It’s one in the afternoon and Eva Jacqueline Longoria Bastón, better known as Eva Longoriais sitting very straight, behind her semi-transparent frame glasses. She is now wearing a black jacket and her hair is loose over her shoulders. In the background, very soft music plays. Extraordinary and close, role model on a global level and present in each statement, he responds quickly, almost before the question ends. He does it in English, although Spanish is sometimes extended as a lenitive.
It speaks to itself, in fact, in both languages: in English as an empowering construct and in Spanish as a place of expression. “Always, because there are some words I don’t know how to say in English and others I can’t find in Spanish, so I’m constantly going from one to the other. When it has to do with my political activism or when I have to be very precise, I am more articulate in English for me, but I love speaking in Spanish. I love. Some words and expressions, sayings, cannot be said in English, because they do not mean the same thing,” he says while smiling.
Eva Longoria (Texas, 1975) rose to fame with her role as Gabrielle Solís in desperate womena television bombshell that lasted almost a decade, in which she played a charismatic former model and for which she was nominated for almost all the awards in the sector. Of Asturian and Mexican descentis the youngest of four sisters in an American family without resources, as the general public learned from Oprah Winfrey’s program. She invented a career for herself, first as a model and theater actress, until she managed to excel in the audiovisual field with overwhelming naturalness, becoming an interpretive icon, but also a communicative and social one in emblematic headlines such as People o Hollywood Reporter.
Eva Longoria became world famous with ‘Desperate Housewives’. L’Oréal Paris
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The conversation begins with the importance of words and the multiple implications of language. “How you talk to yourself is important,” Longoria explains. “What you say to yourself matters. Women have to remember to be kind to themselves themselves when they look in front of the mirror, he says. “It’s important to tell yourself how amazing and beautiful you are and how proud you are of it.”
In fact, it is not surprising to see her afterwards in a spectacular white dress, nor addressing huge audiences, as at the MTV awards or recently at the Democratic political convention. How do you reach a very large audience, how do you motivate yourself to reach the world? How do you achieve that unspeakable self-confidence? “Don’t think so. I’m always nervous. But ultimately I couldn’t speak to a large audience with confidence if I weren’t really convinced of what I’m saying. “I couldn’t be sure, it’s essential for me to believe in what I say,” she says.
Disciplined athlete, she starts each day very early. Train every day. She doesn’t have a formula, but she does have a routine, which begins with her dedication to motherhood. “It’s never completely the same in this business, every day is different, but my routine is usually the same. I always train, I always eat well, I always try to be on time, I always wake up with my son and go to bed at the same time. Some things They are the same, but every day is different,” he says.
What is the biggest cliché you have had to face in your career?
That if you are pretty you have nothing to say, or that if you are just an actress or actor you are not intelligent. You have to go through that idea because a person can be many things at the same time: you can be complex and intelligent, sexy and self-confident, all of that.
“I always train, I always eat well“I always try to be on time and I always wake up with my son.”
Leadership today has changed, what do you think is the most difficult thing about being a leader today?
It’s hard to talk nowadays, with the cancel culture. Sometimes people are more concerned about bringing up certain topics because of a possible reaction or response, and what others may say.
What would you say is the key to your personal management? He carries out many activities at the same time, whether he acts, directs, manages his personal businesses, or carries out his work as an activist…
First, I have a very good team, and I am efficient, I don’t like to waste time. A well-organized day has 14 hours. I feel that, by seeking balance, you can do more than you think in a day.
The actress, at the L’Oréal Paris show at French Fashion Week. L’Oréal Paris
A race with effort
Longoria has produced documentaries about child labor in the United States [The Harvest] and is a leader of organizations such as ‘Parents Against Cancer’. When asked about the women who have most inspired her in her career, she responds: “Many women directors like Patty Jenkins or Patricia Cardosaamong others. I love their work and what they have achieved with their efforts as women directors. And I also try to follow in his footsteps.”
About the mistakes and challenges in her career, and about the difficult moments, she explains that they have always led her to further advancement. “You only learn from mistakes and mistakes.from experience. Sometimes they tell me ‘I want to be a director’ or ‘an actress’, and I always answer that ‘you only learn by doing’. Because when you do things you are going to make mistakes and mistakes, and that will mean learning and making the same mistake again. An important lesson is to continue and remember something: mistakes are the best part of the journey.
What would you say has been the role as an actress that has contributed the most to you? I’m not referring to the best known (without a doubt ‘Desperate Housewives’) or the most filmically perfect (perhaps in the western ‘Frontera’).
Let me think. As an actress, it was interesting when I participated in Dora and the Lost City of Gold and I played the protagonist’s mother. It was the first time I played a mother being a mother, which was very different, a different way of approaching that character because my son was 8 weeks old.
“You only learn from mistakes: remember that mistakes They are the best part of the trip”
You are also an example of commitment to the Latin community. How do you develop it through campaigns like that of L’Oréal Paris?
My culture is what I am. I am Latina. Latin beauty is very different from that of other communities. I love my culture and I celebrate it every day. That’s automatically in everything I do, whether it’s with L’Oréal Paris or through my work as a director or my activism. It will always be a base factor in my life.
Finally, what lesson would you pass on to young women today?
The same idea, the learning by doing (learn by doing). I always recommend to young women to live and have as many experiences as possible. Many people ask themselves ‘what do I want to be when I grow up?’ You don’t have to decide when you’re very young. You have to live. Go, live and do different things, think about what you like and try. First, find what you’re really good at, not what you think you like, and do it. Then, perhaps, you will find your passion.