Eva Longoria

50th birthday: March 15, 2025

“When I was your age . . . a couple years ago . . .”

Eva Longoria has some great lines playing herself in Only Murders in the Building. She tells Selena Gomez’s Mabel, “Look, honey, when I was your age . . . a couple years ago . . . I found myself at a crossroads. I was making great money acting, but I knew I wanted to do more. I wanted to produce . . . I wanted to direct . . . I wanted to sell skin cream and ice cream, and underwear and sportswear . . . beer, computers, . . . tequila . . . and gin. And I did.”

It’s funny because it’s true. Eva has come a long way from growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, and getting her kinesiology degree from Texas A&M.

“soap opera acting is hard work.”

I didn’t know it at the time, but the first role I saw Eva play was probably Flight Attendant #3 on Beverly Hills, 90210. After that I may have caught her as Isabella Brana on The Young and the Restless, but my that time, I wasn’t watching daytime soaps anymore.

So like everyone else, I first really became aware of her on Desperate Housewives. While the character of Gabrielle Solis makes poor choices (like seducing John, her teenage gardener), she maintains a kind of sweetness and vulnerability despite a traumatic back story: Before agreeing to marry Carlos Solis (beautifully played by Ricardo Chavira) on their third date, Gaby had overcome destitute poverty, her father’s death from cancer, a sexual assault by her stepfather, and being blamed for her it by her mother.

Desperate Housewives is essentially a soap opera, and as we learned in movies like Tootsie and Soap Dish, soap opera acting is hard work.

“There’s something of Lucy in this scene.”

In her career since Flight Attendant #3, Eva has become a producer and a director, often telling stories of Mexican-American characters who, like her, have grace and grit.

And there’s something uniquely Gen X about Eva’s performances as well. [Cue the old-timey music] When we were kids, we didn’t have endless choices of what to watch. Before cable, most of us had only the three main networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) and some very low-tech local programming (think Wayne’s World).

So a lot of us born in 1975 ended up watching reruns of the same shows our own parents had watched when they were growing up, including queens of comedy like Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore and, perhaps the queen of them all, Lucille Ball.

There’s a scene in Season 1 of Desperate Housewives where Gaby runs home from a formal party and frantically mows the lawn in her evening gown. There’s something of Lucy in this scene.

Eva has done so much both in front of and behind the scenes to stretch and break stereotypes about what it means to be a Mexican-American woman, and she’s also shown that comedy is universal.

Just watch the YouTube clip of her in Only Murders in the Building and you can see her comedic timing. This is a woman who knows herself and isn’t afraid to laugh. Seems like the perfect way to turn 50 to me.

Eva Longoria Watchlist

As with any of my watchlists, these selections are made purely on the basis of what connected with me. Sometimes they are the “best” movies and TV shows on the subject, but more often it’s just that these are what stuck with me.

The Top 5 are presented in order of my favorites, the ones I would take with me to a desert island.

Other Watching is in chronological order, and sometimes I may not even have seen it. I just think it sounds interesting, or it tells a bit more of the story about this person or topic.

Eva Longoria Top 5

  1. Desperate Housewives (2004—2012) — Gabrielle Solis

  2. Only Murders in the Building (2024) — Eva Longoria

  3. Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico (2023) — Eva Longoria

  4. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2014—2015) — Sophia Perez

  5. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip (2025) — Val Garcia*It might seem odd to recommend a new movie that I haven’t seen yet, but it looks like hilarious. Would watch for sure!

Eva Longoria Other Watching

  • Beverly Hills, 90210 (2000) — Flight Attendant #3

  • The Young and the Restless (2001—2003) — Isabella Brana

  • Dragnet (2003—2004) — Detective Gloria Duran

  • Jessica Simpson: A Public Affair (2006) — Friend

  • The Sentinel (2006) — Jill Marin

  • The Heartbreak Kid (2007) — Consuela

  • “I Like How it Feels” official music video, Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull & the WAV.s (2011) — Eva Longoria

  • In a World (2013) — Eva Longoria

  • The Simpsons (2013) — Isabel Gutierrez

  • Frontera (2014) — Paulina

  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2014—2015) — Sophia Perez

  • Telenovela (2015—2016) — Ana Sofia Calderon *Executive Producer, Director

  • Any Day (2015) — Jolene

  • Maya and Marty (2016) — Various

  • Devious Maids (2016) — Eva Longoria *Executive Producer, Director

  • Decline and Fall (2017) — Margot Beste-Chetwynde

  • Empire (2017) — Charlotte Frost

  • Jane the Virgin (2017) — Eva Longoria

  • Overboard (2018) — Theresa

  • Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) — Elena

  • Flipped (2020) — Fidelia

  • Flamin’ Hot (2023) — Secretary

  • Land of Women (2024) — Gala* Executive Producer

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