Salma Hayek Net Worth

How much is Salma Hayek worth?

About Salma Hayek

Many people don’t realize that Mexican actress Salma Hayek’s paternal grandparent, Elias Hayek Labahi was of Lebanese descent. Salma’s mother is of Mexican / Spanish descent but Salma is also substantially Lebanese. Salma is fluent in Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and English. The name “Salma” is from the Arabic, it means “peace” or “calm”.

The blended ancestry has resulted in a unique fiery but also striking look that has been admired for decades, and even today, Hayek is routinely considered as one of the most beautiful women alive over 50. She has been recognized for her beauty since 1996, when People magazine chose her as one of their “50 Most Beautiful People in the World”. In 2001, she was ranked #8 of the “100 Sexiest Women” by FHM.

From an early age, Salma Hayek always wanted to be an actress. Ever since having seen the 1971 film, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in a local movie theater in Veracruz, Mexico. She was raised in a wealthy, devout Catholic family. Her father, Sami Hayek Dominguez, worked as an oil company executive and today is a company chief and the proprietor of an industrial tools firm. Her mother, Diana Jiménez Medina, is an opera singer. At age 12, Salma was sent to a boarding school in Grand Coteau, Louisiana but was soon sent home after getting into trouble with the nuns.

She later studied international relations and drama at the prestigious Universidad Iberoamericana, in Mexico City, Mexico, before studying drama at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City. Then, in 1988, Salma appeared as the role of Fabiola in Mexican TV series, Un nuevo amanecer and won “Best Newcomer” at the Novela Awards in 1989 for her performance. She continued in the role for 80 episodes and when it came to an end, in 1989, she was already appearing in the lead role of Teresa.

Her role as Teresa was incredibly successful and it had already made her a TV star in Mexico, while still in her early 20s. However, she was increasingly focused on becoming a movie star and did not want to be typecast as a TV actress. When she left Teresa after 125 episodes, rumors spread that it was because she was having an affair with Mexico’s president and that his wife had found out and now she needed to leave the country. Despite the fanfare, Salma landed in California safe and sound and made her way to Hollywood.

She appeared in a few sporadic TV series in the United States but struggled at first to shake off stereotypes that Latina actresses carried. Often being portrayed as mistress maids or local prostitutes. She was cast in Street Justice (1991), Sinbad (1993), Nurses (1991), and as a sexy maid on Dream On (1990). Fortunately, Salma’s headstrong approach to Hollywood paid off.

It turns out, that Robert Rodriguez and his wife had auspiciously seen Hayak in one of her early roles. Instantly liking her performance, Rodriguez gave her the role of Carolina, in the 1995 cult classic Desperado. It was a major turning point for Hayek as she began to build recognition for not only her beauty, but also her acting talent. A year later, impressed by her work, Rodriguez cast her again in the cult classic From Dusk Till Dawn. Then in 1997, she appeared in the role as Isabel in Fools Rush In. This picture put her opposite Matthew Perry, who was already popular from the hit TV show, Friends. She also appeared in the 1997 film, Breaking Up co-starring an unknown Australia actor called Russell Crowe. Two years later she appeared in the major blockbuster, Wild Wild West.

That same year of 1999, Hayek founded her production company, Ventanarosa, and produced the Mexican feature film No One Writes to the Colonel. The film was met with critical acclaim in Mexico and was entered as Mexico’s official Oscar entry for “Best Foreign Film”. Entering the new millennium, Hayek was already a stand out name in Hollywood but she was about to become far more famous. After appearing as Frida Kahlo in a biographical drama about the life of the surrealist Mexican artist, Hayek became the second Latin American actress to be nominated for “Best Actress in a Leading Role”.

In 2006, she appeared in Bandidas co-starring her famous lookalike and friend, Penélope Cruz, and then on March 8, 2007, Hayek’s engagement was announced to mega billionaire François-Henri Pinault. Pinault is a French businessman and has served as the chairman and CEO of Kering since 2005, a French-based multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods. The engagement made major news and headlines around the world, and people were saddened, especially in Mexico, when the engagement was called off in July 2008. Then, in 2009, it was reported that the couple had married in a secret ceremony on Valentine’s Day in the city hall of the Second Arrondissement in Paris.

Salma was suddenly launched into a new life of extreme wealth and also became stepmother to Pinault’s three children, François, Mathilde and Augustin James Evangelista. Since then, Hayek has continued with her acting work and still also producers through her production company, Ventanarosa. In July 2020, her production company signed a two-year first-look deal with HBO Max.

Hayek’s Total Net Worth

Hayek has not only earned tremendous amounts since the early 2000s as a film actress, and as a producer, but also from her endorsement deals. She has appeared in advertisements for Revlon since 1998 and she has modeled for Lincoln, Chopard and Campari. She has been an ambassador of American British multinational personal care company, Avon Products, since early 2004.

In 2008, Hayek co-founded Cooler Cleanse, a detox company that delivers juices to customers’ doors. “Cleansing is like my meditation,” Hayek has said and her face and trustworthiness behind the products have served to make the company profitable. She is in partnership with Juice Generation, a company that Forbes magazine reported had annual revenues of $30 million dollars in 2016.

In 2017, Hayek released her Blend It Yourself service adding to her company’s offerings. In 2011, she also released her line of cosmetics and associated products via CVS, called Nuance by Salma Hayek. In total, Salma Hayek has earned estimated total career income of $225 million dollars. That figure also includes her earnings from her companies but not her equity which will be factored in under her investment gains.

Of that amount, around $19-28 million is expected to have been paid in personal business related costs. The remainder, $201.5 million, will have been taxed at a rate of around 44% as Salma Hayek has been residing between Los Angeles, California, London, England and Paris France. After tax, it is estimated that her career earnings are at around $112.84 million dollars, having paid $88.66 million dollars in taxes.

Salma Hayek married François-Henri Pinault, in 2009. They have one child together, a daughter named Valentina Paloma Pinault who was born in 2007. They live a life of de facto royalty as François-Henri is one of the richest men in the world, not just in Europe. He has since inherited the family business and business has been good, he is worth in excess of $40 billion. Under Pinault’s leadership, the retail conglomerate PPR has been reimagined and transformed into the luxury fashion group Kering. Kering, is a French-based multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods. It owns the brands, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Volcom, Brioni and Puma, among others.

Not only has Salma Hayek invested her efforts into companies that have a positive impact on society, she is also involved in charitable work. Most notably, in campaigns for increasing awareness on violence against women as well as standing up against the discrimination of immigrants. Discrimination that she herself was subjected to when she first moved from Mexico to the United States.

Not only has she given of herself, she has also given donations. Including a $25,000 donation as far back as 2006 to a shelter for battered women in her hometown of Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. She had also made previous donations and became an ambassador of YouthAIDS, promoting the prevention of the spread of the disease in Guatemala in 2005. In 2013, alongside Beyoncé and Frida Giannini, as part of a Gucci campaign called “Chime for Change”, the famous celebrities promoted gender equality.

In her personal life, Salma has likely spent $4-9 million dollars of her career earnings, including her donations. In her investments, she may have earned investment returns of around $49-65 million dollars. That is, as her profits from her companies derived from dividends and salaries has already been accounted for under her career income. Her investment returns include her share value in the companies that she has founded and are being calculated after having deducted the investment principle, losses and other expenses, including legal fees. The figure also includes growth from her investments in securities, including stocks and bonds. Therefore, it is estimated that Salma Hayek has a net worth of around $165 million dollars.

Summing-Up

Salma Hayek’s success came early in Mexico after being cast as the lead in Teresa. However, reality set in when she relocated to America in a time of major discrimination against women in the industry, let alone Latin women trying to make it in show business. Through her personal inner strength Hayek carried on, until she was discovered by Robert Rodriguez. Despite minor setbacks, Salma triumphed all, and by the 2003 Academy Awards, she was nominated for “Best Actress in a Leading Role”.

What would happen next however was to the world’s surprise, and indeed her own. She met and married François-Henri Pinault who, while at the time not nearly as rich as he is today, was already positioned to become one of the wealthiest people in the world. Never mind the money, Hayek continued to act and also help others as she previously had done. Today, she is heralded both as an actress and as an influential person in the world. She received her Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021.