her engagement to Francois-Henri Pinault, a French businessman and father of her daughter.
• Salma Hayek wins MGM backing for Latin-themed films
  Associated Press (Apr 9, 2007)
  Mexican actress and producer Salma Hayek and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. said on Monday they agreed to form a film company specializing in Latino movies appealing to wider, mainstream audiences.
• Hayek tackles prejudice in new film
  Reuters (Mar 8, 2006)
  Racism in Los Angeles is a hot topic after the Oscar triumph of Crash and it’s back on the big screen this week in Ask the Dust, a new film starring Salma Hayek, who has fought her own battles against Hollywood prejudice.
• Free Spirit
  Vogue (Jun 2005)
  Trailblazing actress Salma Hayek cuts loose in fall’s romantic, Spanish-inflected looks.
• Salma Hayek’s Naked Breasts Make Her Want To Kill Herself
  FemaleFirst (Feb 2, 2005)
  Salma Hayek claims she wants to “kill herself” every time she sees her breasts on-screen.
• Viva Frida
  Vogue (Dec 2001)
  Salma Hayek felt destined to play Frida Kahlo. Thanks to the actress’s dedication, the ultimate movie about the Mexican artist’s extraordinary life is now being made.
• Mexican Firecracker
  George (Jul 1999)
  Salma Hayek, the sexy star of Wild Wild West, isn't just another bonita mujer. She's a heroine in her homeland who's fed up because Hollywood treats Mexicans like maids. Hayek can go mano a mano with the best of them — and isn't afraid to duke it out with Hollywood's big guns.
• Sole Diva
  Scene (Jul/Aug 1999)
  Mexican starlet Salma Hayek takes on Hollywood — and wins hands down

Cyber Temples

• Salma Hayek Nude Celebrity Movie Reviews
  Mr. Skin
  Bio, filmography, and nude stills from her films
• Salma Hayek: The Mexican Goddess
• Salma.com
  News, pictures, interviews, and more
• Salma Hayek TV Schedule
  TV Now
• Salma Hayek
  Wikipedia
  Salma Hayek in wikireality
• Salma Hayek
  Women Celebrity Pictures

Miscellaneous

• Salma Hayek
  Internet Movie Database
  Always up-to-date filmography