Penelope Cruz

She is dark, tall, thin, and was born in Alcobendas, Madrid, on April 28, 1974, into a simple family. She has a brother of hers, Eduardo, who is a musician, and a sister, Monica, who looks enormously like her, and who is also an actress as well as a model. She has taken ballet classes and has studied at the Cristina Rota academy . She began her journey in the artistic world by appearing in a video clip of the musical group ‘Mecano’ together with Nacho Cano, with whom she later began a sentimental relationship. Later she got the opportunity to be a presenter of the program ‘La quinta marcha’, on Telecinco. The director Bigas Luna signed her to star in Jamón, Jamón(1992) and her work earned her a Goya Award nomination for best actress; She also shared the bill with Javier Bardem , her current boyfriend. From the same year is the film Belle epoque , by Fernando Trueba , where she appeared on screen with Jorge Sanz , Maribel Verdú and Fernando Fernán Gómez .

From then on, Penélope continued to accept projects, and worked with Rafael Alcázar on El laberinto greek , with the Italian Aurelio Grimaldi onLa Ribelle, with Fernando Colomo in Alegre ma non troppo or with Gerardo Vera inthe celestine, a classic of Spanish literature where Cruz gave life to the enamored Melibea and Calisto was Juan Diego Botto . Together with him, he coincided again in Más que amor, frenesí , a comedy by Miguel Bardem , and shortly after he took part in another comedy film, the crazy Love seriously harms the health of Manuel Gómez Pereira , a film in which his celebrity began to rise like foam

But it was not until 1997 that his golden dream came true, which was to work with Pedro Almodóvar . With Tremulous Flesh , the Malaga director, she entered the thriller genre and Penélope was set for a small role. From the same year is Abre los ojos , a drama and intrigue film by the also award-winning Alejandro Amenábar .

1998 was his year because after taking part in the English comedy, Lluvia en las zapatos , by María Ripoll or in the French romantic, Don Juan , together with Emmanuelle Béart , Fernando Trueba gave him all the leading role with the film The Girl with Your Eyes , a comedy about a group of Spanish filmmakers who shoot a film in the middle of World War II inthe GermanyNazi. Penélope Cruz played Macarena Granada in a role that somewhat emulated the famous Imperio Argentina . Her work earned her a well-deserved Goya as a leading actress.

From here, Cruz began to have greater relevance on the international scene and it can be said that it was his first adventure to conquer Hollywood. Thanks to his knowledge of English, French and Italian, filming in a foreign language was not too difficult for him. He accepted Hi-Lo Country (1998), a Stephen Frears western opposite Woody Harrelson and Patricia Arquette ; and later All the Beautiful Horses (2000) by Billy Bob Thornton , a romantic drama where she fell in love with Penelope the cowboy Matt Damon .

In between, our actress took part in Volavérunt , a film by her mentor Bigas Luna, which adapted a novel by Antonio Larreta and the story was set in the time of the painter Goya; And of course, she couldn’t say no to her friend, Pedro, with whom she worked under her orders in All About My Mother , a film that won the Oscar for best foreign-language film. She herself, along with another Spaniard who succeeds in Hollywood, Antonio Banderas , were in charge of giving him the award at the Shrine Auditorium shouting: “Peeedroooo!”

Penélope Cruz was already a star and a few years of work outside our borders began for her. Thus, she could be seen in films like Woman on Top (2000), where she played a sensual cook; in Blow (2001), where she was the girlfriend of a coke dealer, Johnny Depp ; or in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001), where she ‘Pe’ fell in love with Nicholas Cage.

The titles Vanilla Sky , the North American remake of Abre los ojos , in which the likeable Spaniard shared a plane with Tom Cruise , her boyfriend of three years, are worth mentioning ; Fanfan la Tulipe , a French film by Gérard Krawczyk , or Gothika , in which Penelope entered the horror genre alongside the Oscar-winning Halle Berry , playing two patients in a psychiatric hospital.

In 2005 Penélope Cruz agreed to work on Sahara (2005) , a mix of adventure, romance and humor that emulated the Indiana Jones classics. During the filming she met the ‘handsome’ Matthew McConaughey , her co-star, with whom she began dating.

In the unsuccessful Bandidas (2006), produced by Luc Besson , Cruz returned to the western playing a pair of female gunmen with character together with her friend Salma Hayek . Without pain or glory, she went through the billboard Women’s Games , where she worked with the star Charlize Theron , they did not like the lesbian flirtations that the protagonists had too much. The same happened with High Society (Chromophobia) , by Martha Fiennes , despite the fact that Penelope had the honor of appearing on screen alongside actors of the stature of Ralph Fiennes , Ian Holm or Kristin Scott Thomas .

The Italian Sergio Castellitto (2004) knew how to direct it in Don’t move , a heartbreaking drama of interesting production and staging. She was very happy with her work, and it is said that she learned Italian to be able to participate in the film. In a statement she stated that “I love Italian culture. I love the language, the people, the music, the character… Sometimes I think I’m an Italian trapped in the body of a Spanish woman”.

In 2006, she reappeared under Almodóvar’s orders in Volver , with which she won the Goya for Best Leading Actress and was nominated for an Oscar for the first time.The academy. Finallythe award went to Helen Mirren forThe Queen .

After Elegy , by Isabel Coixet , Penélope got a job that suited her. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), by Woody Allen , has earned her a Goya for best actress, her second nomination for the golden statuette and, once again, international recognition. The comedy was the great opportunity to work with the Manhatan filmmaker, as well as to share scenes with the brilliant Scarlett Johansson and her inseparable Javier Bardem, who, by the way, won an Oscar last year for No Country for Old Men , becoming the first Spanish actor to win it.

Unstoppable is the career of Penélope Cruz, who prepares, again with Almodóvar, Los abrazos rotos . And he’s got Rob Marshall ‘s Nine pending , alongside Daniel Day-Lewis , Nicole Kidman , and Judi Dench , no less.

He has said that “there are many things I want to do. I refuse to reach 50 and wait for the phone to ring. Furthermore, she has claimed that she would love to work in Bollywood cinema. Cruz, she also combines her career as an actress with work in advertising and has created a clothing firm with her sister Mónica de ella. She has also shown the most humanitarian side of her when she left to collaborate in Uganda for two months in 1997, as well as when she created, together with Nacho Cano, a clinic in Calcutta for homeless people with tuberculosis.

For the moment, all that remains is to wait for the Oscar ceremony and wish the best of luck to this Spanish woman who is already part of the magnificent Hollywood sky.