Dark and sexy Salma Hayek got her start in Mexican television productions in the late 1980s before moving to Los Angeles to work in the movies. She had small but memorable roles in Mi Vida Loca (1993) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996, with George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino), and she played the love interest opposite Antonio Banderas in Desperado (1995). Although most of her early films played up her voluptuousness and sex appeal, she also produced and starred in the film Frida (2002, with Geoffrey Rush), a drama based on the life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

Hayek is of Lebanese and Spanish descent... She was the voice of Esmerelda in the Spanish-dubbed version of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).