Salma Hayek @ Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull - Screening - 61st Festival De Cannes May 2008

Salma Hayek Profile

Name: Salma Hayek

Birth Name: Salma Hayek Jimenez

Height: 5' 2"

Sex: F

Nationality: Mexican

Birth Date: September 2, 1966

Birth Place: Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico

Profession: Actress

Education: Catholic school in Texas
National University of Mexico (dropped out)
Stella Adler Conservatory in Los Angeles, California

Relationship: Francois-Henri Pinault (businessman; engaged March 3, 2007), Josh Lucas (actor; born June 20, 1971; dated August 2003 - July 2004), Edward Norton (actor; born August 19, 1969; dated 1999 - 2003)

Father: Sami Hayek Dominguez (Lebanese; businessman)

Mother: Diana Hayek (Mexican; opera singer and talent scout)

Brother: Sami Hayek (younger)

Claim to fame: as Carolina in Desperado (1995)

Salma Hayek Biography

Salma Hayek Jimenez (born September 2, 1966) is an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated Mexican-American actress, Daytime Emmy-winning director, and an Emmy-nominated TV and film producer. Hayek has appeared in more than thirty films and performed as an actress outside of Hollywood in Mexico and Spain. Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants.

In July 2007, The Hollywood Reporter ranked Hayek fourth in their inaugural Latino Power 50, a list of the most powerful members of the Hollywood Latino community. That same month a poll found Hayek to be the "sexiest celebrity" out of a field of 3,000 celebrities (male and female); according to the poll, "65 percent of the U.S. population would use the term 'sexy' to describe" her.

Hayek was born in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico, the daughter of Diana Jiménez, an opera singer and talent scout, and Sami Hayek, an oil company executive. Hayek's father's side of the family is of Assyrian-Lebanese descent and her mother's family is of Spanish descent Reflecting her Assyrian heritage, her first name literally means ‘peace’ or ‘calm’ in Aramaic. Raised in a wealthy, devoutly Catholic family, she was sent to the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Grand Coteau, Louisiana, at the age of twelve. She was also an accomplished gymnast aspiring to compete in the Olympics but her father prevented her from being recruited by the Mexican national team. The religious sisters running the Academy ejected Hayek citing behavioral problems, so she returned to Mexico. She was later sent to live with her aunt in Houston, Texas, where she stayed until she was seventeen. She attended college in Mexico City, where she studied International Relations at the Universidad Iberoamericana. To the surprise of her family, she dropped out to pursue a career as an actress.