Penelope Cruz: All About Her Career And Personal Life

Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Alcobendas, Madrid, April 28, 1974 and she is, without a doubt, the Spanish actress with the greatest international projection in history. 

She has shot with many of the most outstanding Spanish, American and European filmmakers, and has obtained the highest awards that a performer can get for her work.

Penelope Cruz Biography

She has Spanish nationality. She was born to her father, Eduardo Cruz, and her mother, Encarna Sánchez. She has two brothers, Monica and Eduardo.

She also has a paternal half-sister, Salma. She belongs to the Hispanic ethnic group and her religion is Christianity. Her hometown is Alcobendas. Her zodiac sign is Taurus.

As she has declared, her vocation was born when he saw, at the age of thirteen, Tie me up! by Pedro Almodovar . From this moment, he decided to direct her steps towards the world of acting. 

She studied classical ballet at the National Conservatory in Madrid for nine years and dance at the Escuela de Cristina Rota . In parallel, she began to appear at castings in search of her first roles. 

Her first appearance was in the video clip for the song La Fuerza del Destino by Mecano . She then presented, along with Jesús Vázquez , the youth program La Quinta March on Tele 5.

She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2008 for her work in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

She stands at the height of 1.68m, that is, 5 feet 6 inches tall.

She has a body weight of around 137 pounds i.e. 67 kg. She has a slim body. Her body measurements are 35-27-35 inches. Her bra size is 32C. Her eye color is dark brown and her hair color is dark brown. Her sexual orientation is heterosexual.

Her dress size is 6 (US) and her shoe size is 6.5 (US).

• His father was a merchant and car mechanic from Extremadura who died in 2015.
• His mother is an Andalusian hairdresser and personal manager.
• His father bought him a Betamax machine.
• Her sister Monica is an actress and her brother is a singer.
• She is the first and only Spanish actress nominated for and winner of an Academy Award.
• She is the sixth Hispanic person to receive the award.
• She is the first Spanish actress to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She received the 2,436th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• He learned Italian for his role in Don’t Move.
• He voiced the guinea pig spy Juarez in G-Force.
• She was honored at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for being “an artist of global importance” in December 2021.
• She was a guest editor for French magazine Vogue in 2010.
• Esquire named her the Sexiest Woman Alive in 2014.
• She donated her salary from The Hi-Lo Country to Mother Teresa’s mission.
• She is known for her philanthropic works in Nepal, India, and Uganda.
• He worked with Mother Teresa.
• She posed for ads supporting PETA’s anti-fur campaign in 2012 and 2018.
• She became an advocate for breastfeeding in public after the birth of her children.
• She signed a petition calling for the release of filmmaker Roman Polanski during his arrest in Switzerland on his 1977 charge of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.

Penelope Cruz Career

After some minor roles, her big break came in 1992, when she was chosen to star in Jamón, Jamón , where she would coincide with two other actors destined for stardom in Spanish cinema: Javier Bardem and Jordi Mollá . 

That same year she shot Fernando Trueba ‘s Belle Époque , which swept the 7th edition of the Goya Awards and received the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1993.

After these two milestones, she became a great promise, confirmed in successes of the national cinematography such as Love seriously harms health in 1996 and Abre los ojos in 1997.

The following year, she premiered La Niña de tus ojos , again with Fernando Trueba , for which he received his first Goya Award . In 2000, Pedro Almodóvar gave her a major role in Todo sobre mi madre . The film received an Oscar for best foreign film and gave him the chance to break into Hollywood . 

This is how Vanilla Sky would arrive , along with Tom Cruise , Sahara , with Matthew McConaughey or Gothika , with Halle Berry and Robert Downey Jr. Almodóvar claimed her again to starBack , in 2006, one of her best films, for which she won the award for best female performance at the Cannes Film Festival , shared with the rest of the exceptional female cast: Carmen Maura , Chus Lampreave , Lola Dueñas , Blanca Portillo and Yohana Cobo . 

And in addition, she became the first Spanish actress to be nominated and winner of the Oscar Awards . An award that would not take too long to obtain -in 2008-, thanks to Vicky Cristina Barcelona , ​​by Woody Allen .

She decided to return to Europe in the early 2000s to prove her worth as an actress after her early adventures in Hollywood met with mixed results.

From now on, with the status of one of the main stars of contemporary cinema, she has become a regular in big productions, such as the musical Nine , (with a new Oscar nomination), Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Tides Mysterious , The Counselor , or Murder on the Orient Express.

In addition, it should be noted her praised interpretation of Donatella Versace in the series The murder of Gianni Versace and her return to Spanish cinema with  Todos lo saber , directed by the two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadiand where she shares the leading role with her partner, Javier Bardem, and in Madres Paralelas (2021), by Pedro Almodóvar, with which she has received a nomination for Best Actress at the Goya Awards and at the Oscars.

In 2018, in recognition of her entire career, she received the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts , awarded by the Government of Spain.

Among her’s next projects are the premiere of ‘En los margines’, the directorial debut of Juan Diego Botto ; the Italian ‘L’immensità’, directed by Emanuele Crialese; and ‘Ferrari’, the biopic of the car giant directed by Michael Mann and that she will shoot alongside Adam Driver and Shailene Woodley.