Salma Hayek has perfect response to racist stereotypes she has faced in Hollywood

Salma Hayek has a decades-long professional relationship with Antonio Banderas, beginning with Robert Rodriguez's 1995 crime thriller Desperado.

The Mexican-American actress reflected on that film on The Drew Barrymore Show—specifically how her role as Carolina helped her disprove racist stereotypes thrust upon her in the early stages of her career:

"Desperado was [Rodriguez's] first Hollywood movie, and Antonio, at the time, was the sex symbol, and I was just so lucky that I got that opportunity and that shot. I couldn't believe myself. I had been told over and over and over, 'You'll never make it in this town. You will only play a prostitute [or] drug dealer's wife or girlfriend and housekeeper because there's no other roles for you.' And then, here comes Robert Rodriguez, who gave us the opportunity for Latinos to have other kinds of roles. That started my career."

Barrymore, after saying she wanted to "scratch the faces off of people who would say that to you," asked Hayek what she thought when she'd hear those things.

"It's really surprising that people that are in such high positions are so stupid," the 54-year-old responded. "I was thinking, there's 40 million Latinos in this country! They really care about the money. Well, there's an untapped huge potential market here, and they were not seeing it, and I was like, wow!"

Hayek then dropped an even bigger (and more enraging) bombshell: 

"I remember there was one studio executive, and he said to me in these words, 'You know what? You were born on the wrong side of the border. Had you been born on the right side of the border, probably you would be the biggest star in the world. But no matter how beautiful anybody thinks you are, no matter how good of an actress you are, the minute you open your mouth, the audience are just gonna be reminded of their maids.' That's what he said to me, but they smartened up."

It goes without saying that Hayek proved any ignorant person she encountered utterly wrong. Most recently, she is starring in The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (in theaters)—where she has reunited with Banderas—Marvel Studios' Eternals (due Nov. 5) and House of Gucci (due Nov. 24).

Watch Barrymore and Hayek's full conversation about their experience with overcoming  rejection below.