Eva Longoria

Eva Jacqueline Longoria (born March 15, 1975) is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. Longoria received a nomination for the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance on Desperate Housewives. Longoria first became famous on television in the soap opera The Young and the Restless. She became nationally recognized in the 2000s after appearing in several high-profile advertising campaigns and numerous men's magazines, reaching #14 in the FHM "Sexiest Women 2008" poll, and having appeared on the cover of various international women's magazines including Vogue, Marie Claire and Harper's Bazaar. Eva Jacqueline Longoria was born in Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas, the daughter of Tejano parents, Enrique Longoria, Jr. and Ella Eva Mireles. She was raised Roman Catholic. Longoria is the youngest of four daughters, her sisters being Elizabeth Judina, Emily Jeannette and Esmeralda Josephina. The Longoria family has resided in Texas since before the creation of the United States, predating the English-speaking settlers. Longoria originally wanted to be a fashion model and sent in photos to a modeling agency but was declined because of her height. Longoria attended Marvin P. Baker Middle School and later Roy Miller High School; she subsequently received her Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology at nearby Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

During this time, she won the title of Miss Corpus Christi, USA in 1998. After completing college, Longoria entered a talent contest that led her to Los Angeles, California; shortly after, she was spotted and signed by a theatrical agent. Despite working on a farmland that had been handed down to them from past generations, the family often had very little money; Enrique and Ella struggled for many years to give their children a decent upbringing. On The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2006, Longoria shared with viewers an introspective look into the hardships she faced in her formative years while growing up poor; she took cameras on location to the family farm and showed how spartan their life had been. Longoria admitted that only when she had made it in show business, did things begin to look better for her family financially. In another interview with Dateline's Stone Phillips, she also revealed the snubbing she had received from her siblings. "I grew up as the ugly duckling. They used to call me 'la prieta fea,' which means 'the ugly dark one,'" Longoria said.

Longoria landed her first television role in 2000, guest-starring in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. Another guest appearance in General Hospital the same year brought her big break on the popular American soap opera The Young and the Restless, in which she played psychotic Isabella Braña Williams from 2001 to 2003.In 2004, Longoria landed the role as adulteress Gabrielle Solis in the worldwide break-out ABC hit Desperate Housewives. She has never considered her career to have jumped off so suddenly: "I think it’s funny when people say I’m an overnight sensation, because I’ve been working at it for 10 years."Shortly after her debut on Desperate Housewives, Longoria starred in a poorly received direct-to-video film titled Carlita's Secret, for which she was also co-producer.In 2006, she was rewarded for her performance as Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives when she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy along with her co-stars. She was awarded the ALMA Award and named entertainer of the year that year. She also starred opposite Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland in the 2006 thriller The Sentinel, which was her first major role in a theatrical movie. In 2006, she played the character Sylvia in Harsh Times starring Freddy Rodriguez and Christian Bale.

In January 2007, Longoria was chosen to be the first face of Bebe Sport.She appeared in the Spring/Summer 2007 campaign, photographed by Greg Kadel.The actress also holds model contracts with L'Oréal and Hanes, New York & Co.Longoria also has a contract with Magnum Ice-Cream,andHeineken.She is a part of Microsoft's "I'm A PC" ad campaign,and she and Tony Parker have appeared together in campaigns for London Fog.Eva Longoria became a spokesperson for L'Oreal Paris in 2005 and has continued to feature in L'Oreal TV commercials and print ads until the year 2010.Eva Longoria stated that she found a “generous spirit”at L’Oreal. She continues to say “L’Oreal Paris wants beauty to be free, without borders or prejudices….Working together was just meant to be.”In the summer of 2010 Longoria served as a judge on The Next Food Network Star.In October, Longoria hosted the MTV Europe Music Awards 2010 in Madrid, Spain.Based on her earnings within June 1, 2009 to June 1, 2010 Longoria was ranked No. 4 on Forbes Prime Time's 10 Top-Earning Women. Eva Longoria opened the restaurant Beso (in Spanish: "Kiss") in Hollywood, along with partner and celebrity chef Todd English, in March 2008. The restaurant is located on Hollywood Boulevard and is accompanied by Kiss, a Victorian-themed nightclub above the restaurant.

The Hollywood Beso was scheduled to be the focus of a pilot episode for a tentative reality series called Beso: Waiting on Fame which would air on VH1 in late 2010. In 2009, Longoria and various investor-partners opened a Beso restaurant, with a nightclub called Eve above it, in the Crystals retail and entertainment district of CityCenter in Las Vegas. In 2011, the corporation Beso LLC, owner of the Vegas restaurant-and-nighclub venture, with listed assets of about $2.5 million and Eva Longoria as a 32 percent shareholder, filed for Chapter 11 protection, entering bankruptcy proceedings, in order to restructure nearly $5.7 million in debt and other liabilities. Longoria stated she's looking "forward to a more pro-active, hands-on approach in the coming years" with her Las Vegas business interests. Longoria released the fragrance "EVA by Eva Longoria", a "clean citrus-floral eau de parfum", in April 2010. She stated she wanted a fragrance she could wear: "I am allergic to most fragrances. There was nothing I could wear without my eyes watering, my nose starting to itch or sneezing." In the spring of 2011 she launches her signature fragrance, Eva by Eva Longoria, in major department stores.

Her first book, Eva's Kitchen: Cooking with Love for Family and Friends hit bookstores on April 12, 2011. She described the book as "really a memoir of my life told through food. It's an insight into how I grew up and how my cooking has evolved. It's also about my experiences, my travels and my life. It's a pretty personal book." Longoria was married to General Hospital star Tyler Christopher from 2002 to 2004. She had a brief relationship in mid 2004 with former 'N Sync star J.C. Chasez. Longoria met Spurs point guard Tony Parker in November 2004. In August 2005, Longoria confirmed she and Parker were dating, and on November 30, 2006, the couple became engaged. They were married in a civil service on Friday, July 6, 2007, at a Paris city hall. It was followed by a full Roman Catholic wedding ceremony at the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois Church in Paris on Saturday, July 7, 2007. Their marriage had its first ordeal when French model Alexandra Paressant claimed to have had an affair with Parker. Both Parker and Longoria vehemently denied these allegations through their spokespeople, saying "All high profile couples fall victim to these sorts of things in the course of their relationships. It appears that this is not the first time this woman has used an athlete to gain public notoriety."

Parker initiated a $20 million lawsuit against the website that first reported the story, which later issued a full retraction and an apology, stating "X17online.com and X17, Inc. regret having been misled by Ms. Paressant and her representatives and apologize to Mr. Parker for any damage or inconvenience this may have caused him or his wife." On November 17, 2010, Longoria filed for divorce from Parker in Los Angeles, citing "irreconcilable differences". In the divorce petition, Longoria, who had taken Parker's last name, requested her maiden name be restored. She also sought spousal support from Parker. The couple had a prenuptial agreement that was signed in June 2007, the month before their wedding, and amended two years later in June 2009. On November 19, 2010, Parker filed for divorce from Longoria in Bexar County, Texas on the grounds of "discord or conflict of personalities", thus establishing a legal battle over where the divorce case would be heard. Unlike Longoria's divorce petition, Parker's did not mention a prenuptial agreement and claimed that the parties would "enter into an agreement for the division of their estate". The divorce was finalized in Texas on January 28, 2011, the same day Longoria's lawyer filed papers to dismiss her Los Angeles petition.

In 2006, Longoria founded Eva's Heroes, a charity which helps developmentally disabled children. She is the national spokesperson for PADRES Contra El Cancer. She signed shoes for the Spirit of Women Red Shoe Celebrity Auction. Longoria also supports the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation, OmniPeace, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Stroke Association, Project HOME and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Longoria is an executive producer of Shine Global Inc.'s documentary The Harvest (documentary) which is focused on the 500,000 child migrant farm workers in the U.S. and promote awareness and support to enact the Children's Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act). Longoria was named Philanthropist of the year by the Hollywood Reporter for 'her commitment to Latino causes and giving back to the community. She appeared on Fort Boyard in 2009, making over €20,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In 2009, Longoria enrolled in a Master's program in Chicano Studies and Political Science at Cal State University, Northridge. According to Eva, "because of my involvement with the NCLR and my charity work, I really wanted a better, more authentic understanding of what my community has gone through so I can help create change."