Eva Longoria



Eva Jacqueline Longoria (born March 15, 1975) is an American television and film actress. She is of Mexican descent.

Longoria is best known for her roles as Isabella Braña on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless from 2001 to 2003, and as Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. For her work on the Desperate Housewives, she received a Golden Globe Award nomination. She has also has starred in films such as Harsh Times (2005), The Sentinel (2006) and Over Her Dead Body (2008).

Early life
Eva Jacqueline Longoria was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the youngest of four daughters born to Mexican Americans Enrique Longoria, Jr. and Ella Eva Mireles. She was raised Roman Catholic.

She received her Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology at nearby Texas A&M University-Kingsville. During this time, she won the title of Miss Corpus Christi, USA in 1998. After completing college, Longoria entered a talent contest that led her to Los Angeles; shortly after, she was spotted and signed by a theatrical agent.

[edit] Relationships
Longoria was married to General Hospital star Tyler Christopher from 2002 to 2004.

Longoria met Spurs point guard Tony Parker in November 2004, and on November 30, 2006, the couple became engaged.They were married in a civil service on Friday, July 6, 2007, at a Paris city hall. It was followed by a full, Catholic wedding ceremony at the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois Church in Paris on Saturday, July 7, 2007.

Longoria with then-husband Tony Parkerat the 2008 Emmy Awards.On November 17, 2010, Longoria filed for divorce from Parker in Los Angeles, citing "irreconcilable differences". In the divorce petition Longoria, who had taken Parker's last name, requested that her maiden name be restored. She also sought spousal support from Parker. The couple had a prenuptial agreement that was signed in June 2007, the month before their wedding, and amended two years later in June 2009.

The same day as the divorce filing, Longoria confirmed to her friend Mario Lopez that she had discovered hundreds of text messages from another woman on her husband's phone. Extraidentified the other woman as Erin Barry, the former wife of Brent Barry, Parker's former teammate, and revealed that the Barrys also were in the process of divorcing. Lopez further stated that Longoria believed Parker had cheated on her earlier in the marriage with another woman with whom he had kept in touch via Facebook. In light of the divorce, Longoria cancelled her scheduled appearance at the 2010 American Music Awards. On November 19, 2010, Parker filed for divorce from Longoria in Bexar County, Texas, on the grounds of "discord or conflict of personalities", thus establishing a legal battle over where the divorce case would be heard. Unlike Longoria's divorce petition, Parker's did not mention a prenuptial agreement and claimed that the parties would "enter into an agreement for the division of their estate". The divorce was finalized in Texas on January 28, 2011, the same day Longoria's lawyer filed papers to dismiss her Los Angeles petition.

[edit] Ancestry
Longoria at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.According to research done by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of Harvard University, in 2010 for the PBS series Faces of America, Longoria's Spanish ancestry can be traced back to her ninth great-grandfather, Lorenzo Suárez de Longoria (b. Oviedo, 1592), who emigrated to the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1603 (now modern-day Mexico), and whose family originated from a small village called Llongoria, Belmonte de Miranda, Asturias, Spain. Longoria is the Spanish spelling of the surname. In 1767, her 7th great-grandfather received almost 4,000 acres (16 km2 ) of land along the Rio Grande in a land grant from the King of Spain. This land stayed in the family for over a century, and, after the US-Mexican border moved southwards as an aftermath of the Mexican–American War, it was located in American territory, enduring the influx of Anglo settlers during the Mexican–American War and theAmerican Civil War.

Her DNA test results were: 70% European, 27% Asian/Indigenous, and 3% African.After a computer compared the DNA results of Gates's dozen guests, tests showed that she is genetically related to cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who is of Chinese heritage. Since women have two X chromosomes and no Y chromosome, Eva doesn't inherit her father's Y-DNA only her mother'smitochondrial DNA (genetic information passed from mother to child). Eva's mtDNA belongs to the Haplogroup A2 making her a descended from a Native American female, a Mayan woman from Mexico long before it was Mexico.

Eva Longoria identifies herself as a "Texican" or Mexican-American.

[edit] Philanthropy
Longoria pictured with Victoria Beckham in 2010.In 2006, Longoria founded Eva's Heroes, a charity which helps developmentally disabled children. She is the national spokesperson for PADRES Contra El Cancer. She signed shoes for the Spirit of Women Red Shoe Celebrity Auction. Longoria also supports the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation, OmniPeace, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Stroke Association, Project HOMEand St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Longoria is an executive producer of Shine Global Inc.'s documentary The Harvest (documentary) which is focused on the 500,000 child migrant farm workers in the U.S. and promote awareness and support to enact the Children's Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act).

Longoria was named Philanthropist of the year by The Hollywood Reporter for 'her commitment to Latino causes and giving back to the community. She appeared on Fort Boyard in 2009, making over €20,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

In 2009, Longoria enrolled in a Master's program in Chicano Studies and Political science at Cal State University, Northridge. According to Eva, "because of my involvement with the NCLRand my charity work, I really wanted a better, more authentic understanding of what my community has gone through so I can help create change."

In September 2009, Longoria was appointed to a bi-partisan commission issued with the task of determining the feasibility of the creation of a National Museum of the American Latino.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">In October 2012, Longoria spoke at the McAfee Focus 2012 event, where the "theme of safety — beyond computers — emerged. Safety involving financial security, emotional security, and the other results from Longoria’s philanthropic efforts".

[edit] Politics
<p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">In 2009, Longoria enrolled in the Chicano Studies master's program at California State University, Northridge. She has called Arizona's SB 1070 immigration law unconstitutional.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">In 2012, she was one of seven Californians named to the post of co-chair of Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">On September 6, 2012, Longoria spoke at 2012 Democratic National Convention where she endorsed President Obama's reelection.