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" When it comes to being strong and sexy at the same time, few nail that combo as well as Eva Mendes. As the actress strides into her favorite Los Angeles bistro, she looks more like a public relations executive settling in for a power lunch than an actress sitting down for an interview. She&amp;#039;s wearing a beige cashmere sweater dress with a taupe-colored cardigan and knee-high boots, and her hair is carefully pulled back in an elegant twist. Calm and composed, she could be described as direct, no-nonsense, confident. Truth be told, Eva would probably come across as a bit of a ball-buster if it weren&amp;#039;t for her sultry features \u2014 the mole, the pillowy lips, the ever-smoky eyes, the amazing curves.  And by the way, that arresting beauty took some time for her to get used to. Growing up in Los Angeles, the youngest child of Cuban immigrants who divorced when Eva was 10, she desperately wanted to look like everyone else. In fact, it wasn&amp;#039;t until she was attending Cal State Northridge that she began to realize she might have something special. It all started when a photographer neighbor snapped pictures of her that grabbed the attention of a manager. She began auditioning for TV commercials and films and taking acting classes, eventually landing parts in such forgettable films as 1998&amp;#039;s Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and 2000&amp;#039;s Urban Legends: Final Cut. But it was her role as Denzel Washington&amp;#039;s smokin&amp;#039; hot love interest in the gritty 2001 cop thriller Training Day that raised her profile and led to roles in 2 Fast 2 Furious, Stuck on You, and her career-making hit, Hitch.  There are plenty of things that make Eva (pronounced with a soft E, like Evan) Fun Fearless Female material. For starters, she worked her butt off to get to the top (this month, she stars as Nicolas Cage&amp;#039;s girlfriend in the comic-book epic Ghost Rider). Even more impressive, the face of Revlon exhibits a take-me-or-leave-me self-acceptance that&amp;#039;s rare in Hollywood...or anywhere for that matter. She&amp;#039;s refreshingly candid and so cool, which you&amp;#039;re about to find out for yourself.   How does it feel to be named Fun Fearless Female of the Year? I love it! I think it&amp;#039;s a major compliment. I love the idea of fun and fearless together. What two greater things could I be? Any of my friends will tell you that those are the two adjectives I&amp;#039;d love to use to describe myself.  You&amp;#039;ve been with your live-in boyfriend for several years. Is marriage in the cards? I don&amp;#039;t believe in the institution of marriage, for me. If you love somebody and have a commitment that is strong and spiritual, then I just don&amp;#039;t think a piece of paper makes any difference. I&amp;#039;m part of that whole school of thought that says when homosexuals can get married, maybe I&amp;#039;ll start opening my mind to it.  Recently, tabloids linked you to Joaquin Phoenix. In 2003 and 2004, there were rumors you were dating Matt Damon. How do you and your boyfriend deal with the fishbowl aspect of fame? I&amp;#039;m in a committed relationship, which I don&amp;#039;t talk about, so people make up things. None of it has ever been true, so I \u2014 or we \u2014 don&amp;#039;t have to deal with it. It&amp;#039;s more of an embarrassment in terms of my family. I have to make that phone call where I go &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not true. Don&amp;#039;t worry.&amp;quot; And it&amp;#039;s not only boy stuff that&amp;#039;s made up. I read that Eva Longoria and I have slumber parties. That&amp;#039;s sweet, but so not true. I&amp;#039;ve talked to her maybe twice \u2014 she&amp;#039;s a lovely girl, but it&amp;#039;s not like we&amp;#039;re hanging out all the time.  What kind of guys do you tend to like? I&amp;#039;m not the sharpest tool in the shed, so I look for the sharpest tool. I like guys who are well-read, are up on current affairs, and know about architecture and art. That to me is such a turn-on. I tend to like a mysterious guy, a quiet type who stares at you so that you&amp;#039;re going, What is he thinking? Does he want to kill me or take me home? I don&amp;#039;t have a physical type. My boyfriends have been all colors, shapes, and types, but they&amp;#039;re all brainy with an artistic edge. If they play guitar, that doesn&amp;#039;t hurt \u2014 but it&amp;#039;s not a deal breaker if they don&amp;#039;t.  Are you a romantic? I&amp;#039;m an unconventional romantic. Don&amp;#039;t dare send me flowers on Valentine&amp;#039;s Day, because that&amp;#039;s falling for a Hallmark day. What I love are little notes, romantic secrets, and rendezvous. I&amp;#039;m not a cynic about love. I love being in love.   Are you a homebody, or do you like to go out? Stepping out is only something I do for work. I don&amp;#039;t like to go out to clubs, but I do love restaurants and dive bars. I&amp;#039;m the kind of girl who likes staying home and snuggling, having dinner, listening to great music, and having the fireplace going. And I&amp;#039;m the world&amp;#039;s best spooner. I lock in and won&amp;#039;t let go...like spoon lockdown. I love having friends over to play games like Pictionary, but it&amp;#039;s almost not fun to play with me. I either win or the killer in me comes out.  What&amp;#039;s the best piece of dating advice you give to your girlfriends? Be as honest as you can up front because he&amp;#039;s going to find out anyway. So just cut to the chase. Show your cards on the first date. It can be scary, but that&amp;#039;s the way I operate. I&amp;#039;m fun and fearless, right?  How would you describe your style? My style is easy and simple. I don&amp;#039;t wear short things. As for cleavage, I&amp;#039;ll bring the girls out at certain times, but I don&amp;#039;t parade them too often. I like to keep them for special occasions. I&amp;#039;m working with a stylist now, but my big thing is not looking like a stylist put me together. A lot of the young girls in Hollywood look great, but they&amp;#039;re too well put-together for my taste. I don&amp;#039;t buy that they just happened to run out of the house looking like that.  What makes you feel sexy? Being in love and getting a great blowout.   You have a hot\u2014but real\u2014bod. What do you do to keep it that way? I work out with a trainer three days a week, and we do 30 to 45 minutes of cardio and then very light weight training. On another day, I&amp;#039;ll go on a great hiking trail. I don&amp;#039;t own a scale\u2014I fluctuate 5 to 7 pounds and don&amp;#039;t worry about it. I have thinner size jeans, which are 27s, but I also have 28s for when I&amp;#039;m a little more voluptuous. Then I have 29s, which are totally me...very womanly. I don&amp;#039;t allow myself to go any lower than 27 or any higher than 29 -- it&amp;#039;s the Jean Diet. I&amp;#039;ve learned to love my body whether I&amp;#039;m 7 pounds heavier or 7 pounds lighter. I&amp;#039;m accepting of my body and have a good relationship with it.. What&amp;#039;s the most embarrassing thing that&amp;#039;s ever happened to you? Before I started filming The Wendell Baker Story with Luke and Owen Wilson, the three of us and a few others took a boat out for the day. As I was getting out of the boat, Luke put out his hand like a gentleman to help me. But I was like &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve got it&amp;quot; -- all self-assured. But then I flew up in the air and landed on my back. I went into this crazy, maniacal laugh because I was embarrassed. I do that stuff a lot. Anytime I&amp;#039;m trying to be sexy, my heel will break or something. So many actresses are branching out into musicor fashion or opening restaurants\u2026.Do you have any of those aspirations? Yes. Some things are beginning to percolate, but I&amp;#039;m a big believer in not counting your chickens before they hatch. I don&amp;#039;t see myself putting out a CD though. We have enough actor-singers out there. I was just in China and had a blast doing karaoke. I was that annoying girl who kept taking the mike from everyone. I sang everything from Elton John to Frank Sinatra to Axl Rose. The next day, when I watched the video a friend took of it, I said, &amp;quot;Oh, no! I thought I sounded good. What happened?&amp;quot; I can&amp;#039;t sing, so I won&amp;#039;t put you guys through that. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/news/a1710/eva-mendes/?click=rel>