Eva Mendes Says Her 'Ambition' to Act Is Coming Back

Eva Mendes at the New York & Company Fall 2018 Holiday runway show in LA on Sept. 13
Donato Sardella/Getty Images

The actress hasn't appeared in a film since 2014.

The acting bug seems to have come back around for Eva Mendes. The Hitch star opened up about her hiatus from acting in a new interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, sharing that her ambition is "coming back" now that her kids are a little older. 

Mendes, who shares 6-year-old daughter Esmeralda and 4-year-old daughter Amada with Ryan Gosling, hasn't starred in a film since 2014. "I feel like, as far as my ambition, it didn’t go away, it just shifted onto the children," she said in the interview, which also promoted an upcoming event for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, a charity that helped support her cousin’s family during a time of need.

"I applaud and look up to those women who can do it all, but I'm not one of them," she explained. "Thankfully, I have a choice not to work and I realize how fortunate I am that it's even a choice. I've been so happy to be able to incubate with my babies, but now they are four and six, I'm starting to feel like my ambition is coming back."

Mendes, 46, added that life amid the coronavirus pandemic has been all about kids for her Gosling, 39. 

"Sometimes it feels like we are running some kind of bed-and-breakfast with very drunk and aggressive guests," she joked. "We really do feel like we are working in a hotel, and the guests are angry and bossy and demand food brought to them. And by the time they go to sleep, we’re left to just clean up and talk about how they’ve treated us that day!"

"When we feel like we’re just ‘in it,’ like all parents do during these times, we remind ourselves that these are the good times, because we’re all together and we’re all safe right now," she added. 

In an interview with ET earlier this year, Mendes said there was one type of role she'd consider returning to acting for. 

"I'm basically like, 'Disney, I'm all yours, Disney,'" she said, explaining that she's more "extreme" about the roles she takes on as a mom. 

See more in the video below. 

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