Salma Hayek, 54, opens up about being told she would never make it in Hollywood as a Mexican actress: ‘I fought it and I won’
Salma Hayek first saw her star rise with roles in television and film in Mexico, beginning in the late 1980s.
By the early 1990s, the Frida star had moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film; but the transition to an English-language audience in the U.S. wouldn’t come without many detractors.
In a new interview, Hayek revealed that she was told her acting career would ‘die’ when she was in her mid-thirties, and that she would never make it in Hollywood as a Mexican actress.
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Revealing: Salma Hayek, 54, opened up about the detractors who told her she would never make it as a Mexican actress in Hollywood
‘They told me my career in Hollywood would die in mid-thirties because there was no one,’ Hayek, 54, said while promoting her new science-fiction drama film, Bliss.
‘First of all, they told me a Mexican is never going to make it because, at the time, with the new generations, it was impossible for a Mexican to have a leading role in Hollywood.’
It’s at this point that Hayek turned to look right into the camera and added, ‘It was not real,’ in a defiant reference to those who gave her little chance of making it in Hollywood.
She would go on to relish in the reality that an actor like herself in a leading role in more recent years has become much more of a ‘reality or normalcy.’
Sweet success: ‘I fought it. I fought and won. And I want other women to realize that,’ Hayek said of her success as a leading lady despite the many naysayers
Artistry: Her breakthrough role came in 2002 when she played Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, for which she was nominated for Best Actress for the Academy Award
Now she is considered a trailblazer for plowing past all of the naysayers and detractors with memorable roles in such films as the biographical drama Frida (2002), which earned her a Best Actress nomination and the drama film Beatriz At Dinner (2018).
‘I think it’s great; I’m proud of it,’ she said of her success since her move to the U.S.
‘I want to shout it to the world because I was told so many times it couldn’t happen, and I almost believed them.’
‘But I fought it. I fought and won. And I want other women to realize that,’ she said with a confident laughter to her voice while emphasizing that she succeeded despite the pressures she felt as a lead actress in her thirties and her forties.
And late blooming: ‘it’s a beautiful thing.’
Turning heads: The Mexican-born actress gained attention for her small role in the American horror film From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Later in the evening on Saturday, Hayek took to Instagram and shared two behind-the-scenes clips of herself dancing on the set of Bliss, which was written and directed by Mike Cahill.
In the movie, Owen Wilson plays a man whose life is in disarray when he meets a beautiful woman (Hayek) who tries to convince him he is living in a simulation.
It premiered on Amazon on February 5, 2021.
Hayek first turned heads in the U.S. with her short but memorable role as an exotic dancer in the American horror flick, From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).
She would go on to star in such movies as Fools Rush In (1997), Breaking Up (1997) and 54 (1998). Her breakthrough role came in 2002 when she played Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, for which she was nominated for Best Actress for the Academy Award.
Do a little dance: Later on Saturday, Hayek took to Instagram and shared two behind-the-scenes clips of herself dancing on the set of Bliss
Get down on it: Hayek turned her back to the camera for her dance in a second BTS clip
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