She plays Kitty Softpaws in the new movie Puss in Boots, but her connection to our four-legged friends doesn’t stop there!

In fact, did you know that that this actress has more than 50 animals in her sprawling family? 

Here are four fun facts about Salma Hayak:

1. She loves animals. 

“I was under the habit of rescuing animals myself, not going to pick them up from the shelters but actually turning my house into a shelter. And I also have a ranch, so my pets – I have as of right now five parrots, one cat without a tail that was rescued by one of my 10 dogs, four ducks, 20 chickens, five horses, two guinea pigs and four alpacas.”

2. She got her star as a soap star.

One of Hayek’s first roles was in the popular telenovela “Teresa” in 1988.

3. She might play a feline, but she’s no scaredy-cat!

What’s one of Hayek’s favorite things to do with her 3-year-old daughter Valentina?  “We love to scare each other, oh my God, we really to love to scare each other. Thank God I have a healthy heart because she’s really getting good at it.”

4. She’s in the history books.

The actress is the first Mexican national to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Want to learn more about this busy working mom? Don’t miss ModernMom blogger Pilar Clark’s interview with the talented actress: Salma Hayek Talks Working Motherhood and ‘Puss in Boots’