Penélope+Cruz's+Biography

 **Penélope Cruz's Biography**  

Childhood "Born in Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain on the 28th of April, 1974. She was the daughter of Encarna Sánchez and Eduardo Cruz where, her father was a retailer and auto mechanic and her mother a hairdresser and personal manager. As a toddler, she was already a compulsive performer, re-enacting TV commercials for her family's amusement. Although, she initially decided to focus on dance. After studying classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National Conservatory, she continued her training under a series of prominent dancers. She received three years of Spanish Ballet training with Ángela Garrido. She also had jazz dance training with Raúl Caballero and studied at Cristina Rota (mother of Juan Diego Botto) school in Madrid. "

Teenager "She studied theatre for a few years, and as the dancing faded out, acting took centre stage where, she left high school at an early age, Penélope beat more than 300 other girls at a talent agency audition when she was just 15. Landing her first job at 16, Penélope presented children television programmes on Spain's Tele 5. However, the high demands of this position combined with having just finished studying feverishly throughout her pre-pubescence and teens, Penélope had to take a break to recover from over-exhaustion."

Acting Career "In 1991 she filmed //El Laberinto griego// / //The Greek Labyrinth//, which was not released until 1993. This was followed by the TV thriller //Framed// and //Belle Epoque// / //The Age of Beauty//, which received nine Goya awards (Spanish equivalent of an Oscar) as well as an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. More success came with the controversial //Jamón, jamón// / //A Tale of Ham and Passion// in which Penélope is the lowly daughter of the local brothel-keeper. Penélope’s performance awarded her with a Goya nomination and the film received the Silver Lion at Venice.

//Todo es mentira// / //It's All Lies// (1994) would be Penélope’s next successful film. In the rauncy comedy she played the highly-strung Lucia. The performance won her the Best Actress win at the Peniscola Comedy Film Festival. Next came the role of Sofia in Alejandro Amenábar's critically acclaimed //Abre los ojos// / //Open Your Eyes// and //La Niña de tus ojos// / //The Girl of Your Dreams//, an English spoken film, where she re-united with //Belle Epoque// director Fernando Trueba and won a Goya Award for her performance.

Next would be //The Hi-Lo Country// (1998), Penélope’s first Hollywood production. Her big success came with Pedro Almodóvar's //Todo sobre mi madre// / //All About My Mother// (1999). The film is still considered one of Spain's most acclaimed movies. It won the Best Foreign Language Film award at the Oscars and Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, among others. Penélope’s first American starring role, //Woman On Top// (2000), saw her move her into major pin-up territory. Next to come was //All the Pretty Horses// (2000). On her return from this trip, Ms. Cruz collapsed again from exhaustion. She describes this as the worst period of her life, "I had a horrible, horrible breakdown. It was just huge, like the worst period of my life, and it lasted for a couple of months."

After recuperating, Ms. Cruz filmed //Blow// (2001) with Johnny Depp, of whom she has said, "Johnny is so special that he is like a Martian. In fact, that's what I call him, Martian." Later that year she filmed //Captain Corelli's Mandolin// (2001) with Nicholas Cage, and //Vanilla Sky// (2001), the American version of //Abre los ojos// / //Open Your Eyes//. Along with the role came a highly publicised four year relationship with co-star Tom Cruise. Penélope was now a household name in Hollywood and the next few years saw her star in //Fanfan la tulipe// (2003), //Gothika// (2003) and the film that Penélope says changed her life - //Non ti muovere// / //Don't Move// (2004). She learned Italian just to be able to portray the rape victim. Of the role she says, "When I find material that can make me feel so much, I feel so privileged that they thought of me for this." For her fine performance, Penélope received a Goya nomination.

2004 saw //Head in the Clouds// (2004) Penélope Cruz in a ménage à trois with Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend and around the same time, the end of her relationship with Tom Cruise. Later she would film //Sahara// (2005), which was a very psychical role as the stunts in the film were done by Penélope herself. "I've never said no to a director for something like that because of fear. So I train and train and train", she says. This film also saw the beginning of her relationship with co-star Matthew McConaughey. Penélope has been linked to many famous actors in the past, including Nicolas Cage and Matt Damon but the actress herself states that most of these are just silly rumours.

Penélope recently starred in //Bandidas// (2005) with long time best friend Salma Hayek. On the filming experience, Penélope said "I love working with her. She's been my friend for seven years and is someone that I love very much. She's a great woman and we are now even closer friends after the movie. We had to do all of those action scenes together, and my God, we worked so hard. We worked hard, but at the same time feeling so lucky that we could do that."

In 2005 Pedro Almodóvar and Cruz re-united for their third collaboration for //Volver// (2006) which will be in competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year. "Pedro Almodóvar is my favorite director and it's a gift, this character. He had the trust to bring to my hands such an amazing, difficult, complex character and that's what I look for. I don't look for easy things," said Cruz, who has been receiving rave reviews for her performance. "When I watched it, I felt I'd done one of those things that I know I'm going to be proud of for the rest of my life."

In January 2006, Penélope was honored by the French government with a Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters in a ceremony held in Paris, France. In 2007, she received an Academy Award nod for her stunning performance in //Volver// (2006) but the Oscar went to Helen Mirren, //The Queen// (2006). Well, in our eyes Penélope is the winner for her wonderful, refreshing and multifaceted portrayal of Raimunda.

Next Penélope filmed a small independent feature called //The Good Night// (2007) and co-starred in //Manolete// (2007) next to Adrien Brody. Both films are still awaiting wide release. Ms Cruz traveled to British Columbia, Canada to star in //Elegy// (2007) next to powerhouse actors, including Ben Kingsley, Dennis Hopper and Peter Sarsgaard. //Elegy// (2007) will be released in 2008. Next Penélope fulfilled a great dream of hers as she received a call from Woody Allen, who cast her as María Elena in his new movie, //Vicky Cristina Barcelona// (2008). The film brought Penélope back to her native country and re-united her with her //Jamón, jamón// / //A Tale of Ham and Passion// (1992) co-star Javier Bardem where, according to reports, the two have become a couple."

Other Projects  "Commercials & Ad Campaigns • French Box (unknown) • Freixenet (1994-2001) • Victorio and Lucchino (1998) - Fall/Winter "Fashion Show" (February 12, 1998) - Perfume "Abril" (1998) - Perfume "Carmen" (1998) • Ralph Lauren "Glamourous" (2001-2002) • Coca Cola "Real" (2003) • Sabera Foundation (1999-2004, charity) - Voices of Hope "CD" (2002) • Honda "Jazz" (2004) • "Sean" by Sean Combs (2005) • WFP - World Food Program (2005, charity) • Japander (2002-2006) - Lux "Super Rich" - "Love Renaissance" • The ONE Campaign (2005-2006, charity) • Samantha Thavasa (2006) • (RED) Gap Campaign (2006, charity) • ALDO Fights AIDS (2006, charity) • Ripley (2005-2007) - "Coats" - "Confeccion" - "Handbags" - "Perfumes" - "Sweaters" • L'Oreal Paris (2006-2007) - "Casting Creme Gloss" - "Derma Genesis" - "Elnett Hairspray" - "Elvive Anti-Quebra" - "Elvive Anti-Rottura" - "Natural Match Hair Color" - "Telescopic Mascara" • Pirelli Calendar (2007) • Mango  (2007) • Live Earth (2007, charity) • BrosWay Jewels (2007-2008)"

Philanthrophy "In //The Hi-Lo Country// (1998), Penélope’s first Hollywood production it had been rumoured that she donated a large part of her salary of the film to Mother Teresa's children's sanctuary in Calcutta. Early in her career, Penélope volunteered for one week at Mother Teresa's hospital in Calcutta, which left a huge stamp on her life. In 1997, she also spent two months volunteering in Uganda, along with her boyfriend at the time, Faiz Ahmad.

After //All the Pretty Horses// (2000), Penélope and Nacho Cano founded a non-government organisation called Sabera Foundation and went directly to India to shoot a documentary for the Foundation, which was aiming to raise money for deprived children. The Foundation built a home, a school and a clinic for homeless girls and TB sufferers. Sabera also released a CD called 'Voices of Hope' in November 19, 2002 which Penélope herself performed a song together with guitar player, Vicente Amigo. Other famous artists who worked on the project was for example, Sting, Ricky Martin, Alanis Morissette, Antonio Banderas and Elton John.

Today she is the face of the WFP - World Food Program (2005), ONE Campaign (2005/2006), (RED) Campaign (2006), ALDO Fights AIDS (2006), targetted to end world poverty and Live Earth (2007) to stop global warming. She also supports smaller causes like designing a necklace in 2003 for sale to a charity auction for Sotheby's which got sold for $5000 and giving away her personal belongings, for example a pair of shoes to get sold to raise money for different causes.

In 2007 she lended out a 2 hour "date" on her movie premiere and the winner was the highest bidder at an ebay auction for the nonprofit mission statement: American Friends of the Phelophepa Train. The winning bid was US $5,000.00! The organisation focuses on children's charities in Africa and wants them to have a good life with great health, education, social environment and also threatening diseases like HIV/Aids and cancer."

Current Status <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"Cruz recently founded her own production company, 88 Producciones, and will soon produce and star in //Indian Passion//. With the long awaited and very well deserved international critical success that films like //Volver// (2006) are bringing Ms. Cruz, we can look forward to many amazing things from the actress!"

<span style="display: block; font-size: 120%; color: #080707; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-align: left;">Works Cited <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Wikipedia <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen%C3%A9lope_Cruz <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Penélope Fan <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">http://www.penelope-cruz.com/biography.php <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> Photo provided by Google Images