Penelope Cruz (Penelope Cruz Sanchez) was born on 28 April 1974 in Madrid, Spain. Her friends called her "Pe" and she is the daughter of father Eduardo Cruz (a retailer) and mother Encarna Cruz (a hairdresser manager). Penelope attended high School but she dropped out, choosing to concentrate more on ballet and jazz. She majored in Classical Ballet from the National Conservatory Madrid Spain and further spent four years in the Theatre at Cristina Rota's school in Nueva, New York. As for her acting career, it started in 1992 when she starred in two Spanish movies 'Jamon Jamon' and 'Belle Epoque'. The later won nine Goya Awards, which is essentially the Spanish equivelant of the Oscars, and also won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. She got her first role in an English Film in 1998's 'The Hi-Lo Country' after which she had done numerous roles. Some of her roles include those in Blow, Vanilla Sky, Gothika, Sahara and Bandidas. |