Eva Longoria Baston

Background and Education

Eva Jacqueline Longoria was born on March 15, 1975, in Corpus Christi, Texas. She grew up in a Mexican American ranching family, graduated from Texas A&M University, then went to Los Angeles and began an acting career after winning the Miss Corpus Christi beauty pageant. ^{1 3} While acting, she continued her education and received a master’s degree in Chicano studies and political science from California State University in 2013. ⁴

Family

Eva Longoria was married to actor Tyler Christopher from 2002 to 2004 and to basketball player Tony Parker from 2007 to 2011. In 2016 she married Mexican businessman Jose Baston. In 2018, she and Baston had a son, Santiago. ^{1 3}

Acting Career

Eva Longoria had several successful television acting roles in “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “General Hospital,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” and “The Young and the Restless.” In 2004, she took the role of Gabrielle Solis, a main character in “Desperate Housewives,” which aired from 2004 to 2012. ¹

Longoria has also appeared in several films. In 2005, Longoria launched UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, a production company that provides women and ethnic minorities with job opportunities, and produces shows that “represent the stories of the Latinx and other underrepresented communities.” ^{5 6}

In addition to acting and directing, Longoria has worked as a model for L’Oreal Paris and a spokesperson for Pepsi. By 2012, Longoria was one of the top-paid television stars in the world. ³

Philanthropy and Advocacy

In 2012, Eva Longoria became the national spokesperson for Padres Contra el Cancer which helps Latino children with cancer, and she founded Eva’s Heroes which focuses on support for young people with intellectual special needs. She also supports the farmworker-organizing group Coalition of Immokalee Workers. ³

In 2012, she founded the Eva Longoria Foundation to support Latina women’s opportunities for education and entrepreneurship. The foundation provides training and microloans to Latina women to open small businesses, and coordinates mentorship programs and scholarships, and organizes workshops and programs to encourage STEM education for Latina youth. ^{4 7 8}

In 2018, she co-founded Time’s Up with other leading Hollywood women to combat sexual harassment in Hollywood. ^{9 10}

In March 2024, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos awarded Longoria a $50 million Courage and Civility Award for significant contributions to society. Longoria plans to donate the amount to the Eva Longoria Foundation. ¹¹

Longoria is on the Visionary Alliance of the National Hispanic Media Coalition that advocates for Latino civil rights and promotes Latino representation in media and telecommunications. ¹²

Political Activities

Eva Longoria has campaigned for Democratic presidential candidates since 2004. In 2008, she was a strong supporter of former president Barack Obama and in 2012 was named a national co-chair of the Obama 2012 presidential campaign and spoke at the Democratic National Convention. ^{13 14} She co-founded the Futuro Fund along with businessman and political activist Henry R. Munoz III to ensure that Latino voices were heard and their votes counted during President Obama’s re-election campaign. ¹⁵

In 2014, Longoria co-founded the left-of-center Latino Victory network along with Munoz to “build a pipeline of Hispanic candidates in elections at all levels of government.” Latino Victory recruits “progressive Latino champions” to run for both national and local offices across the country, endorses them, and supports their fundraising efforts. Latino Victory has three arms: the Latino Victory Fund is the political action committee that “supports progressive candidates who support Latin values,” the Latino Victory Foundation does research and Latino leadership development, and the Latino Victory Project is the lobbying and advocacy group. ^{4 16 17}

In 2016, Longoria endorsed former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for President. ¹⁸

In 2020, Longoria co-founded Momento Latino, a coalition of Latino activists, leaders, and artists to address issues that impact the Latino community. ^{9 19}

In 2020, she endorsed Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden and kicked off the Democratic National Convention. ^{20 21} She continued her support in his 2024 re-election campaign, claiming that then-former President Donald Trump “has demonized Latinos throughout his political career.” ²²

After the 2020 election of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Longoria came under fire for her comments during an MSNBC interview indicating that the “U.S. Latinas are the ‘real heroines’ of the 2020 election victory.” Many people felt that she was downplaying the role that Black women played in the election and that “Black women were being erased for their contributions to the Biden victory.” ²³

In August 2024, Longoria endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention and coined the phrase “She, se puede,” a derivative from the Spanish slogan “Si se puede” meaning “Yes it can be done.” ²⁴ She campaigned heavily for then-Vice President Harris during the final weeks of the election. In an interview with Marie Claire after President Trump’s second election, Longoria stated, “The best person doesn’t win.” She then indicated that she was leaving America to live in Mexico and Spain and felt sorry for most Americans who will be “stuck in this dystopian country.” ² Later, she indicated that she had not left the U.S. because of who won the election, but had moved before the election. ²⁵