Penélope Cruz

Penélope Cruz Sánchez (born 28 April 1974) is a Spanish actress. Prolific in Spanish and English-language films, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Latin Grammy Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards.

Cruz made her acting debut on television at 16, and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón Jamón (1992). Her subsequent roles included Belle Époque (1992), Open Your Eyes (1997), Don Juan (1998), The Hi-Lo Country (1999), The Girl of Your Dreams (2000) and Woman on Top (2000). She is known for her frequent collaborations with Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar in Live Flesh (1997), All About My Mother (1999), Volver (2006), Broken Embraces (2009), I'm So Excited! (2013), Pain and Glory (2019) and Parallel Mothers (2021).

For her role in Woody Allen's romantic drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Cruz won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her other Oscar-nominated roles were in Volver (2006), Nine (2009) and Parallel Mothers (2021). Other notable films include Vanilla Sky (2001), Blow (2001), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), The Counselor (2013), Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Everybody Knows (2018), Official Competition (2022), L'immensità (2022) and Ferrari (2023). For her role as Donatella Versace in the miniseries The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (2018), she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

Since 2010, Cruz has been married to Spanish actor Javier Bardem. She has done modelling work for Mango, Ralph Lauren and L'Oréal, and along with her younger sister Mónica Cruz, designed clothing for Mango. She has been a house ambassador for Chanel since 2018. She has volunteered in Uganda and India, where she spent one week working with Mother Teresa; she donated her salary from The Hi-Lo Country to help fund the late nun's mission. She is the only Spanish actress to have won an Academy Award and to have received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.