Gabrielle "Gaby" Solis () is a fictional character portrayed by Eva Longoria on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. Longoria was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for her performance.
Storylines
Backstory Gabrielle Márquez"Children and Art". Wendey Stanzler (director), Kevin Etten (writer), Jenna Bans. Desperate Housewives. ABC. November 12, 2006. Season 3, no. 8. was born in Las Colinas, Texas."Farewell Letter". David Grossman (director), Marco Pennette (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. February 20, 2011. Season 7, no. 15. Her family is from Guadalajara, Mexico. Born on October 15, 1975,"Could I Leave You?". Pam Thomas (director), Scott Sanford Tobis (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. March 26, 2006. Season 2, no. 17. she has a brother and a sister."You Gotta Get a Gimmick". David Grossman (director), Joe Keenan (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. January 10, 2010. Season 6, no. 11. Her father died of cancer when she was five years old."Smiles of a Summer Night". David Grossman (director), Bob Daily (writer), Matt Berry (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. October 7, 2007. Season 4, no. 2. She was sexually abused by her stepfather Alejandro Perez (Tony Plana)."Thank You So Much". David Grossman (director), Dahvi Waller (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. February 19, 2006. Season 2, no. 15. Her mother, Lucía Márquez (María Conchita Alonso) overlooked the matter, and a nun at her school refused to believe her. When she was fifteen, Gabrielle ran away to New York City to pursue a career in modeling."Suspicious Minds". Larry Shaw (director), Jenna Bans (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. December 12, 2004. Season 1, no. 9. Gabrielle achieved significant success. She married wealthy businessman Carlos Solis (Ricardo Antonio Chavira), and they then relocated to Wisteria Lane in the fictional suburb of Fairview, Eagle State, where Gabrielle befriended Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher), Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), Bree Van de Kamp (Marcia Cross), and Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong).
Season 1 Gabrielle is unhappy with her marriage to Carlos, whose priority is work. To keep herself entertained, she has an extramarital affair with John Rowland (Jesse Metcalfe), her teenage gardener."Pilot". Charles McDougall (director), Marc Cherry (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. October 3, 2003. Season 1, no. 1.
Gabrielle and John end the affair after Susan and Helen (Kathryn Harrold), John's mother, find out about it. Soon after, Carlos is indicted for importing goods made by slave labor."Come Back to Me". Fred Gerber (director), Patty Lin (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. December 19, 2004. Season 1, no. 10. The government freezes the Solis' bank accounts, forcing Gabrielle to perform low-wage modeling jobs to pay bills."Move On". John David Cole (director), David Schulner (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. January 9, 2005. Season 1, no. 11.
While Carlos is released on house arrest awaiting his trial, he continually asks Gabrielle for a child, and tampers with her birth control. After Carlos physically forces Gabrielle to sign a post-nuptial agreement, she reignites her affair with John."Children Will Listen". Larry Shaw (director), Kevin Murphy (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. April 10, 2005. Season 1, no. 18. Later, Gabrielle discovers that she is pregnant and tells John that she will only accept Carlos as the father, regardless of paternity."Fear No More". Jeff Melman (director), Adam Barr (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. May 1, 2005. Season 1, no. 19."Sunday in the Park with George". Larry Shaw (director), Katie Ford (screenwriter). Desperate Housewives. ABC. Season 1, no. 21. While Carlos is facing a separate trial for assaulting two different gay men he mistook for being Gabrielle's lovers, John admits to his affair with Gabrielle. Carlos attempts to attack John in court and is subsequently convicted for hate crimes."One Wonderful Day". Larry Shaw (director), John Pardee (writer), Joey Murphy (writer), Marc Cherry (writer), Tom Spezialy (writer), Kevin Murphy (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. May 22, 2005. Season 1, no. 23.
Season 2 With Carlos now in jail and a child on the way, Gabrielle alienates John and attempts to salvage her marriage."Next". Larry Shaw (director), Jenna Bans (writer), Kevin Murphy (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. September 25, 2005. Season 2, no. 1. Gabrielle and Carlos continue sparring until she apologizes for the affair wholeheartedly for the first time."You'll Never Get Away from Me". Arlene Sanford (director), Tom Spezialy (writer), Ellie Herman (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. October 9, 2005. Season 2, no. 3. Gabrielle hires lawyer David Bradley (Adrian Pasdar)."My Heart Belong to Daddy". Robert Duncan McNeill, Joey Murphy (writer), John Pardee (writer. Desperate Housewives. ABC. October 16, 2005. Season 2, no. 4."They Asked Me Why I Believe in You". David Grossman (director), Alan Cross (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. October 23, 2005. Season 2, no. 5."I Wish I Could Forget You". Larry Shaw (director), Kevin Etten (writer), Josh Senter (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. November 6, 2006. Season 2, no. 6.
Later, Caleb Applewhite (Page Kennedy), Betty Applewhite's (Alfre Woodard) son, breaks into Gabrielle's home and chases her. She falls down the stairs,"Color and Light". David Grossman (director), Marc Cherry (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. November 13, 2005. Season 2, no. 7. resulting in a miscarriage."The Sun Won't Set". Stephen Cragg (director), Jenna Bans (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. November 20, 2005. Season 2, no. 8. Afterwards, Carlos is paroled thanks to the influence of a nun named Sister Mary Bernard (Melinda Page Hamilton). Gabrielle objects to Carlos' attempts to become a better man and intervenes when Carlos attempts to accompany Sister Mary on a charity trip to Botswana."Coming Home". Arlene Sanford (director), Chris Black (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. December 4, 2005. Season 2, no. 10. To rid herself of Sister Mary permanently, Gabrielle tells a priest at the church that Sister Mary and Carlos had an affair.
Gabrielle agrees to have a child with Carlos, but her miscarriage leads to complications, forcing them to consider adoption."There Is No Other Way". Randy Zisk (director), Bruce Zimmerman (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. March 12, 2006. Season 2, no. 16. They prepare to adopt the unborn baby of Libby Collins (Nichole Hiltz). When the baby, Lily, is born, a judge grants Carlos and Gabrielle temporary custody;"Don't Look at Me". David Grossman (director), Josh Senter (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. April 16, 2006. Season 2, no. 19. however, Libby ultimately decides to take Lily back and raise her with her boyfriend."It Wasn't Meant to Happen". Larry Shaw (director), Marc Cherry (writer), Tom Spezialy (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. April 30, 2006. Season 2, no. 20. After, their maid Xiao-Mei (Gwendoline Yeo) agrees to be Gabrielle and Carlos' surrogate in order to stay in the country."I Know Things Now". Wendey Stanzler (director), Kevin Etten (writer), Bruce Zimmerman (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. May 7, 2006. Season 2, no. 21. As the pregnancy progresses, Gabrielle discovers Carlos and Xiao-Mei are having an affair. She kicks Carlos out of the house and informs Xiao-Mei that she is not allowed to leave until the baby is born."Remember (Parts I & II)". Larry Shaw (director), Marc Cherry (writer), Jenna Bans (writer), Alexandra Cunningham (writer), Tom Spezialy (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. May 21, 2006. Season 2, nos. 23 & 24.
Season 3 Six months later, Xiao-Mei nears the end of her pregnancy and Gabrielle and Carlos' are in the midst of their divorce proceedings."Listen to the Rain on the Roof". Larry Shaw (director), Marc Cherry (writer), Jeff Greenstein (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. September 24, 2006. Season 3, no. 1. When Xiao-Mei gives birth, doctors discover that they had accidentally switched the Solis' embryo with another couples, and theirs was not inseminated. Xiao-Mei moves out, leaving Gabrielle and Carlos childless."It Takes Two". David Grossman (director), Kevin Murphy (writer), Jenna Bans (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. October 1, 2006. Season 3, no. 2.
Following the divorce, she teams up with her personal shopper Vern (Alec Mapa) to coach a group of young misfit girls for the Little Miss Snowflake Beauty Pageant."Beautiful Girls". David Grossman (director), Dahvi Waller (writer), Susan Nirah Jaffee (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. November 19, 2006. Season 3, no. 9. She briefly dates Bill Pearce (Mark Deklin) the widowed father of a girl in the pageant, before realizing that she is not yet ready to date again."The Miracle Song". Larry Shaw (director), Bob Daily (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. November 26, 2006. Season 3, no. 10."No Fits, No Fights, No Feuds". Sanaa Hamri (director), Alexandra Cunningham (writer), Josh Senter (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. January 7, 2007. Season 3, no. 11. Soon after, Zach Young (Cody Kasch), the recently wealthy son of Mary Alice, begins pursuing Gabrielle."Not While I'm Around". David Grossman (director), Kevin Murphy (writer), Kevin Etten (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. January 14, 2007. Season 3, no. 12. Though Gabrielle refuses to date him, she agrees to befriend the irresponsible and disturbed Zach."Come Play Wiz Me". Larry Shaw (director), Valerie Ahern (writer), Christian McLaughlin (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. January 21, 2007. Season 3, no. 13. When Zach proposes to Gabrielle, she rejects him and terminates their friendship."The Little Things You Do Together". David Grossman (director), Marc Cherry (writer), Joe Keenan (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. February 18, 2007. Season 3, no. 15.
Later, Victor Lang (John Slattery), a candidate for the mayor of Fairview, takes notice of Gabrielle, and they date casually, but Gabrielle insists that she is not interested."My Husband, the Pig". Larry Shaw (director), Brian A. Alexander (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. March 4, 2007. Season 3, no. 16. When Gabrielle learns that Carlos has started dating her neighbor, Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), she accepts Victor's marriage proposal."God, That's Good". Larry Shaw (director), Dahvi Waller (writer), Josh Senter (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. April 22, 2007. Season 3, no. 19. As the wedding draws near, Gabrielle begins to have second thoughts, but goes through with the marriage."Into the Woods". David Grossman (director), Alexandra Cunningham (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. May 6, 2007. Season 3, no. 21. After the wedding, Gabrielle overhears a conversation Victor has, admitting to only having married her for his political gain, and starts an affair with Carlos."Getting Married Today". David Grossman (director), Joe Keenan (writer), Kevin Murphy (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. May 20, 2007. Season 3, no. 23.
Season 4