Eva Jacqueline Longoria Parker (born March 15, 1975) is a
Golden Globe Award-nominated
American film and
television actress. She rose to fame by playing
Isabella Braña Williams on the
CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. She now plays
Gabrielle Solis in the
ABC television series
Desperate Housewives, and stars in the film
Over Her Dead Body. She has also become a nationally recognized
model after appearing in several high-profile
advertising campaigns and numerous
men's magazines, reaching #14 in the
FHM "Sexiest Women 2008" poll.
[Eva Longoria | 100 Sexiest 2008 | FHM.com] Longoria is also known for her high profile relationship with
NBA guard Tony Parker, whom she married in 2007.
Biography
Early life
Longoria was born
Eva Jacqueline Longoria in
Corpus Christi,
Texas, the daughter of
Mexican-American Catholic parents, Enrique Longoria, Jr. (born in Rachal,
Brooks County,
Texas) and Ella Eva Mireles (married in
Falfurrias,
Brooks County,
Texas).
She has three older sisters: Elizabeth, Emily, and Esmeralda. The family lived and worked on farmland that had been handed down to them from past generations, but they often had very little money; Enrique and Ella struggled for many years to give their children a decent upbringing. Longoria showed viewers an introspect into the hardship she faced in her formative years growing up poor on
The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2006; she took cameras on location to the family farm, and showed how spartan they were still living. Longoria admitted that only when she made it in show business did things begin to look better for them financially.