Eva Mendes Nude Gamble: "I Took A Big Risk. I Went Full-Frontal - And Back"

Fame came quickly, rocketing her from B-movie actress via mostly forgettable TV shows to an eye-catching breakthrough part in the gritty cop drama Training Day, opposite an Oscar-winning performance from Denzel Washington as a rogue detective. She agonised before taking the role of his wife, because she only had two scenes and for one of them she had to be nude - potentially the kiss of death for a young actress with ambitions for a serious career. "I put myself out there for that part, emotionally and physically," she recalls. "Going nude is a really big deal for Americans - even more so when you are trying to become established and you are doing it for a film that you have only two scenes in." "I took a big risk. I went full-frontal - and back! Afterwards I was like, 'Did I do the right thing?'" "But the reaction was very positive. And I realised that if you put yourself out there people will respond. That was the payoff. But it could have gone the other way. What's weird," she adds, ... (link)