Source: Arnold Jerocki / Getty
Eva Longoria’s celebrating a big birthday today, as she turns 50 years old.
The actress became a Hollywood mainstay in the early aughts, and it all began with a series of regular roles in the soap opera The Young and the Restless. But after three years, she left the CBS production, and months later, she became a household name as she starred as one of the leading ladies in Desperate Housewives. She played the character of Gabrielle Solis for the series’ entire eight-year run of nearly 200 episodes.
Since then, she’s bounced around on other network shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Lip Sync Battle, Only Murders in the Building, and even Empire.
But outside of acting, she is even a part of the NWSL‘s Angel City FC soccer team. But that pales in comparison to her passion for Philanthropy. It began with her ‘Eva’s Heroes charity that she started in 2006, which helps developmentally disabled young adults, as well as her ‘Eva Longoria Foundation,’ which aims to close the education gap plaguing Latinas, and helped produce The Harvest, a documentary shedding light on the dangers of child labor.
Her social justice efforts have even led her to dabble in politics, which began with her enrolling in a political science Master’s program at Cal State University. She eventually became co-chair of Barack Obama‘s 2012 reelection campaign and has fought for everyone to register to vote.
But all that fame and influence likely dates back to her role as Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives as the sexy former model who soon became the show’s favorite housewife.
But Longoria is still surprised by how much people were attracted to her in that role. In 2023, she told ET Online exactly where she gained that confidence.
“For me? The ugly duckling,” she said. “I did not identify as a beauty growing up and so I don’t have a very healthy relationship with it because it didn’t define me. When people are like, ‘You know you’re sexy and beautiful and you’re on this list,’ I’m like, ‘Bring it, yes, yes.'”
So, in honor of her birthday, we’re looking back at some of her sexiest Instagram moments, which prove she’s aging like fine wine.
Take a look at the gallery below.