Eva Longoria

Eva Jacqueline Longoria Parker is a Golden Globe Award-nominated American film and television actress. She rose to fame by playing Isabella Bra?a 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. 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. and Ella Eva Mireles .

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. In an interview with Dateline's Stone Phillips, Longoria also revealed the snubbing she received from her siblings. She said "I grew up as the ugly duckling. They used to call me 'la prieta fea,' which means 'the ugly dark one.'"

Longoria originally wanted to be a fashion model and sent in photos to a modelling agency but was declined because of her height. Longoria attended Marvin P. Baker Middle School and later Roy Miller High School, receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology at nearby Texas A&M University-Kingsville