Mexican actress Salma Hayek is known in Hollywood for bucking the tall and willowy trend. With her curvaceous figure and sassy attitude, she has starred in Desperado, Wild Wild West, and more recently, Frida for which she received an Academy Award.

George Biard, Wikipedia Creative Commons

She also has dyslexia.

In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK, she said “I have an accent, am dyslexic, short and chubby. You name it, I have it, but I am here. I must be the luckiest girl in the world to be working!”

Despite her dyslexia, which was diagnosed in her teen years in Mexico, Hayek was determined to learn English in order to move to California to pursue her acting dreams. With a successful career in Mexican soaps behind her, she had to learn fast to make the transition. She credits her dyslexia with giving her certain strengths in memory which have proved invaluable in her career as an actor and director.

“Some people read really fast, but you’ll ask them questions about the script and they’ll forget. I take a long time to read a script, but I read it only once. I directed a movie, and I never brought the script to the set.”

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Sarah Forrest is an Easyread Coach at Oxford Learning Solutions. Easyread is an online phonics course that provides support for spelling and reading problems. It is specially designed for children with dyslexia, auditory processing disorder and highly visual learning styles. Find out more at www.easyreadsystem.com