Eva Longoria Says She Was the ‘Ugly Ducking’ of Her Family, Relied on Being ‘Funny’ and ‘Smart’ Instead

Longoria, who recently rang in her 50th birthday, told Today, in an interview published Sunday, that she relied on being “funny” and “smart” because she was the “ugly duckling” in her family.

“I was performative in my family because I was the ugly duckling. Documentation is available if you need it,” quipped Longoria, who grew up the youngest of four daughters. “My three sisters look alike. They are all blonde. I knew I wasn’t the pretty one and I was like, ‘OK, I’m not the pretty one so I’m going to be the funny one. I’m going to be the smart one.'”

Raised on a ranch in Texas, Longoria and her sisters grew up with chickens and milking cows.

“We had to go get the eggs in the morning. We had to milk the cow for the milk that was going to go in the coffee and in our cereal,” she recalled.

And while she says she was the “ugly duckling” in her family as a child, Longoria would go on to win a beauty pageant, using part of the scholarship money she won to fund her schooling at Texas A&M, where she earned a degree in kinesiology.

It wasn’t long after that she found herself in Los Angeles, and eventually Hollywood.

“I land in Hollywood and I don’t know what happened. I just was like, ‘I think I’m going to be an actor,'” Longoria told Today.

Longoria would go on to star in small roles on shows like Beverly Hills, 90210 and General Hospital before landing a series regular gig as Isabella in the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless.

But it was Desperate Housewives that helped skyrocket Longoria to fame, making her character Gabby a household name not long after its premiere in 2004.

“By the time I got Desperate Housewives, I remember when it aired, and I was like, ‘Mom, you gotta watch, it’s called Desperate Housewives,'” she recalled. “She watches and she calls me afterwards, she goes, ‘Honey you were in it a lot.’ I go, ‘Yeah mom, I’m one of the stars.’ And she goes, ‘Are you going to be in it next week?’ [I go], ‘Mom I’m going to be on every week.’ It was a big adjustment for everybody around me, but not me.”

The 50-year-old actress has gone on to star in several films and TV shows since Desperate Housewives aired its series finale 2012, even transitioning to producing and directing.

Her most recent role, however, sees her back in front of the camera for the film Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip, which is set to be released on Friday, March 28.

“I loved the idea of doing a movie that my son can watch and that I can watch with him,” Longoria said of her 6-year-old son, Santiago, whom she shares with husband José Bastón. “It’s really a fun road trip movie but with a family and it just happens to be a Latino family. A lot of times when we are on TV and film as Latinos, it’s about our trauma. It’s about our struggle or identity.”

She continued, “So to be able to be in a movie that lives in joy and lives in family and lives in a different space then we normally see, I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do. Sign me up.'”