Sure, there was hysteria and wisteria in equal measures on Desperate Housewives, but there's more to the actor behind Gabbie Solis than you'd suspect. And it's hard to imagine but there was a time she and her flatmate, both struggling actors, would steal food and toilet paper from the set to take home! IAN HORNER spoke to Eva Longoria during her whirlwind visit to Sydney to make a spectacle of herself.
Gabrielle Solis, the spoilt former model of Wisteria Lane, expected a new sports car just for doing the dishes. Getting her hands dirty wasn't something she did regularly, unless it was with the young gardener when her husband was at work.
And not many hedges were being trimmed.
Desperate Housewives is a pop culture landmark, and though the characters were all two-dimensional the satire was as cutting as it was funny.
But there's much more to Eva Longoria than you'd gather from watching manicured Gabbie Solis mince and pout her way from her husband Carlos, to their student gardener John, to . . . oh well, the list goes on.
These days Longoria divides her time between screen work –acting in movies (two or three a year) and regular TV spots and producing and directing her own follow-up to Desperate Housewives, called Devious Maids (now in its third season) –and being the public face and spokeswoman for political causes and commercial sponsorships (Lay's crisps, Sunrise sportswear, Heineken light beer, Dine cat food, L’Oréal makeup, hair and skin products, Hanes clothing, Magnum ice-cream, Microsoft, London Fog, Nuvo liquor).
Add to that list Specsavers which brought her to Sydney, briefly, to announce that she'll be the celebrity judge for their Spectacle Wearer of the Year national contest.
You're a passionate supporter of organic food, and not for reasons we'd expect.
Yep! Mostly from a farmworker's perspective. People eat organic because they don't want to ingest pesticides. Well, imagine people who work with those pesticides day in day out! They pick that food. So I definitely come at it from a labour standpoint.
Have you come across many people who've been harmed by working with these pesticides?
Oh, yes! One area of the work I do with my foundation is looking into the problems of farmworkers and I've seen children three-times more likely to get cancer and children who already have cancer and families who have a lot of health repercussions from these pesticides. A cycle happens, generation after generation, because in farmwork the cycle of poverty is not able to be broken and families don't have economic stability.
You visited farmers in Guatemala with wealthy conservationist Howard Buffett, son of the billionaire Warren Buffett.
Yeah, we went to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico –we go all over the world. We do a lot with United States farmworkers as well.
Howard and I partnered up on this because the big cause of the Buffett Foundation is food security. We go all over the world trying to say that each community is entitled to have sustainable food.
Honduras and El Salvador have native cacao trees – where chocolate comes from – and they're struggling with manufacturing and we're trying to revitalise their agriculture by updating their farming methods.
Does lending your celebrity name to a cause actually achieve something worthwhile?
Absolutely! I mean, the fact that two powerhouses like Howard and I can partner means you can get, you know, double the coverage. People who cover Howard don't cover me; people who cover me don't cover Howard [laughs]. So we're able to split the press and get the most good out of it.
How do you balance a career with activism?
Oh, easy. You use that career as your platform for your voice to put a spotlight on issues.
Have you ever had to say no to screen work because of your political beliefs?
Yeah, a couple times. I've read a lot of bogus scripts where the person immigrating is the villain, you know, or the bad person, and I say "You know, that's not how the people talk" and "There are a lot of amazing people crossing borders to, you know, hopefully, improve the status of the family back home."
I did a movie called Frontera [2014, with Ed Harris and Amy Madigan] and it was a border crossing drama and at first I said: "You know what? I don't want to be in this."
And my agent said to me: "No, no, no, you'll like this one!" So I read it and it was really so humanising to the people who crossed the border. And as I was making the movie I thought: "You know what? This is the message I wanna give!"
You've done a cooking book, Eva's Kitchen: Cooking with Love for Family and Friends (sample recipes here). One of our well-known Australian cooks, Donna Hay, told me: "Cooking is the best way to say I love you."
Yeah! Exactly. I completely agree with her. Cooking is a very intimate thing to share with family and friends and involves a great amount of judgement. You prepare something, you put it in front of somebody and you're waiting for them to say mmm, or yewww [laughs].
So yeah, it's definitely something I need to be doing. It's very, very therapeutic for me. It's a very personal way of serving somebody.
You haven't always been rich and famous. Is it true that in the beginning you actually stole fruit from the set to take home to eat and one of your flatmates stole the toilet paper?!
Yep! That is true. That's when we were doing extra work [laughs]. We were extras and we would go and steal the apples and bananas and put them in our bags so we could have food at home. [laughs]
Have you ever found the success of Desperate Housewives has straitjacketed you – professionally or personally?
No-oo. Nev-vahh. Oh, my God. It still runs all over the world. I talk about it every time I go to another country where it's still playing. It's, you know, it's made me and, you know, it's globally known and is still giving me all these amazing opportunities and here I find myself in Sydney and if I'm worth anything it's because of that show, yeah.
The characters on the show were satirical and two-dimensional. Are people ever surprised to find there's much more to you than that?
Oh, yeah! I think people do definitely get surprised when they meet me and they go oo-oh, there's more to her. [laughs] ❏
■ Specsavers contest details here. The winner gets a trip for two to LA to meet Eva Longoria on set plus spending money, $500 worth of L’Oréal product and a year's supply of Specsavers glasses. Eight Australian finalists get a trip for two to Sydney, including photo shoot and spec-style consultation plus $100 worth of L’Oréal product and two pairs of Specsavers glasses.
■ Read Ian's other interviews and reviews:
Judith Lucy for Ask No Questions of the Moth | 'The good news is last year was truly awful for me!' | VIDEOS, PHOTO
Stephan Elliott & Guy Pearce | 'They wouldn't let me make Priscilla today!' | VIDEOS, PHOTOS
Kylie Minogue concert review | On a night like this! | VIDEOS, PHOTOS
I'm a Celebrity Australia 2015 episode 23 recap | Barry Hall feasts on cockroaches, ostrich heart | PHOTOS
John Corbett for The Lookalike | Sex and the City wasn't just fluff! | VIDEOS, PHOTOS
I'm a Celebrity Australia 2015 episode 14 recap | Mad Merv sticks his head in a box of snakes | PHOTOS
Mardi Gras plays: Playing Rock Hudson | Between a Rock and a hard place | VIDEOS, PHOTOS
I'm a Celebrity Australia 2015 episode 5 recap | Barry Hall gets buried alive with rats! | VIDEO, PHOTOS
Mardi Gras plays: Gaybies | The kids are all right! | PHOTOS
Blu-ray & DVD reviews and giveaways | You can WIN these movies! NEW TITLES ADDED REGULARLY
Renée Geyer at The Basement | ‘I just do it, whether it’s a man’s world or not’ | VIDEO, PHOTOS
Jane Seymour for Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman | When no one believed a woman could win the west | VIDEO, PHOTOS
Director Atom Egoyan for Devil's Knot and The Captive | What did happen in the swamp that night? | VIDEO, PHOTOS
Donna Hay for 'the new easy' | Cooking is the best way to say 'I love you' | RECIPES, VIDEO, PHOTOS
Donna Hay winners | Here are our readers' kitchen disasters and triumphs | STORIES, PHOTOS
Sandra Bernhard for Sandyland | 'Being inhibited has never been an issue for me!' | VIDEO, PHOTOS
Guy Pearce for Broken Bones | Not another Neighbours star releasing an album?! | VIDEO, PHOTOS
Catherine Keener for War Story | Movie honours reporters at the frontline | VIDEO, PHOTOS
Kevin McCloud for Grand Designs Live home show now on in Sydney | INTERVIEW Kevin McCloud | AUDIO, PHOTOS
Peter Maddison for Grand Designs Live home show now on in Sydney | INTERVIEW Peter Maddison | VIDEOS, PHOTOS
Tom Skerritt for Picket Fences | Those awkward moments when fans say they love his stinkers! | VIDEO, AUDIO, PHOTOS
James Cromwell for Rupert: The human face of one of the world's most powerful men | VIDEO, AUDIO, PHOTOS
Anthony Callea for Ladies & Gentlemen, the Songs of George Michael | Ladies and gentlemen, Anthony Calles | VIDEO, PHOTOS
Masterplanned Housing Estates | Part 1 | The way we live has changed
Masterplanned Housing Estates | Part 2 | Problems solved, problems created VIEW THE SPECIAL VIDEO
Masterplanned Housing Estates | Part 3 | If estates are a turning point, what's next?
Alan Ruck for Spin City | Ferris Bueller's mate on the art of Spin
Ricky Martin meets his fans at Westfield Hurstville | Meeting the Voice
Greta Scacchi for The Last Impresario | 'He's so famous you've never heard of him'
Carlotta for the ABC movie Carlotta: He did it her way
Review of The Laramie Project | Murdered gay student's story powerfully brought to life
Joel Creasey for Rock God: Joel's a star – Joan Rivers said so
Kiri Te Kanawa for 70th birthday tour: From Downton Abbey to our Opera House, Kiri is just one of the dames
Boy George for King of Everything | King George – the Boy grows up
Danny Trejo for Machete Kills | 'I got Gaga her movie role with Gloria and me!'
Review of Privates on Parade | Parading your Privates
Review of Twists and Turns cabaret | Matthew Mitcham drops his dacks
Simon Vowles for Queens of the Outback | A frock and a rock hit town!
Nick Atkins for A Boy & A Bean: Jack, the giant killer
Matthew Mitcham for Twists and Turns cabaret | Matthew – all singing, all talking, all dancing!
Debbie Reynolds for Behind the Candelabra | What a glorious feelin’, I’m workin’ again
Lily Tomlin for Web Therapy | Lily caught in Phoebe's web!
Todd McKenney for Grease | Todd’s got chills, they’re multiplyin’
Matthew Rhys for The Scapegoat | Seeing double – and the Walkers' wine was real!
Casey Donovan for Mama Cass tribute: Casey has found her own idol
Amanda Muggleton for The Book Club: A book club for those who'd rather laugh than read!
Rachel Griffiths for Magazine Wars | We owe a big debt to Ita and Dulcie
Simon Burke for Mrs Warren’s Profession | A timeless take on the oldest profession
Ellen's mum, Betty DeGeneres on marriage equality | Not supporting gay marriage is bullying
Amanda Muggleton for Torch Song Trilogy | Amanda returns to the spotlight
Matthew Mitcham for Twists and Turns book | He couldn't believe it would last – it didn't