female icons
The actress could win a Goya this Saturday for her role in ‘Parallel Mothers’, a character because the one who has also been nominated for the Oscars
It is the great moment of Penélope Cruz: nominated for an Oscar (the second in her career after ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’), more than possible winner of the Goya this Saturday for ‘Parallel Mothers’, about to premiere ‘Official Competition’ where she plays a film director… And the shooting of Juan Diego Botto’s directorial debut has just finished.
Penélope Cruz was born in Alcobendas (Madrid) on April 28, 1974. Her parents call her Penélope in honor of the song of the same title by Joan Manuel Serrat. She soon feels attracted to the world of acting, especially after seeing her, at the age of 13, the movie ‘Tie me up!’ by Pedro Almodovar. She from that moment she decides to be an actress to be able to get to work one day with Almodóvar. She studies classical ballet at the National Conservatory of Madrid, she studies with Cristina Rota or Spanish ballet with Ángela Garrido. At the same time, she studies acting and attends a multitude of castings.
Penelope’s first contact with the camera was in a video clip of the group Mecano, starting a long relationship with Nacho Cano. After the video clip, she is hired as the presenter of the Telecinco program ‘La quinta marcha’, a musical space aimed at teenagers. She subsequently appears in an episode of the television series ‘Serie Rosa’ directed, among others, by Jaime Chávarri. Her first feature film is ‘The Greek Labyrinth’ in 1990, but her popularity arose with her next film, ‘Jamón, Jamon’, by Bigas Luna, in 1992. In it she shares the leading role with another beginner, Javier Bardem. Penelope is nominated for a Goya as leading actress for this work. Before Bigas Luna’s film is released, she works on an episode of the series ‘Framed’, with Timothy Dalton, and Fernando Trueba chooses her as one of the female protagonists of ‘Belle Époque’, during the shooting of which ‘Jamón , ham’ consecrating her as an actress. ‘Belle époque’ wins nine Goyas and the Oscar for best foreign film. After the success, Penélope Cruz began a long and brilliant career in Spanish cinema. In the same decade of the 90s, she stars in ‘Everything is a lie’, ‘Between Reds’ (her first contact with Pedro Almodóvar, producer of the film), ‘Allegro ma non troppo’ or ‘The butterfly effect’. But there are two films that stand out, ‘La Celestina, by Gerardo Vera, and ‘Love seriously harms health’, by Gómez Pereira.
For not filming nude, moving away from her sexy image of ‘Jamón, ham’, she refuses to take part in titles such as ‘Counted days’, ‘A walk through the clouds’ or ‘Tierra’. At the end of the 90’s, Penelope is already popular and in great demand on the Spanish scene. And finally, in 1997, Almodóvar claimed her for a small character in ‘Carne trémula’. In 1998 she becomes the protagonist of ‘The girl with your eyes’, again under the orders of Fernando Trueba, for which she wins her second Goya, now as the leading actress.
With Pedro Almodóvar she shoots ‘Todo sobre mi madre’, a film that won the Oscar, which opens the doors of Hollywood for the actress. In 2000, she worked alongside Matt Damon and Billy Bob Thorton in ‘All the Beautiful Horses’, alongside Nicolas Cage in ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’, or with Tom Cruise in ‘Vanilla Sky’, who would become her partner . She and she also works in French and Italian cinema.
Penélope is already one of Pedro Almodóvar’s muses, who called her back in 2006 for ‘Volver’, with which she won the award for best actress at the Cannes Film Festival, shared with the rest of the female cast, the Goya, and is nominated for an Oscar for best actress. After ‘Elegy’ and ‘Manolete’, Woody Allen wants her for ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’, for which she won the Oscar for best supporting actress. After ‘Broken Embraces’, again with Almodóvar, she joins the cast of Rob Marshall’s musical ‘Nine’ and, for the third time in four years, she is nominated for an Oscar
In 2013 Penélope debuted as a director with a spot for a lingerie firm. It is the first step for her to become a director. Her next work behind the camera is the documentary ‘I am one in a thousand’ about childhood cancer. At the same time, she co-produces some of her works under the orders of Julio Medem or, again, with Fernando Trueba.
Married to Javier Bardem since July 2010 and mother of two children, in recent years there has been a succession of awards, including the French César de Honor, the Donostia at the San Sebastián Festival, and the Volpi Cup at the Venice Festival for the best actress for ‘Parallel Mothers’. Only the National Film Award continues to resist him.