Cover story for Mediaplanet’s “Hispanic Heritage” issue, published with Los Angeles Times and translated for Hoy Los Ángeles.

Salma Hayek photographed by John Russo in Los Angeles.

Earlier this year, actress, producer, and director Salma Hayek made headlines by coordinating a Mexican sing-along surprise to conclude the Cannes 70th anniversary gala dinner.

"My husband trembles to learn what new insanity I'm going to come up with," she shares, laughing.

Hayek got the idea earlier that day while spending time with a few Mexican colleagues. "I felt so proud that, in the industry of cinema, Latinos are making really high-level art."

After midnight, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro conducted the mariachi band she had brought in from Paris. The celebration included a handful of Salma's closest friends, including Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal and Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Hayek has many reasons to celebrate. Her latest project, Beatriz at Dinner, is her second of three films released this year and has received some of the best reviews of her career. In the movie, Salma plays a Mexican immigrant working as a holistic health practitioner who unexpectedly finds herself at a dinner party hosted by a wealthy, conservative client.

"What I love about the movie is that it's not trying to send one specific message," she explains. "From this character, I learned that we all have a sense of nostalgia … to go back in time to a place where you felt pure and safe, whether that's at home when you were little or in your grandmother's kitchen. At the end of the day, the most different people in the world are looking for that safe place. I think if we can reconnect to that somehow, we can all get along."

Hayek gravitated towards the character of Beatriz due to her courage, spirituality, unwavering certainty, and lack of glamour — a departure from the stereotypical roles often assigned to Mexican actors.

"I found it very liberating not to feel the pressure to need to be beautiful," she recalls. "It's really a wonderful thing to feel like you don't have to be beautiful to be appreciated."

THE ROLE OF REPRESENTATION

A recent study by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism found Latinos to be among the least represented speaking roles in film and TV, despite making up about 17.4 percent of the U.S. population. Out of more than 11,000 speaking characters surveyed, just 5.8 percent were Hispanic or Latino.

"The entertainment industry should reflect the society that we live in," she continues. "The industry is failing in representing our nation and the humans that live in it."

While today, Hayek is mainly known for her work in front of the camera, acting wasn't her first choice.

"I wanted to direct," she laughs. "I'm glad I am an actress today, but it wasn't my first love. When I was very young, I saw 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,' and I realized that in the movies, there's a universe where anything is possible."

“We must figure out how we’re affecting others and including others. We are all human. We have to be gentle with each other, the planet, and most importantly, ourselves.”

In 2000, Hayek founded the production company Ventanarosa, through which she produces film and TV projects. Her first feature as a producer was 1999's "El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba," Mexico's official selection for submission for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars.

"I fell in love with that concept of breaking all the rules and having no limitations — the ground can be made of chocolate, the flowers can be candy. Anything can happen."

WHAT'S NEXT

Though acting wasn't Hayek's first choice, she's more than fulfilled by her work and career. She became the first Mexican actress to be nominated for Best Actress at the 2002 Academy Awards for her starring role in the biopic "Frida," and critics are already buzzing about Beatriz's possibility of earning a similar triumph.

"Salma Hayek gives the performance of her career in this stealth weapon of a comedy," stated film critic Peter Travers. Los Angeles Times' Justin Chang agreed, saying, "An elegant, squirm-inducing dark comedy…veers into richly unsettling dramatic territory, anchored by perhaps the finest, most controlled performance of Hayek's career."

Hayek hopes that her work, both on and off the screen, will continue to promote peace and understanding, especially in today's political landscape.

"We must figure out how we're affecting others and including others. We are all human. We have to be gentle with each other, the planet, and most importantly, ourselves."

Hayek attributes much of her success to her heritage and upbringing. "My heritage means so much to me; I'm very proud to be Hispanic," she states. "I take it with me everywhere I go. Our culture is romantic and poetic, and I love that no matter what happens, we always have a sense of humor. It's what makes us survivors." ■