Actor, activist and philanthropist Eva Longoria spoke at the University of Southern California Saturday night and had a living room like conversation with Professor Josh Kun. She discussed her experience growing up in South East Texas, struggling with her identity, having a special needs sister, her plans after the end of “Desperate Housewives,” her new documentary, attaining her masters’ degree, her volunteerism and also said a few subtle remarks about her love life.

The main focus of the talk, however, was Longoria’s insights about her journey to Hollywood and her evolution into a Latino community advocate and philanthropist. Opposite to her devious character, Gaby, on the award winning ABC series “Desperate Housewives,” Longoria is committed to her own charities and organizations that are very close to her upbringing.

“Growing up with a special needs sister, Lisa, I was born into her world,” said Longoria. “Serving others was ingrained in us because of that.”

She Co-founded the non-profit organization “Eva’s Heroes,” dedicated to enriching the lives of those with developmental challenges, she’s the national spokesperson for PADRES Contra El Cancer (Parent Against Cancer), she works very closely with the United Farm Workers amongst many other things.  

A short clip was shown from the documentary she executive produced, “The Harvest,” which is focused on the 500,000 child migrant farm workers in the U.S. to promote awareness and support to enact the Children's Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act).

“I walked the desert and in 15 minutes you can feel the heat through your feet,” said Longoria about her experience when doing research for her documentary and immigration. “I went to ‘the fence’ talked to farmers, border patrol, police.”

Longoria proved that her curiosity and genuine desire to help has led her to be involved in the root causes of complex issues like child labor, immigration, education and health care in the United States, which she recommends all students to explore.

She is a strong advocate of education and said it’s important for people to be knowledgeable of the core reasons behind ongoing political issues. 

She is currently in her last year of Graduate School working on her Master’s Degree in Chicano Studies and Political Science at Cal State University, Northridge and is still struggling to nail down her thesis topic. 

She joked about changing her thesis daily, but she’s confident that it will be about Latinas and education.

“I didn’t really know my social position until I was getting my masters,” said Longoria. 

Even though Longoria is ninth generation Mexican-American, she always grew up very rooted to her ancestry. Longoria's Spanish origin can be traced back to her ninth great-grandfather, Lorenzo Suarez de Longoria, who emigrated to the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which became modern-day Mexico, in 1603, and whose family originated from a small village called Llongoria, Belmonte de Miranda, Asturias, Spain, according to 2010 PBS series “Faces of America.” 

She had a DNA test done to trace her exact roots and discovered that she is 75% Spanish and 22% indigenous. 

“I had a hard time with it,” she teased about it. “I [thought] I was an Aztec princess in my past life.”

She mentioned a little bit about her recent relationship with Spanish stud, Eduardo Cruz, even though she didn’t mention his name, and their regular discussions on the Spanish colonization.

“I was dating a Spaniard, we would get in fights about the conquest all the time,” she said. 

“Desperate Housewives” is soon coming to an end and even though Longoria is heavily invested in charities and her philanthropies, she said acting continues to be a passion and one of her main sources of income. She is in a transitional point in her life and unsure of where exactly these next couple of years will lead her to.

“I love ‘Desperate Housewives’… I’m now divorced, I’m almost done with graduate school, I don’t know where my life is going to be,” Longoria said.

However, she does have some upcoming projects like a film series with Billy Bob Thorton, which is set to premiere at SXSW as well as a film with Andy Garcia and Peter O’Toole and ended by saying she would be a full time volunteer for the next year.

Reach writer Anabell Romero here