Eva Mendes in Rehab

[Brian Damage]

Eva Mendes checked into Utah's Cirque Lodge and has been in the facility, which deals with substance-abuse problems, for several weeks.

"Eva has been working hard for the past year and made a positive decision to take some much-needed time off to proactively attend to some personal issues that, while not critical, she felt deserved some outside professional support. Out of respect for Eva's privacy, we do not wish to discuss further details," her rep told PEOPLE Friday.

Cirque Lodge became a familiar name last year, when Lindsay Lohan checked in for treatment. The substance for which Mendes is being treated has not been reported.

The news was first reported on TMZ.com.

At last year's Cannes Film Festival, Mendes told reporters that to feel comfortable doing a sex scene with Joaquin Phoenix in We Own the Night, which also starred Mark Wahlberg and Robert Duvall, she required a drink.

The Miami-born Mendes, 33, is of Cuban-American background and first made a name for herself when she starred with Denzel Washington in 2001's Training Day. She played Will Smith's love interest in the 2005 comedy Hitch, as well as in the screen version of the Marvel Comic Ghost Rider, with Nicolas Cage.

Come fall 2008, Mendes will be seen in an all-star remake of the stage and screen comedy The Women, costarring Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Bette Midler. For 2009, she has already finished the thriller The Spirit, directed by Sin City and 300 creator Frank Miller.