Salma Hayek

Biography of Salma Hayek

Salma Hayek was born on September 2, 1968 in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico.

She is the daughter of Diana Jiménez Medina, opera singer and talent scout. Her father, Sami Hayek Domínguez, who ran for mayor of Coatzacoalcos, was an oil company executive and owner of an industrial equipment company. Her paternal grandfather was from Baabdat, in Lebanon. Her grandmother and her maternal great-grandparents have her origin in Spain. Her younger brother, Sami, was born in 1972. She was raised in a devout Catholic family.

She entered the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, United States, at the age of twelve. As a teenager she was diagnosed with dyslexia. She attended the University of Mexico City, where she studied International Relations at the Universidad Iberoamericana.

In Tiempo de las Mariposas, a 2001 feature film based on Julia Álvarez's book of the same title, she played one of her sisters, Mirabal, who opposed Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo.

In 2002 Salma Hayek starred in a film about her compatriot, the painter Frida Kahlo. Directed in English by the American Julie Taymor and with a cast that includes the British Alfred Molina (in the role of Diego Rivera) and the Spanish Antonio Banderas.

In October 2003, the actress received a standing ovation from the public at the screening of her first film as a director, The Miracle of Maldonado, which was screened at the First Morelia International Film Festival, and in 2004 the film 'Ultra Violet', directed by Robert Altman. Hayek, was accompanied by James Franco in the cast of this mystery film, focused on the art world in New York.

In December 2005, she directed a music video for Prince, titled Te Amo Corazón. She was an executive producer on Ugly Betty, a television series that aired between 2006 and 2010.

In 2010, she played Adam Sandler's wife on the sitcom GrownUps.

In 2012, Hayek directed Jada Pinkett Smith in the music video Nothing Compares. She reprized her role in Grown Ups 2, which was released in July 2013. She went on to host Tale of Tales (2015), Sausage Party (2016), The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017), Beatriz at Dinner (2017), How to Be a Latin Lover (2017), Drunk Parents (2017), The Hummingbird Project (2018),Drunk Parents (2019) and The Eternals (2021).

In 2012, she was nominated for a Goya Award for best female performance for the film La spark de la vida (2011).

She is a naturalized citizen of the United States.

On September 21, 2007, she gave birth at a Los Angeles hospital to a girl she named Valentina Paloma Pinault-Hayekel, daughter of French businessman François-Henri Pinault, president of the luxury goods and Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) distribution.

In September 2008, Salma announced the cancellation of her 16-month engagement and wedding plans, although on February 14, 2009 they were married civilly in Paris. The religious wedding was held on April 26, 2009 at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.