Why Eva Mendes Stopped Acting: Everything She's Said About Her Family with Ryan Gosling & How She's Still Working

Eva Mendes hasn’t appeared in a movie since 2014′s Lost River, which was the directorial debut of her partner Ryan Gosling, and we’re looking back on all of her comments about why she stopped acting.

The 52-year-old actress met Ryan while starring in the 2012 movie The Place Beyond the Pines and she soon settled down into family with with him. They share two daughters, born in 2014 and 2016.

While Eva hasn’t been acting, she hasn’t necessarily stopped working.

Keep reading to find out more…

In addition to being a full-time mom, Eva has kept busy with her Eva by Eva Mendes fashion line sold at New York & Company and she has also written a children’s book.

Throughout her promo campaigns for these projects over the years, Eva has been asked about her paused acting career many times.

SEPTEMBER 2018:
“I’m just so obsessed with my kids that I don’t want to leave them,” Eva told E! News when asked if she plans on getting back to acting. “They’re just still so little.”

“I don’t feel like I have it balanced at all. I kind of have been figuring it out as I’m going along and it’s just important to have a support system,” Eva continued. “I have my family, I have Ryan’s family and that’s just like, invaluable to have family around supporting you.”

JANUARY 2020:
In response to a fan comment on Instagram asking when she’ll be in a movie again, Eva wrote, “hi! When there’s something worthwhile to be apart of. As a mother now, there are many roles I won’t do. There are many subject matters that I don’t want to be involved with, so it limits my choices and I’m fine with that. I have to set an example for my girls now. But no worry, I got some side hustles. Ha! Thanks for asking. All the best for 2020.”

OCTOBER 2020:
Eva talked to Sydney Morning Herald about leaving the world of Hollywood when she became a mother and how she might be ready to return.

“I feel like, as far as my ambition, it didn’t go away, it just shifted onto the children,” she said. “I applaud and look up to those women who can do it all, but I’m not one of them – and, 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.”

MAY 2022:
Inquiring about the projects that would pull her back into the business, Eva told the hosts of The View that she has “such a short list of what I will do, with…kids.” She added, “If it was a fun project. But now I won’t do violence, I don’t want to do sexuality, the list is short.”

SEPTEMBER 2022:
“I don’t really miss it,” Eva told Variety. The former scene-stealer explained why she moved on from the industry.

“I got tired fighting for the good roles,” she said. “There just was a point where I thought, ‘I’m going to create my own opportunities and become a producer on things and create my own material,’ but it just didn’t feel worth it to me.”

Eva added that the industry has changed since she was working. “There are more opportunities for Latina actresses now, but when I bowed out 10 years ago I wasn’t being offered things that weren’t specifically Latina,” she said. “It is exciting that things are different now, so who knows what I will do in the future. But right now, I’m keeping it in the home with my kids.”

OCTOBER 2022:
“I never quit acting,” she wrote on Instagram. “I wanted to be home with my babies and fortunately my other business ventures allowed me to do that more than acting would.”

She further explained that opportunities offered to her were lackluster: “Also, I was not excited about the stereotypical roles being offered to me at the time. Especially after working on the film LOST RIVER -that was a dream project. That’s a tough act to follow.”

NOVEMBER 2022:
While speaking on the Fitzy & Wippa radio show in Australia, Eva explained what could get her back into acting.

“Yeah, well, for a great role, I was just, you know… I took time off to be with the kids, because they were just so little. Now they’re six and our older one just turned eight. But it’s also because, you know, can I say a bad word? It was some pretty sh**** roles being offered to me and I was sick of taking them,” Eva said.

She continued, “I was sick of it, you know what, it’s not worth it. You know, if I’m going to go away for a few months and be you know, it better be something that’s damn good.”

Eva was asked about reading the bad scripts and if there’s ever one page in a script that makes up her mind about the project.

“Sometimes there’s a page. If the character is introduced, and you know what I mean? Sometimes it’s a page, but I usually try to give it the full, but sometimes halfway through, you’re just like, I’ll never, I’ll never do this,” she said.

MARCH 2024:
Eva once again opened up about her decision to leaving the acting world behind and why it was a “no brainer” for her.

“It was like a no-brainer,” she said during an appearance on the Today show. “I’m so lucky if I could have this time with my children.” A reason she doesn’t prefer to act is that it “takes you on location. It takes you away.”

“It was almost just like a non-verbal agreement that it was like, ‘Ok, he’s going to work and I’m going to work. I’m just going to work here,’” Eva shared. “He went and he did his job. He just happens to be really good at his job. And he did it and he came home.”

Check out what Eva recently said in response to beauty treatments and procedures.