Mario: You had no inclination...
Eva: None..
Mario...Of wanting to get into this business and entertainment at all.
Eva: At all.
Mario: Really
Eva: You know I come from a family of educators: My mum is a teacher, My sister is a teacher, my aunt is a teacher, everybody is a teacher-so education is really important and expected, and ummmh you are expected to get a job and..
Mario: Well you graduated from college too..
Eva: Yea
Mario: ..with a degree in kinesiology
Eva...Yea, Kinesiology in Bachelor of Science
Mario: Study of bones.. the body
Eva: Study of the body, yea.
Mario: What were you planning to do with that?
Eva: I was gonna be a physical therapist or exercise science sports trainer ummmh
Mario: That was the plan
Eva: Yea
Mario: And then you, you literally fell into the business
Eva: Literally came out here and I said, "what is this?" and they said "You, you're gonna do really well if you stay." and I was like "Okay" and I said that, exactly said, "I wanna try this" and I honestly I say this to everybody it was like the hand of God guiding me...
Mario: Yea
Eva: ...I wasn't scared, I had no money, I didn't know anybody, I had no place to live- it was all a leap of faith and I felt fine. I wasn't scared at all. I was like "am gonna do this" I call my mom and say "Mom am gonna stay." I was only supposed to be here a week and I have been sixteen years(laughs)
Mario: I love that you fell into it and then, well you clearly fell in love with it after that. Got the same thing because I, people always say or don't you find that people expect like as a kid you must have been a born performer, you always were...
Eva: Yes, yes
Mario: You know I was never once, I never was one of those kids when I hear these..
Eva: You started early!
Mario: Yes I started early but I too fell into it.
Eva: Yea.
Mario: I wasn't like a little kid that said, "Hey mom I wanna be on TV..
Eva: No. You, you,
Mario: I was.....
Eva: your mom wanted to occupy your time.
Mario Lopez—You had no inclination...
Eva Longoria—None.
Mario—...of wanting to get into this business or entertainment at all?
Eva—At all.
Mario—Really?
Eva—You know, I come from a family of educators: My mom's a teacher, my sisters are teachers, my aunts are teachers…
Mario—Yeah.
Eva—…everybody's a teacher, so education was really important and expected, and um, you're expected to get a job and…
Mario—Well you—
Eva—…have a career, and…
Mario—Well you graduated from college too…
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—…with a degree in…
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—…kinesiology, right?
Eva—Kinesiology my--, my Bachelor of Science, yeah.
Mario—What--, the study of--, of movement or bones…What is it?
Eva—Study of the body, yeah, yeah.
Mario—…of--, of the body. What were you planning to do with that?
Eva—I was gonna be a physical therapist or a—, exercise science sports trainer, um, I—
Mario—So, that was the plan…?
Eva—Yeah!
Mario—And then you—, you literally fell into the business.
Eva—Literally came out here…
Mario—Yeah.
Eva—…and I said, "What is this?"
Mario—Yeah.
Eva—…and they said, "You—, you're gonna do really well, if you stay." And I was, like...
Mario—Yeah.
Eva—..."Okay!" and I said that, exactly. I said, "I wanna try this!" And honestly—I say this to everybody—it was like the hand of God guiding me...
Mario—Yeah.
Eva—...I wasn't scared, I had no money, I didn't know anybody, I had no place to live. It was all a leap of faith and I felt fine. I wasn't scared at all! I was, like, "I'm gonna do this!" I called my mom and said, "Mom, I'm gonna stay." I was only supposed to be here a week…
Mario—Huh.
Eva—… and I've been here sixteen years. (Laughs)
Mario—See, I love that! That you fell into it and then, well, clearly you fell in love with it, after that.
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—'Kay, I [pronounced "Kya"] get the same thing 'cause I—, people always say— or they--, they expect you… Don't you find that people expect, like, "So, as a kid, you must have been a born…
Eva—Yes!
Mario—...performer and you always wanted…" I--, I never want—, I never was one of those kids when I hear these actors…
Eva—You started early!
Mario— ...in these interviews… I started early but I, too, fell into it.
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—I wasn't like that little kid that said, 'Hey mom, I wanna be on TV!'
Eva—No. You, you…
Mario—I was.....
Eva—Your mom wanted to occupy your time.
Mario—My mom kept me busy 'cause we lived…
Eva—In the barrio.
Mario—…in Chula Vista and it was the, the barrio right there…
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—…so, just to keep me out of gangs and in trouble…
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—…out of trouble, she put me in activities
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—It was, like, one of those
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—and boom!
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—I fell into—. although, I—, I—, clearly I was a kid and…
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—…and, uh, once I was into it…
Eva—Well also, like, with me growing up, we had three channels on a small black-and-white TV. Even when color TVs were available, my dad just was so cheap.
Mario—Yeah. (laughs)
Eva—And uh—, and so I didn't grow up with role models of celebrities—like today! Today you're just, kind of, inundated with, you know, uh, all these—, all these images for kids to look up to…
Mario—Yeah.
Eva—…whether they're good images or not. I grew up with, you know, my family being my role models: my aunts, my ma. I come from a strong family of women.
Mario—Yeah.
Eva—So, I never… We didn't watch movie(s)—, I think the first time I saw a movie I was seventeen. You know, that we went to the movies—again, because my dad was very cheap.
Mario—Yeah.
Eva—Uh, and so…and it was expensive to go to the movies!
Mario—Yeah.
Eva—And I remember the first movie I saw was Rambo at the Dollar Cinemas. Like, it was, like, the old movies…
Mario—That's a good one!
Eva—Yeah! No, I was, like, I was---
Mario—Not for—, not for girls as much as the guys, it's a good one, but…(laughs)
Eva—Yeah! And I went there and I go, "This is stupid!"
Mario—Was it a date, or…?
Eva—No, no, no! My family. We went as a family.
Mario—Oh! It's a family--, Oh, you were in the family film…
Eva—Yes!
Mario— to see Rambo? (laughs)
Eva—Yes! Nobody's in that movie that I go, 'Oh, my God!...'
Mario—Right! Right!
Eva—'…I'd look up to!'
Mario—Right, or that's gonna…
Eva—Sylvester Stallone.
Mario—… inspire a thespian!
Eva— Yes. Yeah. Not really
Mario—Okay, so you're—, you decide you're gonna move to LA. Did you, uh, did you want to confer with your family? And what did they say when you told them? Did they think you were crazy?
Eva—No! You know my, my family, uh, I called my mom and I said, "I'm gonna stay. I'm gonna stay here. Send my boxes." And she goes, "What are you gonna do?" and I said, "Uh, I think I'm gonna try to become an actor." And she goes, "Okay. Well, you know you can get a job there because you have your degree." That was the only thing they wanted me to do…
Mario—Yeah.
Eva—…was make sure I got my college degree.
Mario—Yeah, 'cause that gives you a lot more…
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—…uh, wiggle room and stuff, to be able to fall back…
Eva—Yeah.
Mario—…or what have you.
Eva—I could work anywhere…
Mario—Right.
Eva—…really, and I'm saying what--, I'm outgoing, I'm personable, I was bilingual…and, you know, so it was, like, "Great! Sure! Let's do that." Um, so my mom wasn't concerned, 'cause of all her kids I'm the one who always lands on my feet. And so she was, like, "Okay! Um, just be careful." And, uh, and then I started to learn the craft. I did 'extra' work for two years. I mean, just wanted to be on a set, and wanted to learn the lingo, and what's a 'mark?', and what's 'check the gate?' and what's 'reloading?' and, I mean, what's the lighting, and…
Mario—Yeah.
Eva—I loved it!
Mario: Was there any Latinos on television? Not sports related just any that you saw on television that you were like "Hey, wow" you know. "There's one of me".
Mark: Well I mean, um, from Saved By the Bell, not even joking, when you were on that, that was pretty cool.
(Mario: Dude I'm not that old, dude! You're making me feel old...)
Mark: I used to watch it! I used to watch it.
Mario: You used to watch it?
Mark: Oh my God, yeah. Because it was on the re-runs by the time I was in school.
Mario: See, now I do sound old. Now I feel...
Mark: You're not that old. You're only like 41, right? No, um, that was cool to me.
Mario: Tight. I dig your fan-mail. How'd you like my curly mullet?
Mark: That was...pretty...inspiring but cheesy
Mario: Just like "Eye of the Tiger", inspiring and cheesy
Mark: It, It reminds me
Mario: If my mullet had a theme song it would be "Eye of the Tiger"
(Mark: It would probably be "Eye of the Tiger")
Mario: Did you ever rock a mullet?
Mark: I didn't. I had long curly hair but it never really...
Mario: You didn't reach mullet status?
Mark: My dad...my dad, oh man... he's so frugal, man. We... at one point, in second grade, he convinced me, with my brothers, both of my brothers helped, that it was a good idea to shave my head. Ok, and I have a weird shaped head. I kind of have a bump right here, and it just looks weird. And bigger ears. So...I grew into them fairly decently. So I don't want to talk about my ears but they, at the time, were huge and they convinced me in second grade, I remember the summer, they said "It's going to be so hot you should just cut your hair off." Like, "Oh yeah, that'd be cool." So I went to the barber and we did it. Well, then my dad bought clippers. So he just started doing it, just in the backyard, right? So then it just became this thing, and, before I knew it, I was a junior in high school and I was still shaving my head. And I was like, "Wait a second, I don't want to shave my head anymore. Why do I have to do this? You convinced me a long time ago, I'm done with this."
Mario: No maintenance, though.
Mark: That was it. I mean, probably saved thousands of dollars for my dad.
Mario: I love your passion for food, and that you love to cook, and you eat anything you don't gain any weight. What.....where did that come from?
Eva: My passion for food? Well....it came from necessity. I remember being five years old and I told my mom "I'm hungry" and she goes "well make something". That's really how...my...love of cooking started was...my mom was working a lot and so during the day we would all be home alone, me and my sisters, plus everyone in my family cooks. Everybody. And my aunt was a professional caterer so we used to work for her and so...
Mario: What was your favorite dish growing up that mom made?
Eva: Fideo (? sorry I don't know how to spell this)
Mario: I love fideo
Eva: Yeah, that's why I make it all the time
Mario: What's your favorite dish that you make now?
Eva: Tortilla soup
Mario: yeah, you make a good tortilla soup
Eva: I dooooo
Mario: And your guacamole
Eva: My guacamole
Mario: That's my favorite when you're making it right there
Mark Sanchez: Life lessons from Dad
Mario: Talk to us about your dad, there was some things I read, did he...about some drills. Did he make you do certain drills with basketball and arithmetic and stuff?
Mark: He did a ton. So...third or fourth grade or whatever you're learning your multiplication tables and division stuff, addition, subtraction, whatever it is. You're spelling words, and so I'd go and I'd practice and he'd just take the ball and either he'd throw it on the other side of the yard and start over...it's like...why would you do that but now you know how to handle distractions and whatever.
Mario: yeah
Mark: Well he would do it and he would just take the ball and he'd say...you know..."5x3"....uhhh 15..."ok"....uhhhh "spell whatever your word is this week, whatever the words are" "talk to me about your book report"....you know
Mario: Dude, I don't think they do that as an adult
Mark: I was like "whoa"...its just...all I knew.
Mrio: well it paid off man
Mark: After school...oh this is a good one too...after school we'd get in the car and he'd say
"how was school?"
"Good"
"What'd you do?"
"Nothing"
"what'd you learn"
"Nothing"
"Alright....alright...start over"
"what'd you learn?" boom and I'd take him through the whole day.
"What'd you do at recess?" I'd take him through the whole day. And he'd say "Ok tell me everything again and you can't say like and you can't say umm"
Mario: oooohh, that's tough, and as a kid
Mark: It's so hard! You know its hard to do now. I mean talking to the media now, there's 40, 50 people. I've done it before it's not hard anymore and It was just habit and so....he created it.
Eva Longoria: Passion for a cause
Mario: Were you concerned that....being so....politically affiliated with a certain party that...you're going to alienate a lot of yours....and...
Eva: of my fans?
Mario: Yeah
Eva: Yeah...no
Mario: That it might not be good for business
Eva: uh...I...that thought has crossed my mind because I'm very vocal about my stance...but...sometimes there are things more important then you. That you're fighting for....so...I'd rather fight for women's rights to have access to healthcare then....you go see my movie. I'd rather fight for Latinos to have access to higher education then for you to see my TV show. I just think there's some things you have to sacrifice in order to move....move the ball forward for us as a community.
Mark Sanchez: Passion for a cause
Mario: You're also involved in uh...a lot of charity work and raised a lot of money for juvenile diabetes. Why that cause in particular?
Mark: uhhh...my uhh...my uhh...grandmother had diabetes umm....and lost both of her legs at one point and then passed away ummm....so its something that was in our family. My grandfather on my mothers side also had diabetes so....it was uhh...something that was close to my heart...something that ummm...affects a lot of Hispanics here in the United States so that was umm...that was important to me and their cause for JDRF is to catch it early. To see the early signs and to help these youngsters....you know...monitor their sugar intake....monitor their diet so that they don't put themselves at risk when it's already a high risk situation.
Announcement: Mario Lopez. One on one. All new celebrities, coming soon, only on NuVo tv.
