Eva Longoria Expected Her Life to Look Like This

As we sit in a nearly empty midtown Manhattan restaurant, Eva Longoria is enjoying a moment of calm. She orders an English Breakfast tea, answers a FaceTime call from her six-year-old son, Santiago, and shoots off a few texts. Longoria is in New York for two days to promote her latest project, the CNN docuseries Searching for Spain, and her schedule has been packed. Over the last 48 hours, she has hosted a premiere for her new show, appeared on Live with Kelly and Mark, and sat with the ladies of The View for an interview (those are just a few highlights). Our midafternoon meeting is one of the last items on her agenda before heading back to her family in Spain, where she splits her time along with the U.S. and Mexico.

Naturally, one might expect Longoria to be a bit fatigued from her cross-continental travels and talk-show appearances. However, as she sits across from me, it's clear she's feeling quite invigorated by it all. "The thing I love to do most is travel and eat," she tells me. "So to do a press junket about what I love is heaven. It's a dream job." 

Searching for Spain debuted on CNN on April 27, and over eight episodes, Longoria takes us through a mouth-watering gastronomic experience. Her travels bring her across the country's 17 regions, from sipping vermouth and savoring Catalan prawns in Barcelona to indulging in tapas and some of the world's most expensive jamón in Andalusia. Longoria even invites viewers into her home in Marbella as she plans a dinner party featuring local dishes (espetos de sardinas—sardine skewers—are the star of the menu). With every sip she takes and every bite she consumes, she digests another bit of Spain's rich culinary and cultural heritage.

"If you're talking about the food of a country, you're talking about the people of a country," Longoria says. "If you're talking about the people of a country, you're talking about the history of a country. All of it is intertwined, and I find it fascinating. [The show] really opens our worldview to cultures you may not know, and it can shape our tolerance, empathy, compassion, and curiosity all at the same time."

Longoria's episodic exploration of Spain marks her second collaboration with CNN for its beloved Searching For franchise, following the release of Searching for Mexico in 2023. Working on both projects has allowed Longoria to delve into the intricacies of her ancestry and foster a more personal relationship with her past.

Growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, she always felt connected to her Mexican roots. She'll be the first to tell you she's a proud "Texican." However, taking an AncestryDNA test in 2010 gave her more insight into her lineage, revealing that she is 70% European, 27% Native American, and 3% African. While the first installment of Searching For found Longoria traversing familiar territory in Mexico, Searching for Spain offered her a chance to dive into areas she hadn't fully explored. 

"I'm Mexican American and I always felt at home in Mexico," she says. "I knew [the country] and learned even more while doing Searching for Mexico. But my dad had always said we were also from Spain. I used to say, 'No, we're not.' Then I took a DNA test, and it was confirmed. When CNN wanted to do the next season, I said, 'We should do Spain because my ancestors are from Spain.' Shooting Searching for Spain was different, though, because I didn't know [the country] as well. In this series, you'll see that my questions are genuine and my curiosity is heightened. I was excited to learn more about my Spanish heritage." 

Longoria's homecoming brought about many touching familial moments that illustrated how enduring her ties to Spain are. In 1603, her ancestor, Lorenzo Longoria, departed Spain at 11, setting sail for the Americas. In episode two, we see Longoria visit the port from which he left in Seville. Later, in episode six, Longoria brings us along as she visits relatives near the town of Longoria to eat her favorite food, fabada, made with the fabes de la Granja beans that brought wealth to her family centuries ago. "It was really special to visit and explore more," she says. "So many of these moments stuck with me after filming, from breaking bread with my family in Longoria to being at my home in Marbella with my chosen family." 

Notably, Longoria and her company, Hyphenate Media Group, executive-produced Searching for Mexico and Searching for Spain. Documenting her culture and community on her terms, as not only the host of the series but also an executive producer, is something that makes Longoria beam with pride. "Being able to shape the storytelling of the series has been vital because I am the way in for the audience," she says. "I wanted it to be relevant to my journey and everybody's journey. Everybody can watch the show and relate to someone. Authentic storytelling is important because you want stories from those who have lived them. That's been important in my life, in general, not just with this show."

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Eva Longoria didn't dream of becoming an entertainment multihyphenate—she has a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Texas A&M, after all—but fate had other plans. In 1998, at 23 years old, she was named Miss Corpus Christi. One of the grand prizes was a trip to Los Angeles to compete in another pageant, and while she was there, she swept the talent competition and attracted the attention of managers and agents. That moment marked the first time acting crossed her mind.

She moved to Los Angeles that same year, and as cliché as it sounds, the rest is history. Like many of her peers, Longoria got her start as an extra, often having one line or no lines at all. Her first credited television gig—playing flight attendant #3 on Beverly Hills, 90210—aired in 2000. Her career steadily blossomed from there, landing iconic roles like Isabella Braña Williams on The Young and the Restless in 2001 and Gabrielle Solis on Desperate Housewives in 2004. 

Her magnetic screen presence and undeniable beauty quickly turned her into a household name—red carpets became her second home, award nominations came flooding in (she won her first ALMA Award in 2002 for The Young and the Restless), and it became a regular occurrence to land features on coveted lists like People's Most Beautiful. 

But even in all her early career glory, Longoria knew she aspired to more than just being number one on the call sheet. "I remember the first time I was on set as an extra, and I wasn't fascinated by the actors," she says. "I was fascinated by the people behind the monitors who made the decisions. People think I'm an actor-turned-director, but I've always been a director-producer who fell into acting. I always wanted to have control of the project. I always wanted to create my own opportunities, not sit back and wait for one." 

Latinos have historically been underrepresented, underpaid, and underappreciated in the television and movie world—and still are. A 2024 McKinsey & Company report stated, "Latinos account for just four percent of lead or co-lead roles in U.S. films. … On TV and streaming, Latinos account for four to seven percent of on-screen talent, between two and five percent of writers' rooms, and a very low share of showrunners."

Having a front-row seat to Hollywood's racial- and gender-based inequities, Longoria saw that directing and producing was one way she could close the gap. Longoria launched her first production company, UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, in 2005, with the goal of telling Latinx stories. Through this venture, she executive-produced compelling scripted and unscripted content, like the Mexico–US border short film Burros, NBC sitcom Telenovela inspired by Latin American soap operas, and the podcast Sisters of the Underground about the Mirabal sisters and their activism in the Dominican Republic. In 2023, Longoria cofounded Hyphenate Media Group with media executive Cris Abrego, and the company acquired UnbeliEVAble Entertainment. With Hyphenate Media Group, Longoria remains committed to amplifying inclusive, inspiring projects.

"Being Latina and being a woman, I knew we were going to have to create our own opportunities and not wait for the industry to open those doors for us," she says. "That was a big motivator for me."

The McKinsey & Company report echoes Longoria's sentiment, pointing out that Latinos who achieve great success in the industry play an enormous role in creating opportunities for fellow Latino talent, specifically noting, "The likelihood of a Latino producer, writer, or lead signing on to a project is an average of 15-fold higher if the director or showrunner is Latino."

Longoria's feature-film directorial debut with Flamin' Hot—the 2023 movie about Mexican American Richard Montañez, a Frito-Lay janitor, who claims to have invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos—is one of the grandest examples of this in her career. As the primary decision maker, she was able to cast Mexican American actors in leading roles and hire all Latino department heads. With Flamin' Hot, Longoria powerfully modeled what it looks like to lift others as you climb. "I want to make other people's dreams come true," Longoria says.

But make no mistake: Though Longoria has found a home in the director's chair, that doesn't mean acting is entirely off the table. She's just incredibly discerning about the scripts she attaches her name to—her intentionality also heightened because she's a mother now. "I definitely think more about what I want out in the world because my son is going to see it," she says. "I think about whether he'd be proud of something or might be embarrassed. Even with old sexy photoshoots, I think, 'Oh god, he's going to see this one day.'"

Her most recent movie, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip, has all the elements she looks for at this stage of her career. The plot is hilarious and heartwarming, following a Mexican American family (she plays the mom, Val Garcia) as they embark on a spring break road trip to Mexico City full of mishaps. "We need joy in this world," she says. "I want to make people laugh and smile. I gravitate toward comedy because you can get across some societal messages through humor. This movie was about finding your roots after being disconnected from them, and sometimes these messages are better received through humor." 

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As she muses on her current on-screen endeavors, I remind her it's been 25 years since she first appeared as an extra on Beverly Hills, 90210. To say she's come a long way since then would hardly do her journey justice, as her career continues to reach new heights. Her relentless determination, boundless creativity, and genuine spirit are gifts that have propelled her forward for decades.

"When I look at the longevity I've had in this industry, it makes sense to me," she says. "Of course, I'm going to work as hard as I can at whatever I do, and it just happens to be in this industry. I knew I'd be successful because I was surrounded by successful women—my mother, sisters, and aunts were independent, strong, smart, and charitable. They were everything I wanted to be."

The unshakeable self-assurance Longoria learned from the women around her is the anchor that keeps her encouraged in the spirit-breaking jungle that can be Hollywood—and this world at large. "I remember the first time I was on a billboard and somebody said to me, 'Oh my god, who would have thought?' And I said, 'Me. I thought it. I dreamt it," she says. "If you don't champion yourself, who else is going to? That unwavering belief in yourself will take you so far."

This belief has carried Longoria from being a fresh-faced actress in her early twenties to a now 50-year-old media powerhouse, to be precise. On March 15, she celebrated her milestone birthday, commemorating it with unforgettable parties in Miami and Paris throughout the month. In this season of life, Longoria says her vision has never been clearer. "When you're young, you should say 'yes' to every opportunity, so you can decide what you want to do in life," she says. "Now that I'm 50, I'm prioritizing differently. I'm curating my life to be very specific to what I want the next 50 years to look like. I'm spending more time with my family, working less, and doing more of what I love. Being financially secure helps with those decisions, but I feel I've worked hard enough to say 'no' now."

For Longoria, a curated life also means being diligent about caring for herself internally and externally. "I don't mind aging," she says. "I just want to age well. I'm grateful to be able to move my body and work out, hike up a mountain, and play with my son. I'm trying to be as mobile as possible for as long as possible."

Wellness, for her, also extends to her skincare routine, which is stacked with L'Oreal Paris products, to no surprise, considering she's been a spokesperson for the brand since 2005. "I love the Revitalift products—they're anti-wrinkle and plumping. The Triple Power Moisturizer and Derm Intensives Eye Serum are my favorite things. Of course, I also taught the world how to say hyaluronic acid, so I love to use the 1.5% Pure Hyaluronic Acid Serum as well." 

For those in the spotlight, maintaining a healthy relationship with the fame they've amassed is just as essential as any other form of self-care. Longoria has done that since the beginning, protecting her mental health in the process. "Navigating fame and all that comes with it has been easier because I was older when I truly became 'famous,'" she says. "I was almost 30, so I didn't let tabloids or headlines—where I was being called 'America's sweetheart' or 'America's sexpot'—define me. It's important to shape your view of yourself externally so you don't go crazy."

At 50, Longoria cherishes peace of mind above all else. And these days, her life looks and feels beautifully harmonious. She's immersed in work she truly cares about, surrounded by people who love her, and free to travel as much as her heart desires. 

With summer on the horizon, she's committed to striking a healthy balance between work and play over the next few months. "This summer, I'll announce the next movie I'm directing," she shares. "It's been four years since I directed Flamin' Hot because I was picky about what I wanted to do next. This movie is a comedy, and the writer is someone I've been dying to work with. So I'll start prepping for that this summer and shooting in the fall. And then I'll be in Europe for the summer, spending time with my son on the beach."

Before Longoria and I get up to leave from our tucked-away table, I ask one last question: "What would the little girl who grew up in Texas think of the life you’re living today?" While this question may make some pause to reflect, Longoria doesn't need to take a beat to think of her response. Without hesitation, she says, "She expected this life and this level of dedication. I'm actually terrified of meeting my younger self right now because she might be like, 'Why aren't you doing this yet?' She had big dreams and would be happy that I'm reaching them."