Oscar-nominated actress and Emmy-winning filmmaker Salma Hayek is getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in honor of a career of nearly three decades in the world’s movie mecca. The actress of Frida, Eternals and the upcoming film House of Gucci will get her star in the category of motion pictures Friday, Nov. 19. 

“Salma Hayek Pinault is hailed as one of the entertainment world’s most respected and sought-after actresses,” stated Ana Martinez, Walk of Fame producer. “It is our pleasure to honor this talented actress with her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.” 

Born in Coatzacoalcos, in the Mexican state of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico, Hayek started her acting in telenovelas in the late 1980s, including Nuevo Amanecer and Teresa. A few years later, she moved to Los Angeles to try to make it in Hollywood but also continued working in Mexico. 

Initially, with limited English, she secured minor roles in various American TV series like Nurses and films like Mi Vida Loca. She starred in the 1994 Mexican film El Callejón de los Milagros, an adaptation of the novel Midaq Alley by Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz which earned Hayek a nomination to the Ariel Awards, Mexico’s equivalent of the Oscars. The same year she broke into the U.S. film market with Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado and Antonio Banderas, followed by two other collaborations with the Mexican-American director and the Spanish actor–the horror flick From Dusk Til Dawn and the action drama Once Upon a Time in Mexico. 

Other films would follow, including Showtime’s In the Time of the Butterflies, Fools Rush In, Dogma, Wild Wild West and Traffic.

Under her own production company Ventanarosa, Hayek starred in and produced Frida, the biopic about renowned Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. She secured an all-star cast that featured Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Roy and Ashley Judd and acclaimed theater director Julie Taymor, as well as permission to film in Kahlo’s former studio. The film received six Academy Award nominations, including a Best Actress nod for Hayek. Her role as Kahlo also earned the Mexican actress best actress nominations for other coveted prizes such as the BAFTA Awards, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards. Her portrayal of the famous painter also won Hayek Germany’s Golden Camera for Best International Actress.

In addition to Frida, Hayek produced ABC’s Golden Globe and Emmy-winning comedy Ugly Betty–which also earned her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress, and Showtime’s In The Time Of The Butterflies, for which she received a nomination for a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award. Other projects include the Netflix series Monarca and Showtime’s The Maldonado Miracle, marking her directorial debut and for which she won a Best Director Emmy.

She was also featured in the acclaimed NBC comedy series 30 Rock and has starred in several other films in recent years, including Puss in Boots, Savages, Beatriz at Dinner, How to Be a Latin Lover, Bliss and Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.

Currently, Hayek can be seen on the big screen in Eternals, the Marvel Comics superhero feature in which she plays Ajak, the leader of a group of genetically-engineered extraterrestrials who came to Earth. She also stars in the upcoming fashion drama House of Gucci, opposite Al Pacino, Jared Leto, Adam Driver, Lady Gaga and Jeremy Irons. Her role in this film as clairvoyant Pina Auriemma earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination. 

The Mexican actress has supported many causes throughout her career, such as women’s rights, children and immigrants. She lobbied the U.S. Congress to extend the Violence Against Women Act and later co-founded, with her husband Francois-Henri Pinault, The Kering Foundation, to help liberate women around the world from sexual, physical and emotional abuse. Hayek partnered with Gucci to create Chime for Change, a program advancing education, health and justice of girls and which launched the #StandWithWomen campaign to combat domestic violence against women during the coronavirus lockdowns. 

In 2015, Hayek visited Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon alongside UNICEF and mounted the Chime for Education campaign to raise money to educate refugee children. Hayek is of Lebanese descent. Two years later, she spearheaded fundraising efforts for earthquake victims in Mexico and helped raise nearly a million dollars for UNICEF. During the disaster-relief effort, she also partnered with the Pepsico Foundation and Habitat for Humanity to deliver 180 houses for displaced victims of the quake. She is also a longtime supporter of various leading nonprofits like Girl Effect, which advocates for empowering girls worldwide, and Fondo Semillas, a nonprofit aiming to improve the lives of women and trans people in Mexico. 

Hayek will get star number 2,709 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in front of the legendary Chinese Theatre Box Office, located at 6901 Hollywood Boulevard. The Nov. 19 ceremony is slated to start at 6 p.m. (PST). Joining the Eternals star in the unveiling of her star will be actor Adam Sandler, with whom she co-starred in the buddy comedy Grown Ups, and Marvel’s Eternals Academy Award winning Director Chloe Zhao.

The star unveiling ceremony can be watched on www.walkoffame.com

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Kahlo has inspired Grace since childhood. She first learned about her through the Frida Kahlo-adorned matchboxes and coasters her grandmother would bring over from Mexico City. As she grew older and started to learn more about Kahlo’s life, Grace became enthralled by the ways in which the Mexican painter redefined beauty standards and broke down the boundaries places on gender, race and sexuality.

“In contrast to classmates and casting directors who criticized me for not being ‘white enough,’ Frida made me feel beautiful for my bushy eyebrows and black hair,” Grace said. “When I listen to these songs, I hear my transformation from an angsty teen to a semi-independent young adult. It’s such a special project to me, and I knew that it had to be my artist introduction to the world.”

While the FRIDA EP is inspired by a feminist icon, it’s also an exploration of the ways in which Kahlo’s legacy has helped shape Grace into the woman and artist she is today.

Weaving Spanish and English lyrics throughout the EP as well as a blend of traditional Latin sounds and modern pop melodies, Grace has created an ode to her bicultural roots. Her narrative-driven lyricism with each song delivering dual stories that tie back to both Kahlo and Grace’s lives. Aventura is about adventure and affairs, something that Grace has always admired in Kahlo’s rich life. Girl Fight is a queer, feminist anthem that was inspired by Grace’s favorite Kahlo story: after her husband, Diego Rivera cheated on her, she had an affair with the same woman. Aztlan is about the mythical homeland of the Aztec people and pays homage to both Grace and Kahlo’s ancestors. Lastly, Relámpago is all about coping with pain — the physical pain Kahlo suffered due to her near-fatal bus accident and the emotional trauma Grace dealt with after being sexually assaulted.

Grace launched her music project last year with a string of singles. Her mixed musical influences are reflective of a globalized upbringing— she learned how to love from Selena, make witty comebacks from Shania Twain and turn pain into art from Lauryn Hill. In addition to her budding music career, Grace has also performed on Broadway and Lincoln Center stages, been featured at Tribeca Film Festival and acted in a multitude of films and TV shows.

The 21-year-old New York City born-and-raised songstress has also had an impressive career in social justice. As an activist, she attended her first protest at the age of 13, has volunteered with community-based organizations in Harlem, and has worked in both the Bronx and the U.S. Senate to defend immigrants facing deportation — a cause close to her heart as a second-generation Mexican-American.

FRIDA will be available Now.

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This week excited filmmakers began posting letters received from Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) and Congressman Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-36), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, on social media, informing them that their film has been submitted to the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress as part of the ongoing effort to increase Latino representation in the film industry.

In all, 25 U.S. produced Latino films were nominated by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus as part of the ongoing effort to increase Latino representation in the film industry. Congressman Castro had previously nominated Selena for the National Film Registry during his term as CHC chair, and the additional 25 films constitute more than enough Latino films to make up the entirety of this year’s selection for the registry.

Since 1988, the National Film Registry has selected 25 films annually for preservation at the Library of Congress.

“As we are again seeing in this year’s awards season, Latinos remain dramatically under-represented in the American film industry – an exclusion perpetuates real and significant harms to Latino communities across the United States,” said Congressman Castro. “The Library of Congress’ National Film Registry can help rectify that exclusion by shining a light on Latino cinematic achievements as an important part of our nation’s cultural heritage. And while we celebrate these great Latino films, Hollywood must ensure that new generations of Latino filmmakers will have the opportunity to tell their stories on screen.”

This push comes during awards season when once again it’s looking to be a slim year for Latino on and off-camera talent, to receive award nominations. The Golden Globe awards, which just aired this past Sunday, had just two on-camera talent nominations, one for Lin-Manuel Miranda (for Best Actor in a Musical) and British/Argentinean actress Anya Taylor-Joy who was nominated for two Golden Globe for best actress, one for feature Emma and the other, which she did win, was for The Queens Gambit. The only other nominee was Jayro Bustamante‘s La Llorona, nominated for best foreign film. It did not win. The Oscar nominations have still to be announced, but it is not looking like it will be any different than the Golden Globes.

“Though Latinos comprise almost 20 percent of our country’s population, they remain severely underrepresented in Hollywood,” said Chairman Ruiz. “It is essential that the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry reflect the true diversity of American culture. Including more Latino films in the National Film Registry will help elevate Latino stories, promote an inclusive media landscape, and empower Latino filmmakers and storytellers.”

The additional 25 Latino focused films nominated for the National Film Registry are: 

• My Family (1995) 
• Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982) 
• Under the Same Moon (2007) 
• Lo que le pasó a Santiago (1989) 
• Don’t Let Me Drown (2009) 
• The Milagro Beanfield War (1988) 
• Raising Victor Vargas (2002) 
• Frida (2002) 
• Walkout (2006)
• A Better Life (2011) 
• Gun Hill Road (2011) 
• Spy Kids (2001) 
• American Me (1992) 
• Romero (1989) 
• Hermanas (2005) 
• Blood In, Blood Out (1993) 
• Nothing Like the Holidays (2008) 
• Latino (1985) 
• The Lost City (2005) 
• Down for Life (2009) 
• Tortilla Soup (2001) 
• The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) 
• 12 Horas (2001) 
• Viva Cuba (2005) 
• Maria Full of Grace (2004) 

To read the full letter to the Library of Congress please see here. 

— Latin Heat News Service

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