| Nick Name: |
Madonna
of Madrid
|
| Height: |
5'6"
|
| Birthplace: |
Madrid,
Spain
|
| Date of Birth: |
April 28,
1974
|
| Husband/Partner: |
Tom Cruise
|
| Contact Info: |
|
| Personal
Quote: |
"No
one will take you seriously once you are
known as the pretty woman."
|
|
She
was born Eduardo, a merchant and her mother was
hairdresser in Madrid, Spain. Penelope was one of
three children, brother Eduardo an dsister Mónica.
She was named in memory of a Joan Manuel Serrat
song. Penelope attended High School, but didn't
finish, choosing to concentrate more on ballet and
jazz. She had ten years of classic ballet and three
years of Spanish ballet. Her studies took her to
four years of Theatre at Cristina Rota's school
in New York. She broke into acting in 1992. That
year, she had starring roles in Jamón Jamón and
Belle Epoque. Jamón Jamón (Ham Ham is the English
title) cast her as the desperately poor daughter
of a village prostitute, while Belle Epoque featured
her as one of four lusty daughters of a wealthy
man in pre-Franco Spain. Belle Epoque was a critical
smash, winning nine Goya Awards, which is essentially
the Spanish equivelant of the Oscars, and it did
win an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. The success
of this film thrust Cruz into the International
spotlight, proving to be a huge stepping stone towards
success.
It wasn't
until 1998, however, that Cruz had her first starring
role in an English language film. She played the
Mexican-American love interest in Stephen Frears'
The Hi-Lo Country. Cruz donated her entire salary
from this film to Mother Theresa's charity. Later
in the year, she had another English film in the
romantic comedy Twice Upon a Yesterday. She returned
to Spain in 1999, to work again with Almodovar on
Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother), a critically
acclaimed film that landed in Cannes that year.
She also began work on her biggest project to date,
All the Pretty Horses, which costars Matt Damon.
The movie debuted in the year 2000. Written by:
Jeremy Falcone of AbsoluteNow. Absolutenow.com |
 |
Last
Update:
June 15, 2003
|
|
English
Films Only
Films:
Masked & Anonymous (2003)
Waking Up in Reno (2002)
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
Blow (2001)
All the Pretty Horses (2000)
Woman on Top (2000)
The Hi-Lo Country (1998)
Talk of Angels (1998)
The Man with Rain in His Shoes (1998)
Made for TV: None
Direct to Video: None
TV Shows: Framed (1992)
Cartoon Voices: None
|
|
