Known to millions worldwide as the Latin sexpot Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television sensation Desperate Housewives, Texas native Eva Longoria has shot to superstardom with the success of the series. Having been named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful” and the “#1 Hottest Woman in the World” on Maxim magazine’s 2005 annual “Hot 100" list can put pressure on anyone, but the gracious and down-to-earth former soap opera star seems to let such things roll right off her back.
Now, starring in her first major feature film role, Longoria joins such notables as Michael Douglas, 24 star Kiefer Sutherland and Kim Basinger in the 20th Century Fox political thriller The Sentinel. The youngest of four sisters who grew up on a ranch in Corpus Christi says that she was drawn to the role of Jill Marin, a tough, sassy and ambitious young agent who just graduated second in her class at the Secret Service Academy, because she was so different from her Housewives character.
“Michael Douglas called me personally and said, ‘You have to do this movie,’” recalls the humble 31-year-old beauty. “I wanted to do something different early on, before the audience only saw me as Gabrielle. Plus, Jill is a lot closer to me, as Eva, than Gabrielle is. I’m a tomboy, I’ve shot guns my whole life, and I love running around. I loved the action and athleticism of the movie.”
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Being the only woman on the team working to unravel the plot to assassinate the President of the United States suited Longoria just fine. “Going from the set of estrogen to the set of testosterone was fun. We had target and firearm training for the film. We had to learn, specifically, the way they shoot, the way they draw their gun, and everything that was specific to the Secret Service. We trained with the Service, and we had target practice. I beat Kiefer and Michael.”
Although the last two years has been quite the whirlwind for Longoria, the girlfriend of San Antonio Spurs Point Guard Tony Parker admits that she didn’t start to dream about a career in acting until she was an adult.
"I didn't want to be an actor until after college," says the former Texas
A&M - Kingsville University student, who graduated with a degree in
Kinesiology. “It wasn’t a childhood dream to be famous. I went to school and I
graduated with my Bachelor’s degree, and I wanted to be a sports trainer. I wanted
to go into sports injuries and work for a major professional athletic team.
I was going to go get my Master’s, but I won a scholarship to come to L.A.
and compete in a modeling and talent competition.”
She made the decision to take the chance with the competition, primarily because she had never been to Los Angeles. “I had about three weeks off between my Bachelor’s degree and my Master’s degree, so I just thought, ‘Why not?’ Then, I won and I had about 30 agents and managers wanting to sign me. I was like, ‘Sign me to do what?’ So, I said, ‘I’m gonna stay and see what this is about, just because it seems fun,’ and here we are, nine years later.”
{quote_middle}After a guest role on Beverly Hills, 90210 and three years on The Young and the Restless, Longoria was cast on Desperate Housewives. At the time, the cast and creators were unsure of the show’s possible success because ABC was struggling in the ratings. But, they soon realized that they had a huge hit on their hands.
“Before we premiered, Extreme Make-Over: Home Edition was the highest rated show on ABC, and it was doing 13 million viewers, so they gave us that as a lead in. We were like, ‘Yay, if we can just hold onto 13 million, it will be great!’ And then, Lost premiered before us, and they did 18 million, and we were like ‘Oh, my God!’ We thought Lost was the big hit, and we weren’t ever going to pass that. And then, our season premiere was 24 or 25 million. Now, we’re getting 27 or 28 million, pretty consistently.”
Because of the massive success of Desperate Housewives, the choices that Longoria makes, in regard to film roles, is that much more important. “I have to be really smart about it, only because Desperate Housewives is so good. 80% of the scripts I get aren’t as good as what I read, week to week. They’re not as clever, as witty, as intertwined, or as difficult and challenging. So, I have a good reference of what’s good and what’s not.”
Even though the level of fame has given all of the Housewives stars a heightened degree of visibility, and brought the paparazzi into each of their lives, Longoria is able to keep it all in perspective.
“Marcia, Teri, Felicity and Nicolette all had success before. They’re enjoying it, but because they’ve been through it, they were not as overwhelmed as I was, at the beginning. I was just excited to be on a show, much less with these women, and much less it being a hit show, so having them around, taking me under their wing, was really vital to staying grounded.”
“The pros far outweigh the cons. I think the worst thing, the first year, f
or all of us, was that we were exhausted. We were doing photo shoots at four
in the morning, and starting photo shoots at 10 at night, just because that
was the only time we could all be together and get things done. We did every
magazine cover under the sun.”
{quote_bottom}Longoria also feels that having a relationship with another celebrity has
been great because he understands what it’s like. “The great thing is that
Tony is a celebrity in a different arena, so it’s not anything competitive,”
she says, about her boyfriend, whom she met in the locker room, following a
game. “He hates Hollywood, and everything about it. I could have been with
somebody who loves going out and loves being at the clubs, and we’re just not
that way.”
Although she has yet to pick a project for her next hiatus from Housewives, Longoria does have another film, Harsh Times, with Christian Bale and Six Feet Under star Freddy Rodriguez, coming out in August of this year. “I filmed that on my Christmas hiatus. I had three weeks off, and it was a 20-day shoot. David Ayer, who wrote Training Day, wrote and directed it, and it’s pretty much his life story. It’s very dark and disturbing. It’s not a popcorn film.”
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