Eva Mendes reveals why she quit acting
It’s been ten years since Eva Mendes last appeared in a feature film, but the actor hasn’t shown any signs of ending her self-imposed exile and returning to the silver screen.
Breaking through at the turn of the millennium with her supporting role in Training Day as Sara, the mistress of Denzel Washington’s Academy Award-winning character Alonzo Harris, her star only continued to rise in the coming years.
Antoine Fuqua’s crime drama came along at the perfect time for Mendes, who was contemplating abandoning the industry altogether beforehand due to the dearth of worthwhile gigs being offered her way, but the years after Training Day saw her steadily work her way up the ladder.
She played Monica Fuentes in blockbuster sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious, appeared in Robert Rodriguez’s trilogy-closing Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Farrelly brothers comedy Stuck on You and appeared in the Nicolas Cage comic book adaptation Ghost Rider. Furthermore, Mendes notably starred opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg in James Gray’s We Own the Night, reunited with Cage again on Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and lent support in Adam McKay’s hit buddy caper The Other Guys.
It’s not as if her career was ever on life support, but meeting Ryan Gosling on the set of Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines ended up placing family at the forefront when the pair went on to have two children together. Since that film released in 2013, Mendes’ only feature-length credit came in the following year’s Lost River, which was produced, written, and directed by Gosling.
Such a long absence from the profession she worked so hard to get into in the first place hasn’t created an itch that can’t be scratched, though, with Mendes explaining her decision to pump the brakes on her acting career in an interview with Today.
“It was like a no-brainer. I’m so lucky, and I was like, if I can have this time with my children – and I’ve still worked, I just didn’t act, because acting takes you on locations, it takes you away,” she said. Of course, Gosling has remained as busy as ever, but that was a call they made together. “It was almost a non-verbal agreement,” she continued. “It was like, ‘OK, he’s gonna work and I’m gonna work, I’m just gonna work here.'”
Mendes has established several successful ventures away from Hollywood that includes fashion and lifestyle brands. Therefore, it’s not as if she’s spent the last decade doing nothing but be a stay-at-home mother who simply walked away from her professional life, it was only the acting part she left behind.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.