DIVING RIGHT IN EVA MENDES WON'T LET HER DECIDEDLY DIFFERENT LOOK - OR HER 'HITCH' DIP IN THE HUDSON - SLOW HER DOWN.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

Her first leading role, in the romantic comedy ``Hitch,'' was a real kick in the head for Eva Mendes.

Literally.

``It was the Hudson (River) - that was me going in,'' the 28-year-old actress proudly chuckles about the film's key comic scene, in which Will Smith's slick New York ``date doctor'' blows his first outing with the woman of his own dreams by accidentally knocking her off a Jet Ski.

``And I really loved getting kicked in the head, I have to say. Obviously, it was a stunt, so I didn't really get kicked, but I had to sell that. When I went down, I had this look on my face that was almost like a cartoon look, with stars circling above my head and everything.''

There were something like nine takes of the scene.

``I'm still concerned,'' Mendes says, laughing harder now. ``What's gonna pop up? What's kind of simmering? What kind of rash is gonna break out? So far, no symptoms. But the water's just black, practically, and I was so scared. And this'll really show my immaturity: Of course, there aren't sharks in the Hudson, but at the time I was having 'Jaws' flashbacks from when I was a little girl.''

If you've gotten the impression that Eva Mendes doesn't take this whole glamorous movie star thing too seriously, you're right.

``We had to find somebody who was as charming, sexy and funny as Will is,'' says ``Hitch'' director Andy Tennant (``Ever After,'' ``Sweet Home Alabama''). ``Which is pretty hard to find in a man or a woman. Eva is one of those gals who has that wonderful quality and also doesn't take herself too seriously, which this movie doesn't do.''

That's only half the picture, though. If it hadn't been for her happy-go- lucky attitude, Mendes might never have gotten into show business. But since she has, the Miami-born, L.A.-raised Mendes has managed her career carefully and studied acting religiously (with noted coach Ivana Chubbuck).

Which was more than could be said of her academic career at California State University, Northridge.

``My gosh, I think it was marketing, communications ... one of those,'' Mendes sort of recalls about her college field of study. ``I was kind of, like, eeny meeny miney mo-ing it. It was terrible, but my heart just wasn't into school at that point. I'm just glad that I found something that I could put my heart into.''

That happened after a neighborhood photographer spotted Mendes at a yard sale. The resulting pictures made their way to a high-powered manager, and soon Mendes was making an auspicious acting debut in, um, ``Children of the Corn V.''

Within a few years, however, the actress was keeping much better company: with Denzel Washington in ``Training Day'' and ``Out of Time,'' Johnny Depp in Robert Rodriguez's cult favorite ``Once Upon a Time in Mexico,'' and Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear in the Farrelly brothers' ``Stuck on You.''

Mendes credits some of her relatively quick success to a look that turns heads - although not in the way that most aspiring young actresses bank on.

``Maybe looking different from the rest has helped me. I'm not your average-looking girl. I don't mean that as far as beauty is concerned. I mean it, like, in a town where everybody looks so perfect, I'm definitely not your perfect girl. I've got buck teeth and big crooked lips ... I think I've got a quirkier kind of beauty, and it's helped me.

``And I don't care. I really don't care about what people think of me. I'm very confident that I'm a good person, and I work hard at my craft, and I think that comes across. I'm not constantly searching for approval, and I think that makes me different from a lot of other girls that are very desperate out here.''

Believe what you want to believe, Eva. But Revlon kind of settled the matter when the cosmetics company hired Mendes as a spokesmodel, putting her on a roster of classic beauties that includes Halle Berry, Julianne Moore, Susan Sarandon and Kate Bosworth.

It's not something she looks at frivolously.

``I modeled a little bit before, but I just didn't like it. But Revlon, to me, it's not modeling. I'm a spokesperson for this amazing company that does so much for women; not only making us beautiful on the outside, but raising so much money for women's cancer research. I take great pride in that; that means a lot to me.

``And I think it's great that we're representing all these different kinds of women, because we're all beautiful - and we all need to be represented. What happens a lot of times, in films and in other makeup campaigns, only a certain woman is represented, and I think it's unfair.''

That said, Mendes is wary of placing too much public emphasis on her ethnicity. A Cuban-American, the actress is no fan of Havana's Communist regime. When informed that the cigar-centric island nation has just banned smoking in public places, she says in an icy, sarcastic tone, ``Well, they've banned everything else. Why not smoking? It's a prison cell, so ...'' But Mendes also says that she doesn't get involved with anti-Castro activism, either.

As for the standard complaints of Latina actors in Hollywood, you won't hear any of them from Mendes.

``I have no problem playing a maid or a prostitute if it's a great role. There's nothing I'm steering away from, I'm just going toward great work. I'm very proud of being Latin, but I don't always want to make it the topic of my work or conversation, because I think it's secondary, you know?''

Back to that work. Mendes was a bit restricted when it came to researching her ``Hitch'' role, that of tabloid gossip columnist Sara Melas. That was partly by personal choice and partially because, well, if you were a rising young actress, would you hang around those people?

``No, I didn't feel comfortable about that. But I did do a lot of reading on them. It's still not my favorite occupation, I have to be honest. But I did come away from it thinking it's not anything personal. It's about a story, and if you happen to be the subject of the story, then bad for you.''

So far, Mendes has only suffered minimal tabloid scrutiny. And the actress, who is one of the few that reads everything written about them, good or bad, knows how to laugh it off.

``I don't really put myself out there,'' she says of her basic paparazzi-dodging strategy. ``Sometimes, of course, you're the victim of it just by the nature of the business. But I avoid the parties - I go when there's a reason for me to, and it's work - but you're not going to see me stumbling out of a bar at 5 in the morning. It's just not who I am.

``I have had some run-ins. But I have never been upset by anything they've said, because none of it's been true. The day they get something right, I'm sure I'll be quite upset! But so far, so good; they haven't been right.''

At the moment, Mendes is consumed with getting her own job right. Upcoming projects include ``The Wendell Baker Story'' opposite Luke Wilson (also the movie's co-director); ``Trust the Man'' with Billy Crudup, Julianne Moore, David Duchovny and Maggie Gyllenhaal; and ``Ghost Rider,'' based on the Marvel Comics series, which she's just been cast in opposite Nicolas Cage.

But few things are likely to match the charge of holding her own in her first romantic lead, opposite human charisma-pump Will Smith.

``I was so proud of myself when I saw 'Hitch,' and that's not a feeling that I have a lot. I've been in some pretty cool projects, absolutely. But with this one, I felt like I saw a character up on the screen that started off a certain way and ended up a different way. I saw a little evolution, and - I am my own worst critic, of course - I usually don't see that.

``It wasn't daunting. It was like, finally. Finally, I get to do it and be in more than, like, four scenes.''

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) All about EVA

`Hitch' star Eva Mendes takes Hollywood on her own terms

(2) no caption (Eva Mendes and Will Smith)

(3) Eva blows a kiss at the New York City premiere of `Hitch.'