Penelope Cruz Sanchez

Penelope Cruz Sanchez was born in Madrid to Eduardo Cruz, a retailer, and Encarna Sanchez, a hairdresser. As a child she was an obsessed performer and would re-enact commercials from the television to entertain of her family. But, she decided to concentrate on dance. She continued her training with a number of well-respected dancers after she had spent 9 years studying classical ballet at Spain's National Conservatory. Her true calling was discovered at age 15, when she beat more than 300 girls at an audition for an agency that represented talent. She was then offered roles on Spanish television and music videos. This brought her many performances, which opened the way to a future on the world of big screens. Cruz made her film debut in 1993's The Greek Labyrinth (The Greek Labyrinth). She then briefly appeared in Framed (1992) in a Timothy Dalton thriller. The third film she starred in was an Oscar-winning film, Belle Epoque (1992), where she was one of the four sisters fighting for the love of a handsome deserter from the Army. The film also garnered many Goyas that are the Spanish equivalent of the Academy Awards. Cruz became a prominent Spanish actress with her three to four films per year, which was a growing list. 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). In 1998, her luck changed when she won the Best Actress Goya for the movie-industry comedy La Nina De Tus Ojos (1998). Cruz was able to travel into English-language films, but All About My Mother (1999) was her first major international success. She played a non-challenging, but well meaning nun. Cruz was in hot demand both on the Atlantic and west coast as the film garnered numerous awards and awards. Her next big project was Woman on Top (2000) A comedy from the United States. American comedy about a cook with bewitching culinary skills and a serious case of motion sickness. While she was living in the US,