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Eva Mendes has a resume stacked with great movies — but the 50-year-old actress and author has learned that children will humble you more quickly than any critic can.

In an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that aired Wednesday, September 18, Mendes revealed that she had tried to show her daughters — Esmeralda, 10, and Amada, 8 — some of her movies, however, they didn't seem to be invested.

Actors (L-R) Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling attend "The Place Beyond The Pines" premiere during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 7, 2012 in Toronto, Canada. Though the... Actors (L-R) Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling attend "The Place Beyond The Pines" premiere during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 7, 2012 in Toronto, Canada. Though the two have incredible acting resumes, Mendes revealed in September 2024 that her and Gosling's daughters weren't particularly interested in her films. Sonia Recchia/Getty Images

"It's like, I tried to show them—this was about a year ago—I tried to show them a scene from Hitch that I was actually proud of, because I'm scared of deep, dark water," Mendes said. "I had to do this physical comedy stunt thing in the Hudson. Anyway, I was so scared. So, I faced a fear that day and did this stunt, and I was proud of it."

Mendes also revealed that she had used this particular scene to tell a story to her daughters about facing her fears, given the fact that she is scared of the water. After telling the story, Mendes showed the girls the clip from Hitch.

"One time one of my girls was scared, and I'm like, 'Oh, an opportunity to, like, show off what I, you know,'" Eva laughed. "I played it for them, and I was like, 'This is Mama facing her fear.' And, anyway, they were not impressed at all! They were just like, 'Oh, cool, Mama! Can we go outside?'"

While the girls may not have been excited about Mendes' movies, the actress revealed that they did, however, enjoy Barbie, which stars their dad, and Mendes' partner, Ryan Gosling.

"That was beautiful, because the girls were such a huge part of that," Mendes said. "They were such a huge part in him saying yes and taking the role, because there's like 30 Barbies sitting in the house, and there's one Ken. So, you know, he was like, 'There's something here!'"

Though Mendes' movies might not be the girls' cup of tea, perhaps they'll be more entertained by their mom's new children's book Desi, Mami, and The Never-Ending Worries, which arrived to shelves Tuesday, September 17.

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