Jessica Alba Wasn’t Sure Eva Mendes Could Be Compared to Her and Other Minority A-Listers
Jessica Alba once felt she, Jennifer Lopez, and a few other women of color could be considered leading ladies in Hollywood. But the Dark Angel actor questioned if her fellow Latina star Eva Mendes belonged in that category.
Jessica Alba blasted Hollywood for having too few women of color as leading ladies
Alba wasn’t satisfied with being an actor while pursuing work in the film industry; she wanted to be a leading lady. Initially, she was told she didn’t have the traditional physical qualifications to be cast as a female lead. Because of her unique appearance at the time, the Honey star asserted that studio heads weren’t sure which roles suited her.
“They couldn’t figure out my ethnicity,” Alba once said in an interview with Pop Sugar. “They were like, ‘You’re not Latin enough to play a Latina, and you’re not Caucasian enough to play the leading lady. So you’re going to be the exotic one.’ Whatever that was.”
But she admitted those responses only further encouraged her to achieve her dreams.
“That was kind of a weird thing to wrestle with because I never had to look at myself that way or had to stick myself in a bucket,” she added. “Then, I was even more determined to become a leading lady to show that Girls can look like me, and we can be leading ladies.”
Her persistence paid off. Alba led many projects that became commercial and critical hits over time. Although it only lasted two seasons, the TV series Dark Angel showcased Alba’s ability to lead a series. Films like Fantastic Four and Sin City saw her in star roles that became box-office successes. Even after making considerable progress in the film industry, Alba still felt Hollywood was limiting her opportunities.
“Everyone wants to categorize you and pigeonhole you. I’m half Latin. But I grew up in the States, and I can’t get roles playing a Latina because I don’t speak Spanish,” Alba once told Elle. ‘And I didn’t want to be the best friend, or the promiscuous girl, or the maid, because those stereotypes still exist with Latin roles. I wanted to be a leading lady. And I thought that because I have brown skin, it shouldn’t make any difference. Why should only Aryan-looking girls be that girl?”
Alba illustrated her point by naming the only women of color she believed could greenlight movies.
“How many leading ladies are you aware of? Lindsay Lohan, Kate Bosworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, Rachel McAdams,” she said. “We have Jennifer Lopez, Halle Berry, me, and who else?”
However, when her contemporary Eva Mendes was suggested as a part of that group, Alba was skeptical.
“Mendes,” Alba considered. “But is Mendes greenlighting movies?”
Eva Mendes faced the same obstacles Jessica Alba did while pursuing an acting career
Although Alba wasn’t sure if Mendes was a leading lady back then, Mendes starred several hit movies at her peak. Projects like Hitch, Ghost Rider, and 2 Fast 2 Furious made more than $100 million at the box office. Being of Hispanic heritage herself, Mendes also experienced obstacles in the film industry. The Training Day actor was accepted and rejected for roles based on her appearance above all else, which eventually tested her patience. But like Alba, these experiences motivated Mendes to break the mold.
“That’s all they would say at the beginning. ‘She’s too ethnic for this, too ethnic for that,’ ” Mendes told The Sunday Times not too long ago. “It was so crazy. That was the constant note. Then, at some point, it switched to, ‘Oh, ethnic is cool now’ or, ‘Being Latina is cool’. It gave me energy because it would make me so mad, and then I’d get that fuel that I needed.”
Ironically, acting would eventually become a second priority for Mendes and Alba, albeit for completely different reasons. At the height of its success, Alba’s Honest company took precedence over her film career. Meanwhile, Mendes stopped acting to focus on her family with her husband Ryan Gosling. Leaving the film industry behind wasn’t a hard choice for Mendes. She admittedly wasn’t as passionate about the business as some of her peers.
“I was never in love with acting; I don’t mean this in a self-deprecating way, but I wasn’t a great actress,” Mendes said. “I had my moments when I worked with really great people.”
