Salma Hayek is a world-famous actress (born September 2, 1966, in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico) to a Lebanese father and a Mexican mother. Considered by many to be the most successful Latin American actress in Hollywood since Dolores del Río, Hayek, having appeared in more than thirty films and secured a nomination for an Oscar, is arguably the most important Mexican star in Hollywood today.

Raised in a devoutly Catholic family, she was sent to a Louisiana boarding school at the age of 12. After leaving the school due to alleged behavioral problems with the religious Sisters who ran the school, Hayek returned to Mexico, but she was eventually sent to Houston, Texas, to live with her aunt, where she stayed until she was 17. She subsequently moved to Mexico City, where she studied International Relations as a university student. To the chagrin of her family, she decided to drop out in order to pursue a career as an actress .