Eva Longoria

Eva Longoria

Eva Longoria's mother was more excited about meeting Jim Carrey than the Dalai Lama.

The 39 year old actress took her mother Ella with her to meet the head of the Buddhist faith, but when they got home, instead Ella gushed about meeting the 'Ace Ventura' star.

Speaking on 'The Ellen Degeneres Show' yesterday, Eva said: "After the night, we were Skyping with my dad and I was like, 'Mom, mom come here, tell dad who you met today.' And she goes, 'Jim Carrey.' And I said, 'Mom, the Dalai Lama?' And she says, 'Yeah but Jim Carrey was there.'

Ella is a devout Catholic and when Eva tried to explain to her mother who the Dalai Lama was, she knew the only way to make her point was compare him to the Catholic equivalent.

The 'Crazy Kind of Love' star said: "If it's not Catholic, [my mom] doesn't really know. So I was like, 'Mom, he's like the Pope of Buddhism.' "

Eva met the Dalai Lama in February at a Q&A panel hosted by The Lourdes Foundation at The California Science Center and she described the experience as "pure joy".

Other celebrities in attendance at the event included Nicole Scherzinger, Sharon Stone, Naomi Watts, Anna Kendrick, Lupita Nyong'o, Amber Heard, Nikki Reed, Joshua Jackson, Christina Hendricks and Rosario Dawson.