Penélope Cruz
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Known outside her native country as the "Spanish enchantress," Penélope
Cruz Sánchez was born in Madrid to Eduardo Cruz, a retailer, and
Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser. As a toddler, she was already a
compulsive performer, re-enacting TV commercials for her family's
amusement, but she decided to focus her energies on dance. After
studying classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National
Conservatory, she continued her training under a series of prominent
dancers. At 15, however, she 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 movie debut in
El laberinto griego (1993)
(The Greek Labyrinth), then appeared briefly in the
Timothy Dalton thriller
Framed (1992). Her third film was the
Oscar-winning Belle Epoque (1992),
in which she played one of four sisters vying for the love of a
handsome army deserter. The film also garnered several Goyas, the
Spanish equivalent of the Academy Awards. Her resume continued to grow
by three or four films each year, and soon Cruz was a leading lady of
Spanish cinema.
Live Flesh (1997) (Live Flesh)
offered her the chance to work with renowned Spanish director
Pedro Almodóvar (who would later be her
ticket to international fame), and the same year she was the lead
actress in the thriller/drama/mystery/sci-fi film
Open Your Eyes (1997), a huge hit in
Spain that earned eight Goyas (though none for Cruz). Her luck finally
changed in 1998, when the movie-industry comedy
The Girl of Your Dreams (1998)
won her a Best Actress Goya. Cruz made a few more forays into
English-language film, but her first big international hit was
Almodóvar's
All About My Mother (1999),
in which she played an unchaste but well-meaning nun. As the film was
showered with awards and accolades, Cruz suddenly found herself in
demand on both sides of the Atlantic. Her next big project was
Woman on Top (2000), 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 (2001) and opposite
Matt Damon in
Billy Bob Thornton's
All the Pretty Horses (2000).
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 (2001) (a remake of
Open Your Eyes (1997)) and a
John Madden collaboration looming in
her future, Damsel Penelope isn't likely to disappear just yet.
