Salma Hayek Pinault confronted “numerous rejection” within the ’90s — even when it got here to the roles executives needed to see her in:

“I bought to a degree the place I used to be whining on a regular basis. I used to be depressing. I used to be determined. I used to be going for motion pictures by which I hated the script; I had no respect for the director. And naturally I would not get them. After all not, as a result of I did not even wish to go to the assembly, and I might drive myself to go to the assembly after which hate myself each second of it.”

Finally, the actor determined she’d had sufficient. “I stated, ‘I’ll begin an organization. I’m going to create tasks for me. I’ll create tasks for different Latin ladies.'” The primary of these tasks was “Frida,” the 2002 biopic that introduced Pinault out of the shadows. Pinault had been preventing to get the movie made for practically eight years. She fought towards a modest price range, an abusive producer, and the gaggle of excessive profile actors — Madonna and Jennifer Lopez amongst them — that’d additionally been circling the position. The movie went on to attain main awards recognition, together with a Greatest Actress nomination for Pinault on the Oscars, Golden Globes, and the BAFTAs. It additionally greater than made up for its $15 million price range, incomes slightly over $50 million worldwide.

Portraying Frida Kahlo was the position of a lifetime for Pinault — and although it ought to have cemented her standing as a number one girl, she nonetheless confronted xenophobia and sexism as her profession went on. It has been irritating to observe, particularly for her pals and co-stars, like “Frida” actor Alfred Molina. “If Salma have been white and male, she’d be greater than Harvey Weinstein,” Molina stated in 2003.