Penelope Cruz

Penelope Cruz biography, photos, age. Penelope Cruz height, personal life, movies, latest news

Table of contents:

• Penelope Cruz Biography
• Penelope Cruz Films
• Penelope Cruz as a Model
• Penelope Cruz personal life
• Penelope Cruz now
• Penelope Cruz filmography
• Interesting facts

Penelope Cruz is an actress and model, acclaimed both in her native Spain and in Hollywood.

• Career: film, actress, model
• Date of birth: April 28, 1974 
• Zodiac sign: Taurus
• Age: 48 years old
• Place of birth: Alcobendas, Spain
• Height: 168
• Marital status: Married to Javier Bardem

Penelope Cruz Biography

Many critics and directors put her name on a par with such stars as Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo, Sophia Loren and Marlene Dietrich. Brilliant acting combined with a striking Mediterranean appearance has enabled her to find an impressive army of fans.

Childhood and adolescence

Penelope Cruz Sanchez was born in Alcobendas, Spain in April 1974. Her parents, Spanish by nationality, were simple and poor people: mother Enkarna Sanchez worked as a hairdresser, father Eduardo Cruz worked in retail. Penelope was the eldest child, besides her in the family grew up a son Eduardo and daughter Monica. Children were brought up in the Catholic tradition.

Penelope Cruz considers her childhood happy. From a young age she was fascinated by classical ballet, which at first learned in the National Conservatory of Spain, and after its completion, went to America, where 4 years improving the art of dance in the famous school Cristina Rota in New York.

On the career of an actress Penelope thought about at the age of 14. The starting point was watching a comedy by Pedro Almodovar called "Tie Me Up". As the star later shared with reporters, she was so fascinated by the director in her youth that she established a real tailing: sneaking on the set, on duty at his home. But to get acquainted with Almodovar in those years Penelope has not dared.

For a long time she was looking for an agent, but her young age was becoming an obstacle. Luck smiled when Cruz was 15 years old: she was accepted into the agency, and she signed the long-awaited contract. For this, Penelope had to work hard and bypass 3 hundred competitors.

Penelope Cruz first appeared on screen in 1989 in a music video of the pop group Mecano: with its frontman, the girl met then. And from 1990 to 1997, the future actress led television shows for teenagers.

Penelope Cruz Films

Cinematic biography of Penelope Cruz began in 1991 with the release of an erotic series titled "Pink Series. The young Spaniard played a cameo role, for which she had to get completely naked. A naked Cruz created a sensation, and she was immediately noticed. The following year she appeared in one of the central roles in the film "Ham, ham" ("Ham, ham"). For this work, Penelope was nominated for her first award - a Spanish prize "Goya". And People magazine named the actress a sex symbol of the year.

In 1993, Cruz starred in the comedy film "Elegant Era" and received for her the Spanish Actors Union Award. After the release of comedy for 3 years Penelope starred in a dozen Spanish and Italian paintings. At 25, the actress has moved to New York, where she began an in-depth study of ballet and improve their English.

In 1997, Penelope played a fan of John Lennon in the comedy film "The Perils of Love. But more viewer attention went to the pictures "Paradise Corner" and "Living Flesh". In the latter, the actress played a woman of easy virtue. This melodrama Pedro Almodovar was the first joint work of the actress and Spanish director. Subsequently, Penelope not only starred in many films Almodovar, but also became friends with him. The great director called it his muse.

In 1998, Cruz starred in his first American western called "The Land of Hills and Valleys. The picture was a failure in terms of fees and reviews from critics, however, the actress was nominated for an ALMA award.

But for the tape "Girl of Your Dreams", where she appeared as a singer, the Spaniard has received a lot of love from the audience and many awards, the largest of which were the prize "Goya" and a nomination for the European Film Academy Award. In 1999 and 2000, Penelope starred in two Pedro Almodóvar movies. In "All About My Mother" she brilliantly played a supporting role and in "Women on Top" - the main role.

Penelope Cruz believes 2001 to be a watershed in film career. It glittered in the two films that brought her worldwide fame. This is the drama "Vanilla Sky", where the Spaniard appeared in the role of Sophia - the girlfriend of the main character, played by Tom Cruise. Although the film received mixed reviews from critics, audiences loved it. The box office justified the hopes of the creators, bringing more than $ 200 million at the worldwide box office.

The drama Cocaine was greeted with no less interest. Audiences around the world warmly praised the film, but the box office returns were far more modest than those of 'Vanilla Sky'. Nevertheless, for his work in these films, which brought Penelope great fame, the actress won the anti-award "Golden Raspberry".

Decline in the career of an artist marked the next five years, beginning in 2001. Of the 10 paintings in which Penelope starred, more or less well received only the tape "Do not Go. For the main role in this project, the actress won the David di Donatello Award and another "Goya". Also, viewers liked the Christmas melodrama "Noel," in which, along with a Spanish actress played Paul Walker and Susan Sarandon.

After a slump - another rise. In the action-comedy "Bandidas" Penelope appeared with Salma Hayek, and Almodovar's next film "The Return" consolidated the former success. "Return" brought the actress an incredible popularity and an Oscar nomination. In addition, she has won many other important awards, including the Golden Globe, BAFTA and the Screen Actors Guild Award. In her home country, she received another national Goya Award.

2008 was an extremely fruitful and successful year for Cruz. She starred in "Elegy", "Manolete" and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". All 3 tapes were warmly received by critics and audiences, but the latter became a real triumph for the Spanish diva. Penelope won the long-awaited "Oscar" for her supporting role. She is the first Spanish actor who received the coveted statuette.

Nomination for "Oscar" was marked and the next role of the actress in the film "Nine", directed by Rob Marshall. Here Penelope Cruz played alongside Nicole Kidman. Soon she was again invited by this director to shoot in the project "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides". The actress played Angelica, the lover of Jack Sparrow, whose role, as in the previous parts, played by Johnny Depp. To enter the role of the actress had to learn how to fence.

In 2011, Penelope got a personal star on the "Walk of Fame" in Hollywood. The actress was able to confirm the deserved star in 2012 and 2013. She played Anna in Woody Allen's Roman Adventures and the heroine of the thriller The Counselor.

In the title role, Cruz appeared in the drama Born Twice, based on the novel by Margaret Mazzantini, where she played the Italian Gemma. Her character reminisces about her past in Sarajevo, which is a mix of personal relationships, trying to get a permit for adoption, becoming a young family and the civil war in Bosnia.

In 2013, the actress starred in Pedro Almodovar's comedy I'm Very Horny. The film shows a tragic situation: the plane, flying to Mexico, turns out to be faulty because of the failure of electronics and the crew and passengers are helpless. Antonio Banderas also starred in the film. Two years later, Cruz appeared in the Spanish drama "Ma Ma". The actress played the lead role of a talented teacher Magda, who tries to overcome disease and return to a happy life.

In the comedy "Model Male 2" starring Ben Stiller as the former popular male model Zoolander, Penelope Cruz embodied the central female character. The actress appeared as a special agent for the fashion police, who is forced to ask for Zoolander's help in investigating a string of model murders.

In November 2016, Penelope Cruz returned to her role as singer and actress Macarena Granada and appeared in the comedy film The Queen of Spain, the sequel to the 1998 film The Girl of Your Dreams. The action is set in 1938: popular actress Granada has to play Queen Isabella I of Castile, a Spanish heroine who unites the country. To do this, she moves from the popular Germany that gave Granada her popularity back to Spain, where she prepares for the role, meets old friends and confronts the Franco regime.

November 2017 saw the premiere of Murder on the Orient Express, an adaptation of Agatha Christie's detective from the Hercule Poirot series of books. Penelope Cruz played the role of Greta Olson. In addition to appearing in the detective, the actress starred in the biographical crime drama Escobar, in which Penelope's husband Javier Bardem played the main character, a Colombian drug lord.

In 2018, Penelope Cruz's filmography added another bright page: the actress starred in Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's drama Labyrinths of the Past, which premiered at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival.

The film follows Laura who returns to Spain with her husband and children from her Argentine homeland where she meets her first love, Paco, at her sister's wedding. The festivities are marred by the kidnapping of Laura's daughter. In the film, the actress once again plays a duet with Javier Bardem.

Also on the television channel FX showed season 2 series "The Assassination of Gianni Versace: An American Crime Story," in which the actress appeared as Donatella Versace. Penelope transformed into a blonde for the role. The film received positive reviews from critics.

Penelope Cruz as a Model

Penelope Cruz is widely known in the fashion world. In 2006, she was the face of L'Oréal. On several occasions she has also appeared in Spanish fashion ads for Mango and for Ralph Lauren's fashion house. Penelope Cruz and her sister have a clothing shop in Madrid.

The actress maintains an official Instagram account, where she posts posters of upcoming films, photos with other stars, selfies, landscapes that catch her eye and shares videos she likes.

In early 2019, the celebrity made her debut at the Chanel brand's next collection show at Paris Fashion Week. Penelope Cruz took to the runway in memory of Karl Lagerfeld, with whom she collaborated in the last year of his life. It was thanks to the legendary designer that Cruz was honoured to represent the world-renowned brand in 2018. Now the artist's face continues to appear on the covers of glossy magazines.

Charity

Like many Hollywood stars, Penelope is involved in charity. The celebrity started taking care of the needy back in the late 90s. Then the actress helped staff orphanage of Mother Teresa, and the money received for the work, moved to the charity fund Catholic nuns. In the early 2000s, Cruz prepared for the photo exhibition of children living in Tibet - the event was visited by the Dalai Lama himself.

The performer later became the head of Sabera Foundation's project supporting women and children from Calcutta. The Spaniard has also cared for people with serious illnesses. Penelope has for instance participated in campaigns aimed at solving the shortage of bone marrow donors, she has given interviews, where she spoke about different ways of helping the ill. Cruz's philanthropic work has also included campaigns to fight AIDS.

She and her fellow artists regularly appear at charity auctions to raise money for victims of natural disasters.

Penelope Cruz personal life

In her personal life, the actress has several famous people who are very dear to her. In her youth, Penelope was lucky enough to meet and become close to the director Pedro Almodóvar. Her friendship with Salma Hayek is also longstanding.

The Spaniard dated Tom Cruise for 3 years. That romance ended, but there is still a warm relationship between the actors. Penelope was the first among the artist's friends, who saw his newborn daughter Suri. After the end of the relationship with Tom, the star had a brief romance with Matthew McConaughey.

In 2010, Penelope married Javier Bardem. Cruz met her future husband when the actors starred together in one of Penelope's first pictures "Ham, Ham", but their true feelings only flashed in 2007 on the set of Woody Allen's film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona".

The actors on the screen reincarnated as former spouses, the passion between which is not yet extinguished. As fans of the couple like to joke, despite the fact that Pe and Javier knew each other for a long time, only the genius director managed to become a "cupid" for them, uniting their fates.

According to the actress, after Javier appeared in her personal life, she wanted only one thing - the birth of children and a real family life. Penelope began to appear less frequently, appearing in a year in only one project. Soon the star's wish came true: The couple had a son Leonardo and a daughter Luna, born in 2011 and 2013. The couple also moved to Madrid to be closer to their parents.

Motherhood has changed the actress in many ways. According to Penelope, both of her children have been breastfed for more than a year. And if before the actress could not be met in a public place without makeup and heels, with the birth of children in the star's wardrobe appeared flat-soled shoes, which she combines with comfortable T-shirts and jeans.

The celebrity gave 15 years of her life to dance classes. Every day, except Sundays, she spent 8 hours in the choreography class. As Cruz assures, such training has helped her in the future to keep physical shape. The artist fond of Pilates and yoga, and her weight at 168 cm does not exceed 62 kg. The star does not post explicit photos on her Instagram account.

Penelope Cruz nude

We have no information about nude photosets of Penelope Cruz naked: she is very careful with her online reputation.

Penelope Cruz now

In 2021, the actress continued to work in films. The long-awaited premiere of Pedro Almodovar's new film "Parallel Mothers" was released, where Penelope appeared in one of the main roles. It is a dramatic portrayal of two women who become mothers on the same day. The film, which also stars Milena Smith, Rossi de Palma and other Spanish celebrities, was highly praised by the critics. The artist's Instagram account also posted news about the film "The Official Competition".

Penelope Cruz filmography

1. 1991 - "The Pink Series".
2. 1992 - "Ham, Ham"
3. 1999 - "All About My Mother".
4. 2000 - "The Woman on Top".
5. 2001 - "Cocaine"
6. 2001 - "Vanilla Sky"
7. 2006 - "Bandidas"
8. 2008 - "Vicky Cristina Barcelona".
9. 2009 - "Nine".
10. 2011 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
11. 2012 - "Roman Adventures"
12. 2015 - "Ma Ma."
13. 2017 - Escobar
14. 2018 - The Assassination of Gianni Versace: An American Crime Story
15. 2018 - "Labyrinths of the Past".
16. 2019 - The Miami Affair
17. 2019 - "Pain and Glory"
18. 2021 - "The Official Competition"
19. 2021 - "Parallel Mothers".

Interesting facts

• Penelope Cruz refers to her fame with a degree of irony. For example, from her statuette and her spouse's Oscar, the actress has made bedside lamp stands.
• In some shots of "Pirates of the Caribbean" Penelope was substituted by her own sister Monica, as Cruz was pregnant.
• Her parents named the future celebrity Penelope not after Odysseus' wife, but after Juan Manuel Serrat's song of the same name.