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Eva Longoria's fearlessness behind the camera inspired her actress pal Roselyn Sanchez to tackle her longtime dream of becoming a director.
Sanchez has long harboured hopes of taking charge of her own project, but she was "petrified" to step out of her comfort zone until Longoria's constant encouragement prompted her to embrace her fears head on.
She will now make her directorial debut with a documentary all about dog adoption in her native Puerto Rico, which is expected to be released this summer.
During a joint interview on U.S. daytime show The View, Sanchez explained, "This woman inspired me. For years I've had the inclination or the desire to direct, but I've been petrified... because it's a different animal altogether. There's technical elements that I didn't know.
"But I said, 'You know what? I'm just gonna go for it,' and seeing her (Longoria) directing, acting, producing, breastfeeding, I was like, 'You know what, I can do this'."
Longoria, whose son Santiago turns one on Wednesday, juggled multiple jobs on the set of the pals' new TV series Grand Hotel, and watching her gave Sanchez the confidence she needed to pursue directing.
Sharing details about her first project behind the camera, she continued, "So I decided if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna go to Puerto Rico, where I'm from, and I'm gonna do it about the problem of stray dogs...
"It's a wonderful, beautiful paradise, but we have a lot of stray dogs, so it's about a (pet) shelter and how three families meet and (how) adopting a dog changes a life."
Longoria also made her directing debut with a documentary, titled Latinos Living the American Dream, back in 2010, and she has since gone on to shoot episodes of shows like Jane the Virgin, The Mick, and Black-ish.
Eva claims she learned everything about making a TV episode by watching directors and crew on the set of Desperate Housewives, calling the show her college.