40HITTINGTHEBIGSCREEN
‘WHENIMETPEPE
IFINALLYMETMYEQUAL’
EVALONGORIAOPENSUPABOUTMOTHERHOODHERBIG
BREAKANDMARRYING‘THEKINDESTHUMANBEINGIKNOW’
S
he might be best known as pocket
rocket Gaby Solis from Desperate
Housewives, but for the past 14
months Eva Longoria has been
focusing on her biggest role to date – as
new mum to her adorable son Santiago.
Now the 44 year old is making her
comeback as Dora the Explorer’s mother in
Dora And The Lost City Of Gold. Growing
up in a Mexican-American family, the
Golden Globe-nominated actress says she
was thrilled to be part of a Latin-led cast
in a movie about a seven-year-old Latina
girl, though she was unaware of Dora’s
international fame!
‘Dora was an icon of the Hispanic
community,’ explains Eva. ‘When I got the
part, my friends from London, Germany
and France all called me and I said: “How
do you know who Dora is?” I didn’t know
she was a global icon!’
As Santiago was just two months old during
casting, Eva’s initial instinct was to turn down
the role – but her TV executive husband José
‘Pepe’ Bastón had other ideas about the shoot
in Australia. Eva says: ‘He said: “You have to do
this. We’ll all go.” And we all went to Australia
together as a family!’
Here, Eva talks about finding her equal in
her husband, filming in the jungle and missing
the show that made her name...You’re playing a mother in your new movie –
how did that feel now you’re a mum?
It’s exciting as this is the first time I’m doing
a movie that Santiago can watch. It’s thefirst movie where I’ve played a mum while
being a mum. All of a sudden, I had a mum
compass. I’d say things like: ‘Should we let
Dora hold that snake?’ But the director would
have to correct me and say: ‘Eva, this is Dora.
This is not Santiago.’Why did you choose the
name Santiago?
Pepe has three kids, so I’m a
stepmum to three beautiful
children. José, who is 15, said
to us: ‘What about Santiago?’
And I fell in love with it. I was
looking for ‘S’ names. My
family is Spanish and that’s
a very common
name in the north
of Spain, so it all
worked out.Santi is one
now – are
you enjoying
motherhood?
It is beautiful. Of course, it’s life
changing. Everybody says it’s life
changing – but it really is! Age wasn’t
ever a factor for me. I never put
pressure on myself. I am really happy
that I was established in my career
and that I’m way more patient now.
For me, children are always a product
of love and Santi’s a product of how
much Pepe and I love each other.How did you two meet?
We met through a mutual friend.
It was the first time in my life that
I was single and happy. But when
I met Pepe, I finally met my equal- intellectually, emotionally and
financially. We didn’t need anything
from each other; we wanted to be with
each other. He’s a beautiful soul. He’s
probably the kindest human being I know.
Everybody falls in love with Pepe.How much does he understand your
work life?
We’re both in the industry, but on different
sides. He’s an executive and a producer.
When I received the phone call to do
Dora, Santi was two months old. I said to
Pepe: ‘Honey, they just called me. They
want me to play the mother of Dora in
Australia. I’m going to have to say no
because Santi’s so little. We can’t take him
to Australia when I’m still breastfeeding.’
And he goes: ‘Why not? You have to do
this. What do you mean you’re not going
to do it? We’ll all go.’ And we all went to
Australia together as a family. Pepe was
the one who really told me to do the role.Is it true you started out as a beauty queen
in Texas?
I did! I was in college and there was a
scholarship
pageant. I had
no money in my
senior year and
my friend who
was entering said:
‘You should too
because they’ll
pay your tuition.’ I
ended up winning
the whole thing
and in my prize
package was a
trip to LA, so that’s
where it all started.You landed
Desperate
Housewives in
2004 – do you
have fond memories of the show?
I was cast before anybody else and it changed
my life. It was a global phenomenon. It was
really overwhelming and a lot of work, but it’s
a decade of my life that I miss so much. I miss
being Gaby. I miss being in her skin.Did you predict it would be that successful?
I remember thinking, this is great, but it’ll never
go anywhere. It was like nothing we’d seen on
TV. Most of the lead characters were women
over 40 – I was the youngest at 28. But when
we premiered we had 30 million viewers or
something crazy.
‘DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD’ IS IN CINEMAS NOW.OK!INTERVIEW BY ALAN TANNER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ABC, BACKGRID,
ROZETTE RAGO/THE NEW YORK TIMES/EYEVINE, PARAMOUNTMichael Peña,
Isabela Moner and
Eva in Dora And The
Lost City Of GoldAbove: With husband José ‘Pepe’
Bastón and son Santiago. Above right:
As Gaby Solis in Desperate Housewives