Penelope Cruz

Penélope Cruz Sánchez (Alcobendas, April 28, 1974) is a Spanish actress and model.

In 2006, she was the first Spanish actress to be nominated for the Oscars and the Golden Globes in the category of best leading actress, for her role in the Spanish film Volver, directed by the Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar; on that occasion she did not win the Oscar, but in 2009 she became the first Spanish actress to win the Oscar for best supporting actress thanks to the film Vicky Cristina Barcelona directed by Woody Allen. With this film, she also won the BAFTA award, her third Goya, and was nominated for the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Award. Penélope was again nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress in 2010 for her role in Nine and in 2022 in the category of best leading actress for her role in Almodóvar's film, < i> Parallel mothers .

In 2018 he received the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, granted by the Government of Spain. In 2019 he received the Donostia Award and was the identifying face of the 67th San Sebastian Film Festival.

In 2022 he was awarded the National Cinematography Award.

Biography

Penelope was born on April 28, 1974, into a family in Alcobendas (Madrid), formed by Eduardo Cruz (1953-2015), a merchant from Extremadura who worked in a car dealership, and María de la Encarnación Sánchez, an Andalusian who ran a hairdressing salon. Her name derives from one of her parents' favorite songs, "Penelope", composed and performed by Joan Manuel Serrat.She is older than her two brothers: Mónica Cruz, also an actress and Eduardo Cruz, singer.

As a child, she attended the Juan XXIII school and the IES El Portillo. She soon felt attracted to the world of art and acting, especially from the moment she saw the movie Tie me up! by Pedro Almodóvar starring Victoria Abril, when she was fifteen years old.. From that moment on, she decided to be an actress in order to fulfill a dream: one day to work with Pedro Almodóvar. She received nine years of classical ballet apprenticeship at the National Conservatory of Madrid, four years that helped her improve her dance in various courses at the Cristina Rota School in Madrid, and three years of Spanish ballet with Ángela Garrido. In addition, she took jazz dance courses with Raúl Caballero. At the same time, she studied acting and went to a multitude of castings in order to work in the cinema as an actress.

Penelope's first acting appearance was in the video clip for the song La fuerza del destino by the pop group Mecano, recorded in 1988, when she was only 14 years old. After an exhaustive search among more than 200 girls, Cruz was selected to be the protagonist of the video clip. Later she would begin a long relationship of six years with the member of said group Nacho Cano, (1991-1996).

He appeared on television for the first time in Los mundos de Yupi, in 1990. After that, he got the opportunity to present La quinta marcha on Tele 5, a television program aimed at adolescents where he coincided with with Jesus Vazquez. This participation helped her get closer to the television medium and later she would work in 1991 in an episode of the erotic series Pink Series directed by Jaime Chavarri.

Acting career

Penelope at the Festival de Cannes 2003.

Penelope's first film was The Greek Labyrinth in 1991 directed by Rafael Alcázar, and then came Jamón, jamón by director Bigas Luna in 1992, after being chosen by said director among a multitude of actresses. From this film, much of which was shot in Los Monegros (Zaragoza, Aragón), the actress emerged as an attractive and sensual sex symbol due to the erotic content of the film. She shared the limelight with Javier Bardem and Jordi Mollá, also beginners at the time. With this film, she was nominated for the VII edition of the Goya Awards of the Spanish Film Academy for leading actress and for the Fotogramas de Plata for best film actress.

In 1992 he also worked in an episode of the series Framed starring Timothy Dalton, in which he played the role of Lola Del Moreno, and in Belle Époque by Fernando Trueba, a film shot largely in Portugal, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1993. In it, he shared a cast with actors such as Maribel Verdú, Ariadna Gil, Jorge Sanz, Agustín González, Chus Lampreave and Fernando Fernán Gómez among many others. This film, winner of nine awards at the VII edition of the Goya Awards of the Spanish Academy, takes place during the Second Republic in the thirties. In it, she played a candid and naive girl, a character that helped her escape her erotic image of Jamón, jamón and with which she was nominated for the Fotogramas de Plata as best film actress.

After these two films, Penélope did not stop working during the first part of the 1990s in films such as For love, only for love, La rebelde, Everything is a lie, Entre rojas, Allegro ma non troppo, Talking to the angels or The effect butterfly among others. With all of them she had contact with various film professionals and little by little her career as a film actress in Spain was increasingly consolidated.

In 1996 two great opportunities arose: starring in La Celestina, directed by Gerardo Vera, in which she worked with Terele Pávez, Juan Diego Botto and Maribel Verdú among other actors, and the romantic comedy Love Seriously Harms Health, by Manuel Gómez Pereira. With the latter he established himself in Spanish cinema.

Amenábar and Almodóvar. Goya Award

After the success of Love Seriously Harms Your Health, Penélope became a popular and sought-after actress on the Spanish film scene and finally in 1997 she achieved her dream: to collaborate with a small character in a Pedro Almodovar film. She was in Trembling Flesh , starring Javier Bardem, Liberto Rabal, José Sancho and Ángela Molina among other actors. The same year she also starred in the film Open your eyes , directed by Alejandro Amenábar where she acted alongside Eduardo Noriega and Fele Martínez among others. It was a great box office success that launched her to fame and national prestige.

Pedro Almodóvar and Penelope Cruz at the Goya Awards in 2017.

After these two films, which marked a clear turning point in her national film career, in 1998 the actress starred in the film La niña de tus ojos with Fernando Trueba again, in which she shared cast with popular actors such as Antonio Resines, Jorge Sanz, Loles León, Rosa María Sardá and Santiago Segura among others. With it, she won her first relevant award at the XIII edition of the Goya Awards of the Spanish Film Academy as leading actress and many other recognitions from critics and the public, who awarded her the Fotogramas de Plata for the best actress in cinema. She also got recognition from her fellow professionals with the award for best leading actress at the Union of Actors.

With these three films and recognized in Spanish cinema, she began to make herself known in the international market after being nominated for best leading actress for The Girl With Your Eyes at the European Film Awards.

The jump to Hollywood

After the international success, both public and critical, of All About My Mother, winner of the Best Foreign Film at the Oscars, in 2000 she made the leap to the United States: she acted alongside Matt Damon in All the Pretty Horses, with Nicolas Cage in Captain Corelli's Mandolin, with Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky (remake i> from Open Your Eyes), with Johnny Depp in Blow and with Matthew McConaughey in Sahara, an adventure film that, although it achieved great collection, did not cover its high cost. In 2003 she shot the horror film Gothika with Halle Berry and Robert Downey Jr..

Her much-discussed romantic relationship with Tom Cruise helped make her popular with Anglo-Saxon audiences, although the best criticism of her work continued to come to her thanks to her participation in European cinema. In 2004 she starred in the Italian film Don't Move, for which she won the David de Donatello Award for Best Female Performance and she was nominated for the Goya Award for Best Actress.

First nomination for the Oscars

Penelope at the Oscars, 2009.

The next collaboration between Pedro Almodóvar and the actress was in Volver (2006), a film in which he starred and for which he won the award for best female performance at the Cannes Film Festival of the same year in 2006, shared with the rest of the film's actresses: Carmen Maura, Chus Lampreave, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo and Yohana Cobo. Thanks to this film, on January 23, 2007, she became the first Spanish actress to be nominated for a Hollywood Oscar for Best Leading Actress, competing with Judi Dench, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren (the latter was the winner for < i>The Queen).

On January 28, 2007, Penélope Cruz won her second Goya for best leading actress for her role as Raimunda in Volver. For this work, she also received the award for best female performance at the Hollywood Awards in October 2006, awards given annually by film critics, producers and festival directors.

He then shot Elegy, a film inspired by the novel The Dying Animal, by Philip Roth, alongside Ben Kingsley and Dennis Hopper and directed by Isabel Coixet.

Second nomination and first Spanish winner of an Oscar

In 2007, he starred, along with Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall, in the film by American director Woody Allen Vicky Cristina Barcelona, shot in Avilés, Oviedo and Barcelona. Released in August 2008 in the United States and in September in Spain, it achieved notable commercial success (more than 91 million dollars at the box office). Penelope's work was acclaimed worldwide, which led to her nomination for the Golden Globes and, for the second time, for the Oscars in 2009, this time for best supporting actress; and she managed to win the statuette. For this role, in addition, she had already won a new Goya, the third in her history, in the category of best supporting actress.

The same year Penélope Cruz played one of the central characters in the seventeenth film by Pedro Almodóvar, Los abrazos rotos, a story inspired by the film noir of the 50s in which Blanca also intervenes Portillo, Lluís Homar, José Luis Gómez and Ángela Molina. For this role, Penelope earned her sixth Goya nomination.

Third nomination for the Oscars and subsequent works

In 2009 Penelope joined the cast of the film adaptation of the musical Nine, directed by Rob Marshall. In the tape, she shared the bill with Daniel Day Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Judi Dench and Nicole Kidman as well as Kate Hudson. For her incarnation of Carla Albanese, the protagonist's lover, the actress was nominated for a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and, for the third time in four years, an Oscar. The same year Manolete was released, a film that she had shot with Adrien Brody three years earlier, in 2006, and which had not been able to be released at the time due to financial problems.

In 2010 Penelope was considered the best dressed at the Oscars in the last two decades and, an Oscar candidate for Nine, she was judged the best representative of the Oscar fashion standard for the Versace dress that she wore in the 2007 edition. The same year Sex and the City 2 was released, where Penélope played a small role, playing Carmen, a banker. In 2011, he co-starred (along with Johnny Depp) in one of the installments of the Pirates of the Caribbean saga: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, a film that exceeded billion dollars in global grosses. Around the same time, she filmed again with Woody Allen; on this occasion, she has a more supporting role in To Rome with Love, a film with an extensive cast that includes Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni and Ornella Muti.

Between the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, she premiered Volver a nacer, an Italian film in which she was recognized by critics and obtained a new nomination for the Goya Award for best leading actress. She also filmed Ridley Scott's The Counselor, with her husband Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender. In mid-2014 she shot Ma Ma under the direction of Julio Médem, with Luis Tosar and Asier Etxeandía and Grimsby under the direction of Louis Leterrier, with Mark Strong, Rebel Wilson and Annabelle Wallis. Thanks to her work in the first one, she achieved a new Goya Award nomination.

In 2016, the second film in the blockbuster saga Zoolander was released, where Penélope Cruz has a prominent role alongside the protagonists Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller. Also that year, one of the most anticipated Spanish films in years was presented: La reina de España by Fernando Trueba, where Cruz resumes the character of The girl with your eyes. But despite its careful setting and the large cast that included Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin, this film had a lukewarm reception.

In 2017 the Spanish actress has had better luck, landing a prominent role in Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express, where she rubs shoulders with stars like Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe and Judi Dench. In the same year, the FX channel confirmed Penelope in the role of Donatella Versace for the television series about the murder of Gianni Versace.

Donostia Award

On September 19, 2019, Penélope Cruz receives the Donostia Award, surprisingly this time from her partner and friend Bono from U2, and being the second Spanish actress to win it after Carmen Maura (2013). Likewise, she would also be the youngest actress in history to receive it, at only 45 years of age.

In May 2022, shooting begins for a film in which she plays Laura Ferrari, wife of Enzo Ferrari, under the direction of Michael Mann.

Filmography

He made his film debut in 1991 with the film The Greek Labyrinth, by Rafael Alcázar, although his participation the following year in Jamón, jamón, is popularly considered as such. by Bigas Luna. He has participated in fifty films, and worked with Bigas Luna, Trueba and Almodóvar on several occasions. The highest grossing films in which he appears in a cast are Pirates of the Caribbean, G-Force,Vanilla Sky, Gothika, Sahara, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Volver and Blow.

Cinema

Year	Movie	Character	Notes	Country
1992	Ham ham	Silvia	Nominee — Goya Award for Best Female Interpretation	Spain
	Belle Époque	Light		Spain
1993	For love alone for love	Virgin Mary		Italy
	The Greek maze	Elisa		Spain
	La Ribelle	Enza		Italy
1994	Alegre ma non troppo	Salome		Spain
	It's all a lie.	Lucia		Spain
1995	Between red	Lucia		Spain
	The butterfly effect	Guest at the party		Spain
	The Celestine	Melibea		Spain
1996	Love seriously harms health	Diana Balaguer		Spain France
	Bruges	Patricia		Spain
1997	A corner of paradise	Doña Helena		Sweden
	Open your eyes	Sofia		Spain France Italy
	Carne trémula	Isabel Plaza Caballero		Spain France
1998	Don Juan	Mathurine		Spain France
	The girl in your eyes	Macarena Granada	Goya Award for the best female performance European Film Award for Best European Actress	Spain
	Rain in the shoes	Louisi		Spain France
	The angel of desire	Pilar		United States
1999	Volavérunt	Pepita Tudo		Spain France
	All about my mother	Sister Rosa		Spain
2000	Woman on Top	Isabella Oliveira		United States
	Wild spirit	Alejandra Villanueva		United States
2001	Vanilla Sky	Sofia Serrano		United States
	Blow	Mirta Jung		United States
	Captain Corelli's mandolin	Pelagia		United Kingdom
	No news from God	Carmen Ramos		Spain Mexico
2002	Waking up in Reno	Brenda		United States
2003	Anonymous	Pagan Lace		United States
	Fanfan the Tulip	Adéline La Franchise		France
	Gothika	Chloe Sava		United States United Kingdom
2004	Don't move.	Italy		Italy
	Head in the Clouds	Mia		Canada United Kingdom
	Noel	Nina Vásquez		United States
2005	Sahara	Eva Rojas		United States United Kingdom
	High society (Chromophobia)	Glory		United Kingdom
2006	Bandidas	María Álvarez		France Mexico
	Back	Raimunda	Nominated - Oscar the Best Actress Goya Award for the best female performance	Spain
2007	The Good Night	Anna, Melody		United States
2008	Manolete	Lupe Sino		Spain United Kingdom
	Elegy	Consuela Castillo		United States
	Vicky Cristina Barcelona	Maria Elena	Oscar the best cast actress Goya Award for Best Female Distribution Interpretation	Spain United States
2009	Nine.	Carla Albanese		United States
	Broken hugs	Magdalena Lena		Spain
	G-Force	Juárez		United States
2010	Sex and the City 2	Carmen García Carrión		United States
2011	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	Angelica Teach		United States
2012	To Rome with Love	Anna		United States Italy
	Back to birth	Gemma		Italy Spain
2013	The Counselor	Laura.		United States
	Passenger lovers	Jessica.		Spain
2015	Ma	Magdalena "Magda"		Spain
2016	Grimsby	Rhonda George		United States United Kingdom
	Zoolander 2	Jessica Carter		United States
	The Queen of Spain	Macarena Granada		Spain
2017	Loving Pablo	Virginia Vallejo		Spain Colombia
	Murder on the Orient Express	Pilar Estravados		United States
2018	Everyone knows.	Laura.		Spain
2019	Pain and glory	Jacinta		Spain
	The Avispa Network	Olga Salanueva-González		France BrazilBrazil BelgiumBelgium SpainSpain
2021	Parallel mothers	Janis	Nominated - Oscar the Best Actress	Spain
	Official jurisdiction	Lola Cuevas		Spain Argentina
2022	Agents 355	Graciela		United States
	L'immensità	Clara		ItalyItaly France
	On the margins	Azucena		Spain
2023	Ferrari	Laura Ferrari		United States

Television

Theater

• Don Juan - directed by Marta Montblanc.

Video Clips

• Say goodbye (2012) by Miguel Bosé.
• Things to tell (2007) by Eduardo Cruz.
• The waltz of the mad (Address) (1995) of Nacho Cano.
• The courtyard (1994) by Nacho Cano.
• The force of destiny (1989) of Mecano.

Public Image

In 2011 The Telegraph reported on the most sought after body parts of the rich and famous, revealed by two Hollywood plastic surgeons, which was conducted in a survey of their patients to build the picture of the perfect woman In the category of the most wanted body was that of Penelope Cruz, voted as the top with Gisele Bundchen and Jennifer Aniston also finishing in the top three.

Advertising and fashion

Penelope has been the commercial image of various brands, such as Coca-Cola, L'Oréal or Nintendo.

In 1998 Penélope Cruz became the star of the Victorio & Lucchino with an Andalusian-inspired look. The actress was the image of Carmen, one of the firm's fragrances.

In 2007 and 2008 she was chosen by Mango as the image for their campaign. Together with her sister, Mónica Cruz, she has collaborated in the creation of a clothing collection for Mango. In 2010 she replaced Kate Winslet as the face of Tresor, a Lancôme perfume, for which she is currently an ambassador, and in 2014 Uma Thurman as the new face of Schweppes.

In 2013 the actress is the new ambassador of the Spanish firm Loewe until 2015 and for which she also designed a series of bags with her sister. That same year, she both designed several collections for the lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, as well as directing Irina Shayk and Miguel Ángel Silvestre in the firm's promotional spot. That 2013, she was also the image of Viceroy.

In 2018, he lends his image to the new Costa Cruises campaign; And since that same year, Penelope has been an ambassador for Chanel, a fashion firm that she frequently dresses with, along with Versace, one of the actress's favorite brands. In 2019, she paraded at the Grand Palais on the catwalk of the French firm in tribute to the late Karl Lagerfeld.

In 2018, Penélope Cruz attended a party organized by Swarovski at the Cannes Film Festival where she presented a collection of fine jewelry with sustainable characteristics in collaboration with Atelier Swarovski.

Music

He has participated in the world of music on several occasions. One of her collaborations appears on the album Voices of hope by the Fundación Sabera, where she sings the song for which she was named as a duet with Joan Manuel Serrat, "Penélope", and in the musical comedy < i>Nine performs the song “A call from the Vatican”. In 2012 she collaborated with Miguel Bosé on his new album Papitwo singing a song with him as a duet.

Personal life

In early July 2010, she married Javier Bardem, on Johnny Depp's private island in the Bahamas, after three years of dating.

After months of rumors, in September 2010, it was announced that Penelope was pregnant. On January 22, 2011, she gave birth to their son, Leo, at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California. In February 2013 Penélope and Javier confirmed that they were expecting their second child. On July 22 of that year, she gave birth to a girl, in Madrid, whom they named Luna.

Among his inner circle of friends are Pedro Almodóvar, Goya Toledo, Antonio Banderas, Johnny Depp or Salma Hayek among others.

Awards and nominations

Annual competitions

Penelope Cruz in the Goya Awards in 2017

Oscar Awards

Golden Globe Awards

BAFTA Awards

Awards of the Union of Actors

Primetime Emmy Awards

Goya Awards

David de Donatello Awards

European Film Awards

Medals of the Film Writers Circle

Silver Photogram Awards

Feroz Awards

Union of Actors and Actress

Gaudí Awards

Hoy Magazine Awards

EñE Film Awards

Festivals

Cannes International Film Festival

Venice International Film Festival

Hollywood Film Festival

San Sebastian International Film Festival

Other awards

• Jameson Public Award to Best Actress, European Film Academy, by Don't move.
• Golden Microphone Award in the Film Apartado category, awarded in 2007.
• Best cast actress - Boston Society of Film Critics Awards (BSFC) by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Best cast actress - Gaudi Award by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Best cast actress Ex aequo - Gotham Awards by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Best cast actress - Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Best cast actress - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Best cast actress - National Board of Review (NBR) Awards by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Best cast actress - New York Film Critics Circle Awards by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Best cast actress - Santa Barbara International Film Festival by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Best cast actress - Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Nominated as the best cast actress by the Union of Actors of the USA. UU. (SAG) by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Nominated best cast actress by the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BCA) by Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Nominated as best cast actress - Chicago Film Critics Association Awards by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Nominated as best cast actress - Cinema Writers Circle Awards by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Nominated as the best cast actress to the Independent Spirit Awards by Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Nominated as the best cast actress to the Black Reel Awards by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Nominated as the best actress from Reparto to London Critics Circle Film Awards by Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Nominated for best cast actress - Screen Actors Guild Awards by Nine.
• Star on the Paseo de la Fama de Madrid (2011)
• Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2011)
• Nominated for Platinum Awards in the Best Female Interpretation category for its role in Ma (2016)