Penelope Cruz Sanchez

Penelope Cruz Sanchez is the daughter of Eduardo Cruz, a Madrid hairdresser, and Encarna Sanchez. As a young child, she was an obsessive performer and would re-enact commercials from the television to entertain of her family. However, she decided to focus her efforts on dance. She continued to train with a variety of highly-regarded dancers, after having spent the last nine years learning ballet in Spain's National Conservatory. She realized what she wanted to do at the age of 15 when she defeated more than 300 other girls in an audition with an agency for talent. She was then offered roles on Spanish music videos and TV. The contract led to many more roles, and opened the doors to a successful career in the big screen. Cruz was first seen in a movie in The Greek Labyrinth (1993). (The Greek Labyrinth). Then she appeared briefly in Framed (1992) directed by Timothy Dalton. The third film she starred in, Belle Epoque (1992) was an Oscar-winning movie in which she was one of the four sisters that were seeking to win the love of a handsome deserter army soldier. The film also earned many Goyas that are the Spanish equivalent of the Academy Awards. Her film resume continued to expand by the number of films she acted in each year, and soon Cruz became a star of Spanish cinema. Live Flesh (1997) (Live Flesh) offered her the chance to work with renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodovar (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). The luck of her life changed in 1998 when her movie industry comedy La Nina De Tus Ojos (1998) earned her the award for the Best Actress Goya. Cruz has made several trips into films with English subtitles, but All About My Mother (1999) was her first major international success. She played a non-challenging but well-meaning nun. Cruz was soon in high demand across the Atlantic and west coast, since the film received numerous awards and awards. Woman on Top (2000) was her next major film. The film was an American comedy about a cook with exceptional culinary skills and extremely motion sickness. In the US,