Penélope Cruz

Penélope Cruz was born on April 28, 1974, Madrid, Spain

Birth Name: Penélope Cruz Sánchez

Education: Secondary Studies , National Conservatory Madrid Spain , Cristina Rota's School in Nueva York

Parents: Eduardo Cruz (auto mechanic), Encarna Cruz (hairdresser manager)

Occupation: Spanish actress.

Nationality: Spanish

Ethnicity: Hispanic

Height: 5' 5½" (1.66 m)

Hair color: Black

Eye color: Brown - Dark

Weight: 47Kg or 103.6 pounds

Shoe size: 6.5

Fansites: 1, 2, 3, 4,

Pictures: 1, 2, 3,

Wallpapers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

Filmography:

Jamón, jamón (1992)
Belle epoque (1992)
Amor perjudica seriamente la salud, El (1996)
Abre los ojos (1997)
Carne trémula (1997)
Niña de tus ojos, La (1998)
Don Juan (1998)
Todo sobre mi madre (1999)
All the Pretty Horses (2000)
Woman on Top (2000)
Blow (2001)
Sin noticias de Dios (2001)
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
Fanfan la tulipe (2003)
Gothika (2003)
Head in the Clouds (2004)
Non ti muovere (2004)
Noel (2004)
Sahara (2005)
Chromophobia (2005)
Bandidas (2006)
Volver (2006/I)
The Good Night (2007)
Manolete (2007)
Elegy (2008)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
G-Force (2009)
Nine (2009)

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards
2007 Nominated Academy Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for: Volver (2006)

ALMA Awards
1999 Nominated ALMA Award Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film for: The Hi-Lo Country (1998)
2002 Nominated ALMA Award Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for: Vanilla Sky (2001)

BAFTA Awards
2007 Nominated BAFTA Award Best Actress in a Leading Role for: Volver (2006)

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
2001 Nominated Blockbuster Entertainment Award Favorite Actress - Drama/Romance for: All the Pretty Horses (2000)

Cannes Film Festival - To the female ensemble cast
2006 Won Cannes Award Best Actress for: Volver (2006) award shared with Carmen Maura; Lola Dueñas; Blanca Portillo; Yohana Cobo; Chus Lampreave

David di Donatello Awards
2004 Won David Best Actress (Migliore Attrice Protagonista) for: Non ti muovere (2004)

European Film Awards
1999 Nominated European Film Award Best Actress for: La Niña de tus ojos (1998)
2001 Nominated Audience Award Best Actress for: Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
2003 Nominated Audience Award Best Actress for: Fanfan la tulipe (2003)
2004 Nominated European Film Award Best Actress for: Non ti muovere (2004)
2004 Won Audience Award Best Actress for: Non ti muovere (2004)
2006 Won European Film Award Best Actress for: Volver (2006)

Fotogramas de Plata
1999 Won Fotogramas de Plata Best Movie Actress (Mejor Actriz de Cine) for: La Niña de tus ojos (1998)
2007 Won Fotogramas de Plata Best Movie Actress (Mejor Actriz de Cine) for: Volver (2006)

Golden Globe Awards
2007 Nominated Golden Globe Best Actress in a Dramatic Role for: Volver (2006)

Goya Awards
1993 Nominated Goya Best Lead Actress (Mejor Actriz Principal) for: Jamón, jamón (1992)
1999 Won Goya Best Lead Actress (Mejor Actriz Principal) for: La Niña de tus ojos (1998)
2005 Nominated Goya Best Lead Actress (Mejor Actriz Principal) for: Non ti muovere (2004)
2007 Won Goya Best Lead Actress (Mejor Actriz Principal) for: Volver (2006)

Imagen Foundation Awards
2003 Creative Achievement Award

MTV Movie Awards
2002 Nominated MTV Movie Award Breakthrough Female Performance for: Blow (2001)

NAACP Image Awards
2007 Nominated NAACP Image Award Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for: Volver (2006)

Ondas Awards
1993 Won Ondas Film Award Best Acting (Mejor Interpretación) tied with Javier Bardem (no award category given officially).

Peñíscola Comedy Film Festival
1995 Won Best Actress for: Todo es mentira (1994)

Razzie Awards
2002 Nominated Razzie Award Worst Actress for: Blow (2001), Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001) and Vanilla Sky (2001).

Spanish Actors Union
1993 Nominated Newcomer Award for: Jamón, jamón (1992)
1993 Won Award of the Spanish Actors Union Film: Supporting Performance (Secundario Cine) for: Belle Époque (1992)
1998 Nominated Award of the Spanish Actors Union Film: Performance in a Minor Role (Reparto Cine) for: Carne trémula (1997)
1999 Won Award of the Spanish Actors Union Film: Lead Performance (Protagonista Cine) for: La Niña de tus ojos (1998)
2007 Won Award of the Spanish Actors Union Film: Lead Performance (Protagonista Cine) for: Volver (2007)

Biography:

Known outside her native country as the "Spanish enchantress", Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Madrid to Eduardo (a retailer) and Encarna (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 Laberinto griego, El (1993) (The Greek Labyrinth), then appeared briefly in the Timothy Dalton thriller Framed (1992) (TV). 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. Carne (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 Abre los ojos (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 Niña de tus ojos, La (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 Todo sobre mi madre (1999) (All About My Mother), 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 (her rumored paramour) 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 (she once donated an entire paycheck to Mother Teresa's children's sanctuary). Fortunately, with Cameron Crowes Vanilla Sky (2001) (a remake of Abre los ojos (1997)) and a John Madden collaboration looming in her future, Damsel Penelope isn't likely to disappear just yet.

Trivia:

Says she wants to adopt 20 children. (March 2008)
Says she is looking forward to getting older because she thinks age will make her a better actress. (February 2008)
Has signed on to lend her voice to Juarez the guinea pig in animated movie G-FORCE, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Walt Disney Pictures. (January 21, 2008)
Lost her camera while vacationing abroad during the holidays in Brazil, and is threatening legal action if any of her vacation pictures end up in the tabloids. (January 2008)
Plays a porn star with her sister Monica in a music video promoting their brother Eduardo Cruz's new Spanish album 'Cosas Que Contar.' (January 2008)
Has reportedly found new love in Spanish actor Javier Bardem after being snapped embracing in the sea during a romantic vacation in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. (October 11, 2007)
Lopez, who is currently working in London, has fallen in love with the English capital and has her heart set on finding the perfect property. (September 2007)
Denies rumors that she is dating Spanish actor Javier Bardem, insisting the pair are just good friends. (July 18, 2007)
Cruz and Matthew McConaughey have been accused of causing the $80 million budget for action film SAHARA to double because of their vanity. (April 19, 2007)
Revealed that she wants to have kids of her own but she also hopes to adopt. (April 16, 2007)
Cruz and fellow Spanish actor Javier Bardem are reuniting for Woody Allen to shoot their first screen pairing since 1992. (February 27, 2007)
Denies any romance with Olivier Martinez after the two were appeared delighted to see each other at the Chateau Marmont hotel, insisting they’re just friends that hadn’t seen each other for a long time. (February 13, 2007)
Nominated for Performance by an actress in a leading role at Academy Awards for VOLVER (2007)
Says rumors of her being lesbian don’t die away because she helps to keep them going by acting extra cozy with her Mexican friend Salma Hayek. (December 23, 2006)
Has revealed that she's planning to put her acting career on hold in a couple of years and concentrate on motherhood. (October 23, 2006)
Refuses to avoid romancing another actor just to avoid media scrutiny of her private life, insisting stars should ignore the press and see whoever they choose. (September 1, 2006)
Has seen Suri Cruise, praising the baby as one of the “most beautiful” infants she had ever seen. (August 4, 2006)
Cruz and Matthew McConaughey decided to end their relationship due to a heavy work schedule. (June 5, 2006)
Had to wear a false bottom for her role in RETURNING because film bosses decided she lacked curves. Cruz apparently liked her new 'bum' so much she begged bosses to let her keep it. (March 25, 2006)
Cruz and Matthew McConaughey have sparked speculation they have split, after attending the Golden Globe Awards separately. (January 20, 2006)
Has signed to be the new face of L'Oreal. (January 12, 2006)
Was honored by France's culture minister who proclaimed her a knight in the Order of Arts and Letters. (January 12, 2006)
Is the new face of P. Diddy's Sean John Women's Collection. (July 4, 2005)
Her attempts to adopt a child were rejected because she was single when she applied in her native Spain in 1995.
Regrets grabbing pal Salma Hayek's backside during a photo shoot, because it sparked stories the friends were actually lesbians. Cruz insists she was sick with the flu and a little delirious when she let her hand linger on Hayek's rear at a press conference for their film BANDIDAS. (April 30, 2005)
Is in a state of constant paranoia whenever she's around her pal Salma Hayek because Hayek wants to get even after Cruz and Ashton Kutcher placed her in an embarrassing situation with a giant-sized turd on hit prank show Punk'D. (April 7, 2005)
Got lost heading to the set of SAHARA one day, the crew had to shoot one of her scenes with a double. (2005)
Says she would love to have children with boyfriend Matthew McConaughey, but only after they decide to settle down in one place together. (March 26, 2005)
Has recently escaped mugging attempt by two men when she was in Paris. (January 28, 2005)
Says she detests the endless celebrity events which come with fame, and prefers to focus on her movie career and enjoy quiet meals with friends instead.
Split from boyfriend Tom Cruise. (March 27, 2004)
Collapsed while filming SAHARA in Morocco because of exhaustion from intense desert heat and violent sandstorms on the set of the movie. (March 12, 2004)
Was so frightened of walking the red carpet at 2004 Oscars she was considering pulling out of the glitzy ceremony altogether.
Was embracing the teachings of the Church of Scientology, having been converted to the religion by devoted follower Tom Cruise. (November 20, 2003)
Cruz and Halle Berry refused to strip alongside naked extras for a raunchy scene in new movie GOTHIKA, after changing their minds at the last minute. (November 20, 2003)
Before filming constantly in Hollywood, Cruz was arguably Spain's top leading lady, shooting no fewer than 20 films in the 1990s. (August 12, 2003)
Cruz has controversially claimed her character in new film DON'T MOVE is a little pleased at being raped -- Cruz says of her character, Her father has been raping her since she was 12-years-old, and that's why, when (the doctor) rapes her, she is even a little pleased because he is a surgeon. A man from a higher social class. (July 30, 2003)
Cruz has won an apology and costs from an Australian magazine after they admitted to writing an false story about her – The actress was furious when the magazine wrote an article insinuating she had conducted an affair with an unnamed Spanish actor behind boyfriend Tom Cruise's back. (June 10, 2003)
Has sensationally postponed her wedding to Tom Cruise because she fears he may be unfaithful – the ceremony, due to take place on Valentine's Day, has been halted while the Spanish star prepares to confront Cruise over his friendship with another Latino beauty Sofia Vergara. (January 10, 2003)
After filming 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.
She was named after the song Penélope by Joan Manuel Serrat.
Cruz, the star of ABRE LOS OJOS (1997), also stars in VANILLA SKY (2001), Cameron Crowe's remake of ABRE LOS OJOS.
Female lesbian at the VIPER ROOM
Nominated for Breakthrough Female Performance at MTV Movie Awards for BLOW (2002)