Following the long-awaited releases of Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings over recent months, the next instalment of the wildly successful Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is poised to enthral us. Slated to open on 18 November, Eternals depicts the travails of immortal beings who reunite after millennia of hiding on Earth to battle their archenemies, the Deviants – and it promises to be the most diverse to date.

Much has been made of the fact that its core superhero cast will feature the franchise’s first openly gay character (Phastos), that Pakistani-American actor Kumail Nanjiani’s Kingo will be its first protagonist of South Asian descent, and Don Lee – of Train to Busan fame – the first South Korean superhero. What’s more, both director (Chloé Zhao) and lead (Gemma Chan) are Chinese. Rather less noise has resonated, however, over the casting of Mexican screen-siren Salma Hayek as Ajak, the Eternals’ spiritual leader. After all, the Desperado star will become the series’ first Arab actress (Hayek actually boasts Lebanese ethnicity through her father).

A 32-year veteran of the industry, Hayek is no stranger to breaking boundaries. She was one of the first Latina talents to make it big in Tinseltown, in no small part due to her versatility in the genres of drama, comedy, romance and action. But life hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the Frida thespian. We shine the spotlight on the soaring highs and challenging lows that she’s overcome…

Peace & Pesos
Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez was born far away from the shining lights of Hollywood in the southern Mexican port city of Coatzacoalcos on 2 September 1966. Her mother, Diana, was an opera singer, while her Lebanese-Mexican father, Sami Hayek Dominguez, worked as an oil executive in addition to owning an industrial equipment company. Her Lebanese surname reflects her paternal roots, while her first name ‘Salma’ means ‘peace’ in Arabic. She was fortunate to be raised in a wealthy home, which afforded her the opportunity to go to boarding school in the United States at age 12.

Boarding School Blues
Salma’s schooldays weren’t always easy, as she was diagnosed with dyslexia at an early age. This didn’t stop her from pranking her fellow students, however. In one interview, she recalled that her roommates – American girls – would wake early to curl their hair and put on makeup, whereas she’d rather “sleep until the last minute”. One day, she decided to turn back the clocks by an hour to mess with them. She was given detention, and ultimately kicked out of the strict Catholic boarding school in Louisiana. Despite these early hiccups and a learning disability, her innate intelligence saw her graduate from high school at just 15.

Acting Initiative
Throughout her late teens and early 20s, her stunning looks prompted approaches from casting agents. So, halfway through pursuing a degree in international relations and political science at Mexico City’s Universidad Iberoamericana, she dismayed her parents by dropping out to pursue a career in acting. At just 23, she had her big break, landing the starring role in Teresa, a telenovela that would catapult her to superstar status in her native land. Not content to rest on her laurels, she decided to move to Hollywood to pursue bigger roles. “I wanted to do films, and at that time in Mexico, a film industry didn’t really exist,” she explains. “So where do you go to do movies? You go to the mecca. I was already famous in Mexico by then, and they were laughing at me, asking ‘Why is she doing that?’”

Desperado Times
At first it seemed her critics were right since Hayek struggled for four years in California, unable to land a single role. In many cases, the reason cited by studios for her rejection was that she was too Latina. It wasn’t until 1995 that she got her chance to prove her mettle in Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado alongside fellow Spanish-speaker Antonio Banderas. Then, the floodgates opened, with the actress cast in a slew of major productions before the end of the decade – From Dusk till Dawn, Wild Wild West and Dogma, to name but three of her biggest hits.

Rosy Repertoire
In 1999, having established herself as an A-list leading lady, Hayek launched her own production company. Ventanarosa, which is Spanish for ‘rose-coloured window’, produced the acclaimed TV dramedy Ugly Betty, which would eventually garner two Golden Globes. It also helped her hit Hollywood-legend heights by producing the historic biopic Frida (2002). Hayek’s seminal portrayal of the surrealist artist Frida Kahlo saw her become only the second Latina actress to receive a Best Actress nod at the Academy Awards.

Charity Begins at Home
In addition to her achievements in film, she is a dedicated philanthropist and activist. Spurred by an awareness of her own fortunate circumstances and the precarious position of those in her homeland, the Salma Hayek Foundation not only raises aid and awareness for battered women in Mexico, but has branched out to help disadvantaged street children, too. Hayek has also been involved with several Unicef initiatives, including spearheading a campaign against neonatal and maternal tetanus, and was awarded the Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award by the international charitable organisation in 2018.

Covid Survivor
The Eternals star was recently worryingly close to death. Laid low by Covid-19, she spent seven weeks isolated in a room of the house she shares with her husband, French billionaire François-Henri Pinault (CEO of luxury group Kering), and their 13-year-old daughter. She became so ill that she was put on oxygen. “My doctor begged me to go to the hospital because it was so bad,” she reveals, “but I said, ‘no, thank you. I’d rather die at home,’” adding that she still hasn’t regained her pre-pandemic energy levels.

“My doctor begged me to go to the hospital because it was so bad, but I said, ‘no, thank you. I’d rather die at home’”

Auteur Ego
In line with her go-getting spirit, though, this hasn’t stopped her from planning ambitious projects. Apart from Eternals, Hayek also appears in Ridley Scott’s biographical crime drama The House of Gucci, which was shot earlier this year, and hopes to direct a film based on a script she wrote 17 years ago. “It’s a very personal project and this is the right time. It couldn’t have gotten made two years ago or even last year [but] I don’t give up. I’ll get it made,” she says of the passion production. While she’s remained tight-lipped about any details, if her past CV is any indication, it will be an instant hit.

 

(Text: Tenzing Thondup)