Penelope Cruz

Penelope Cruz, famous as one of the best actress in the world is a Spanish Actress. She gathered critical acclaim with movies like Jamon, La Nina De Tus Ojos and Belle Epoque. She was born as Penelope Cruz Sanchez in Madrid on the 28th of April, 1974, her first name being inspired by a song by Joan Manuel Serrat. Her father Eduardo was a retailer and her mother, Encarna, a hairdresser.




As a toddler, She was always inclined towards Dance. She spent 9 years studying classical dance at Spain's National Conservatory, including three years of ballet with Angela Garrido, and a period of jazz dance with Raul Caballero. There were also four years of courses with Cristina Rota in New York City. She repudiated out of secondary education early and at 15 she beat off the 300-strong competition at an agency audition to become a part-time fashion model. Pursuing drama studies in Madrid, she even appeared in music videos.She performed with the popular band Mecano whose singer, Nacho Cano, she'd have a relationship till 1996.

In 1991, she appeared in Rafael Alcazar's The Greek Labyrinth. The film was a smashing hit in Spain, garnering nine Goya awards. It also took the Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film for the year.

Apart from her stint as a Spanish actress she has also performed well in various American movies like Blow, Vanilla Sky and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. She is perhaps best known for her work with acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, in Broken Embraces, Volver and All about My Mother.

She is a recipient of a number of Awards like three Goyas, Two Europian Film Awards and the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Aside from her cinematic output, she'd stared down from Ralph Lauren posters everywhere.Her huge success in Europe, where she'd appeared in two movies awarded Oscars as Best Foreign Language film and a slew of other notable productions, had passed most people by. To them, she was simply Cruise's latest glamorous squeeze. However, she kept on and, after her split from Cruise in 2004 would, with Volver two years later, become the first Spaniard to be Oscar-nominated as Best Actress in a foreign language film. When she won the Oscar in 2009, for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, she would have proven herself in two different languages, indeed received the due Respect.