Penelope Cruz
Birth Date: April 28, 1974
Birth Place: Madrid, Spain
Short Biography
Penélope Cruz Sánchez (born April 28, 1974), better known as Penélope Cruz, is an Academy Award nominated and BAFTA winning, Spanish actress. She gathered critical acclaim as a young actress for films such as Jamón, Jamón, La Niña de tus ojos and Belle époque. She has also starred in several American films such as Blow, Vanilla Sky, and Bandidas.
Cruz has been awarded three Goyas, two European Film Awards, the Coppa Volpi and a BAFTA. She is the first Spanish actress ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Pedro Almodóvar`s 2006 Spanish film Volver. In 2009 she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Woody Allen`s film Vicky Cristina Barcelona and on 8th February 2009 she won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress
Biography
Early life
Cruz was born in Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser and personal manager, and Eduardo Cruz, a retailer and auto mechanic. As a toddler, she was already a compulsive performer, re-enacting TV commercials for her family`s amusement. Initially, Cruz decided to focus on dance. After studying classical ballet for nine years at Spain`s National Conservatory, she continued her training under a series of prominent dancers. She received three years of Spanish Ballet training with Ángela Garrido. She also had jazz dance training with Raúl Caballero and studied at Cristina Rota (mother of Juan Diego Botto) school in Madrid. At 15, however, she followed another calling after beating more than 300 other girls at a talent agency audition.
Career
Cruz first achieved fame when she appeared in naughty video clip La fuerza del destinofor the Spanish synthpop group Mecano. She later started a relationship with Nacho Cano, a member of the group A TV presenter for the teen-oriented program La Quinta Marcha, she also had early exposure in Série Rose, French erotic TV serial. In one episode she played the role of a blind prostitute and in another played a young noble woman pretending to be a young nobleman in a comedy of errors. She also directed Nacho Cano`s video of "El waltz de los locos", in 1994.
Cruz`s first major films were Jamón, jamón and Belle Époque, a film which won an Academy Award for Foreign Language Film. In 1997, she starred as Sofía Pangia, alongside Eduardo Noriega in Abre los ojos, directed by Alejandro Amenábar, while in 1999 she appeared in Pedro Almodóvar`s Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother), which won an Academy Award for Foreign Language Film. In 2000 she appeared with Matt Damon in All the Pretty Horses.
For Cruz, the early 2000s were a period of mediocre reviews and mixed commercial success. In late 2001, she appeared in the film Vanilla Sky, the Hollywood remake of Abre los ojos. Cruz co-starred with her best friend, Salma Hayek in the 2006 film, Bandidas. In 2006, Cruz received highly favourable reviews for her performance in Pedro Almodóvar`s Volver. She won a Best Actress ensemble award at the Cannes Film Festival and has been nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA Award. She is the first Spanish Actress to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
In May 2007, it was announced that Penelope and her sister Mónica would be designing a 25-piece collection for the Barcelona-based fashion chain, Mango. On July 7, 2007, Cruz presented at Live Earth.
