Eva Longoria has been awarded $50 million for philanthropic efforts by Jeff Bezos.

The 60-year-old businessman - who is the founder of Amazon, the online retailer, and one of the richest men in the world - has awarded the eye-watering sum of the money to Eva, 49, who can now direct the cash to the charities of her choice.

The actress - who is best known for playing Gabrielle Solis on the hit ABC series 'Desperate Housewives' - said: "Twelve years ago, I started the Eva Longoria Foundation, because Latinos believe in the American dream, but we don't always have enough access to it.

"I am honoured and thrilled to have this opportunity to build and expand on that work to invest in the infrastructure of opportunity for my community."

Last year, meanwhile, Eva claimed that her political activism is more important to her than her own popularity.

The 'Young and the Restless' actress has been outspoken about various political and social issues over the years, but Eva doesn't worry about losing fans because of her views.

Eva told ELLE's Women in Hollywood issue: "There are things that are a lot more important than box office and viewers.

"Women’s rights are very important. The dismantling of human rights, of health care systems, of education systems. The banning of books. These are very dangerous things that need to be talked about, looked at, voted on, and advocated for. So it’s not an ‘Oooh, do I do it?’ I have to do it. It is nonnegotiable.

"I don’t ever think, ‘I’m going to alienate half an audience’ or ‘I’m going to lose some Twitter fans.’ That doesn’t matter to me if I’m saving democracy."