from the magazine
February 2016 Issue

Eiza Gonzalez on Following in Salma Hayek’s Footsteps

The 26-year-old can currently be seen as Santanico Pandemonium in Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk till Dawn: The Series, a role originated by Hayek in 1996.
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Photograph by Kenneth Willardt.

AGE: 26.

PROVENANCE: Mexico City.

CREATIVE OUTLET: After her father died, when she was 12, Gonzalez turned to acting classes as a distraction. “It worked as therapy.”

CHILD’S PLAY: Upon turning 13, she declared to her mother, “I want to be an actress; this is what I want to do.”

TEENAGE DREAM: Gonzalez starred in the teen-musical telenovela Lola, Érase una Vez (“Lola, Once upon a Time”)—a modern-day Cinderella story, in which she played Lola, a nanny in a rock band. (Think: Hispanic Hannah Montana.)

MAKING MOVES: Following Lola, Gonzalez studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York. Her big international break came when she was cast as the vampire Santanico Pandemonium—the role was originally played by Salma Hayek in the 1996 feature film—in Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk till Dawn: The Series (Season Two is now on Netflix). “Robert had handpicked Salma. It was a lot of pressure, especially being from Mexico.”

BIG YEAR: “There are a lot of fun projects going on—which I can’t really talk about yet—but I’m very excited about this year.”

Opening Acts

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July 2011: Juno Temple Provenance: Somerset, England. Age: 21. __But she’s no spring chicken . . .__At 14, Temple landed the first role she ever auditioned for, that of Cate Blanchett’s daughter in Notes on a Scandal. It was an audition her mother had hoped would be enough to discourage her from chasing a thespian dream that “would have me sitting on my ass wishing I had done something else.” (Mom is producer Amanda Pirie and Dad is director Julien Temple.) __Since nailing it on her first try . . .__Juno has proved it wasn’t just a fluke. With parts in Atonement, The Other Boleyn Girl, and Greenberg, she has compiled a résumé any young actor would give her eyeteeth for: “It’s the best job ever. I really think it is.” This fall, audiences will have the pleasure of her regal company in 3-D when she plays the role of Queen Anne in Paul W. S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers. As for nudity? While she doesn’t take off her robe in this summer’s Dirty Girl, and probably won’t in Christopher Nolan’s third installment of the Dark Knight series, either, she promises we’ll be seeing more of her in the future. “It’s like, why not do it? I’m not going to do it when I’m 75—or maybe I will.” Dame Helen Mirren, take heed. Photograph by Matthias Vriens-McGrath. Temple wears a bandeau bikini by Michael Kors. See complete credits.