Eva Owns the Night

I remember the first time that I laid eyes on Eva Mendes, and it was love at first sight: She was at the Toronto Film Festival to promote Out of Time, her movie with Denzel Washington, and she looked like such a glamorous bombshell, even though it was around 10 A.M. Eva was so cool, funny and all around fabulous that I thought to myself: Someday this gal is gonna be a huge star! So I’m glad that Hollywood agrees with me: Here’s Eva at the Calvin Klein-sponsored Cinema Society screening for her latest film, We Own the Night.

Photo: Jim Spellman/WireImage

Eva and I talked more about fashion and music than movies: She told me about this band called the Tigers that she was managing in her spare time, and when she later FedExed their CD to me, I was impressed with her great taste in indie rock. Since then, Eva has appeared in hits like Hitch and Ghost Rider and she’s currently filming a remake of The Women with an all-star cast that includes Meg Ryan, Annette Bening and Debra Messing.

But success hasn’t gone to her head. When I recently interviewed Eva, she told me this story about how she likes to treat herself when she travels: “I grew up very working class, and when my family would go away and stay in hotels, I was never allowed to take anything from the mini-bar because everything was really expensive,” she recalled. “So it still makes me so happy when I can take a Coke from the mini-bar. That’s a little indulgence that hasn’t gone away. And because of the way I was raised, I don’t think it ever will. It’s such a nice feeling to drink that $5 Coke and think: I can do that now!”