Penelope Cruz

Penelope was a TV presenter for the teen-oriented program La Quinta Marcha . She also had early exposure in Série Rose, a French erotic TV serial in which she played the role of a blind prostitute. She also directed Nacho Cano's video of "El waltz de los locos", in 1994. Cruz's first major films were Jamón, jamón and Belle Epoque, a film which won an Academy Award for Foreign Language Film. In 1997, she starred as Sofía Pangia, alongside Eduardo Noriega in Abre los ojos, directed by Alejandro Amenábar, and in 2000 she appeared with Matt Damon in All the Pretty Horses. In 1999, she appeared in Pedro Almodóvar's Todo sobre mi madre, which won an Academy Award for Foreign Language Film. In early 2001, she appeared in the film Vanilla Sky, the Hollywood remake of Abre los ojos. She played the same role in both films. Cruz co-starred with her best friend, Salma Hayek in the 2006 film, Bandidas. In 2006, Cruz received highly favourable reviews for her performance in Pedro Almodóvar's Volver. She won a Best Actress ensemble award at the Cannes Film Festival and has been nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA Award. She is the first Spanish Actress to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.