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Penélope advertising Victorio and Lucchino Carmen perfume. (Click on it to enlarge)
Penélope advertising Victorio and Lucchino Abril perfume. (Click on it to enlarge)
Penélope and best friend Pedro Almodóvar (click on it to enlarge)
Birth Name: Penélope Cruz Sánchez
Nickname: Pe
Date of birth: 28 April 1974 Madrid, Spain
Height: 5' 6"
Known outside Spain as the "Spanish enchantress," Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Madrid to Eduardo (a retailer) and Encarna (a hairdresser) and has a brother and sister called Eduardo and Encarna. As a toddler she was already a compulsive performer, acting and singing for her family's amusement. Penélope decided to focus her energies on dance.
Penélope finished 2º B.U.P. (2nd. year of secondary school), studied 4 years of dance performance with Cristina Rota, attended several dance courses at New York, 9 years of classic ballet at the Conservatorio Nacional and 3 years of Spanish ballet with Ángela Garrido. She also studied Jazz Dance with Raúl Caballero.
At 15, Pe heeded her true calling when she bested more than 300 other girls at a talent agency audition. The resulting contract landed her several roles in Spanish TV shows and music videos, which in turn paved the way for a career on the big screen. Cruz made her first film appearance in 1991 in El Laberinto Griego (The Greek Labyrinth). She then appeared briefly in the 1992 TV thriller Framed. Her third film was the Oscar-winning Belle Epoque in which she played one of four sisters vying for the love of a handsome army deserter. The film also garnered several Goya Awards. Her resume continued to grow by three or four films each year, and soon Cruz was a leading lady of Spanish cinema. Carne Trémula (Live Flesh) offered her the chance to work with renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar (who would later be her ticket to international fame).
1997 also saw her as the lead actress in Alejandro Amenábar's thriller/drama/mystery/sci-fi film Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) a huge hit in Spain that earned eight Goyas (though none for Cruz) and now being remaged by Cameron Crowe as Vanilla Sky and starring alongside Tom Cruise.
Her luck finally changed in 1998, when the movie-industry comedy La Niña de Tus Ojos (The Girl of Your Dreams) won her a Best Actress Goya. Cruz made a few more forays into English-language film, but her first big international hit was Pedro Almodóvar's oscar winning drama Todo sobre mi Madre (All About My Mother), in which she played an unchaste but well-meaning nun. As the film and its director became internationally known, Cruz suddenly found herself in demand on both sides of the Atlantic. Her next big project was Woman on Top, an American comedy about a chef with bewitching culinary skills and a severe case of motion sickness. While in the US, she also signed up to star opposite Johnny Depp in the drug-trafficking drama Blow and opposite Matt Damon in Billy Bob Thornton in All the Pretty Horses Cruz says she's wary of being typecast as a beautiful young damsel, but it's hard to imagine disguising her wide-eyed charms and generous nature.
Fortunately, with Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky and a John Madden collaboration looming in her future, Pe isn't likely to disappear just yet.
Penélope Trivia
After filming All The Prety Horses she became a vegetarian.
She donated her entire Hi-Lo Country salary to the Mother Teresa's children's sanctuary in Calcutta after spending a week there volunteering.
