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The leading lady of Spanish cinema has already enjoyed a career to be proud of, despite being only in her early 30s. With a string of award-winning films to her name, she has gone from strength to strength with each new project.
Her latest film, Volver, saw Penelope Cruz and her female co-stars picking up the Best Actress award at Cannes this year.
Depicting a mother who copes with a murder and attempts to hide the body, the actress said it was a dream to be able to play a "real woman" at last.
Almodóvar's muse
It is the third time she has worked with Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar whose film Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother) catapulted Cruz to international fame in 1999.
With the global exposure it provided, she went on to star as a bewitching chef in Woman On Top in 2000 before teaming up with some of America's hottest actors in projects that followed.
In the same year, she worked with Matt Damon in All The Pretty Horses and the following year starred in Blow opposite Johnny Depp.
Despite her considerable acting talents, it was her relationship with co-star Tom Cruise after the film Vanilla Sky that ultimately made her a household name.
Ironically, while her image was splashed across tabloids and magazines the world over during the three-year affair, the over-exposure came more than a decade after she starred in the Oscar-winning film Belle Epoque, aged just 18.
Having been a performer since she was a toddler, Cruz's meteoric rise to the top comes as no surprise.
Avid fans can look forward to further outstanding performances by the Spanish beauty in Jake Paltrow's romantic comedy The Good Night and the bullfighting drama Manolete coming soon.
Profile
Name: Penelope Cruz.
Born: April 28, 1974, in Madrid, Spain.
Career: An award-winning actress who has proved her worth in a range of films in both Spanish and English.
Highlights: Belle Epoque (1992), Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother; 1999), Woman On Top (2000), Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001) and Volver (2006).
Style: Sultry.
Personal: She had a three-year relationship with her Vanilla Sky (2001) co-star, Tom Cruise, and is best friends with Salma Hayek, her co-star in Bandidas (2006).
Quote: "The most difficult thing in the world is to start a career known only for your looks, and then to try to become a serious actress. No one will take you seriously once you are known as the pretty woman."
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