Salma Valgarma Hayek Jimenez is a Mexican and American actress, director, and television and film producer. Hayek has appeared in more than 30 films and performed as an actress outside of Hollywood in Mexico and Spain.
Hayek had a starring part opposite Matthew Perry in the 1997 romantic comedy Fools Rush In. In 1999, she co-starred in Will Smith's big-budget Wild Wild West, and played a supporting role in Kevin Smith's Dogma. In 2000, Hayek had an uncredited acting part opposite Benicio del Toro in Traffic. In 2003, she reprised her role from Desperado by appearing in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, the final film of the Mariachi Trilogy.
Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants. Hayek is the first Mexican national to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.
She is one of the most prominent Mexican figures in Hollywood since silent film actress Dolores del Rio. She is also, after Fernanda Montenegro, the second of three Latin American actresses to achieve a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
In July 2007, The Hollywood Reporter ranked Hayek fourth in their inaugural Latino Power 50, a list of the most powerful members of the Hollywood Latino community.That same month, a poll found Hayek to be the "sexiest celebrity" out of a field of 3,000 celebrities (male and female); according to the poll, "65 percent of the U.S. population would use the term 'sexy' to describe her". In December 2008, Entertainment Weekly ranked Hayek number 17 in their list of the "25 Smartest People in TV."
