Check out our Tribute to Eva Mendes here.

At 16, she got her first film role in 1987's My Little Girl, but it failed to really kickstart her career. As soon as she graduated from high school, she was quick to enroll in a Manhattan college and simultaneously worked at a legal office to fund her dancing and singing career. She soon dropped out and became  a backup dancer.

Her big break back then? As a backup dancer on Janet Jackson's 'That's the Way Love Goes' video in 1993.