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Penélope Cruz Sánchez (born April 28, 1974 in Alcobendas, Spain), better known as Penélope Cruz, is a Spanish actress.

Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Alcobendas, Community of Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser and personal manager, and Eduardo Cruz, a retailer and auto mechanic. Initially, she focused on dance. After studying classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National Conservatory, she continued her training under a series of prominent dancers.

Cruz first achieved fame when she appeared in the video for "La fuerza del destino" for the Spanish synthpop group Mecano. She later started a relationship with Nacho Cano, a member of the group. A TV presenter for the teen-oriented program La Quinta Marcha, she also had early exposure in Série Rose, an erotic French TV serial.

Cruz's first major films were Jamón, jamón and Belle Époque, a film which won an Academy Award for Foreign Language Film; she was aged sixteen in her first film. In 1997, she starred as Sofía Pangia, alongside Eduardo Noriega, in Open Your Eyes, directed by Alejandro Amenábar, while in 1999 she appeared in Pedro Almodóvar's All About My Mother, which also won an Academy Award for Foreign Language Film. In 2000 she appeared with Matt Damon in All the Pretty Horses.

In 2001, she appeared in the film Vanilla Sky, the Hollywood remake of Open Your Eyes. Returning to Europe, in 2004, Cruz learned Italian (she already spoke Spanish, French, and English) to star in the film Don't Move.

In 2006, she co-starred with Salma Hayek in the film Bandidas. That same year, Cruz received highly favourable reviews for her performance in Volver. She shared a Best Actress award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival with five of her co-stars, and was nominated for the Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the BAFTA Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actress in a leading role.

In 2008, Cruz appeared with Ben Kingsley in fellow Spaniard Isabel Coixet's film Elegy, earning her critical praise for an English-speaking role. Later that year, she starred in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona. She became the first Spanish actress to win an Academy Award, and one of the only actors besides Robert De Niro and Ingrid Bergman to win the Oscar for a role speaking two different languages. Besides the Oscar, Cruz won the BAFTA, the Independent Spirit Award, the National Board of Review Award, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Cruz again collaborated with Pedro Almodóvar in his film Broken Embraces, released in the U.S. in November 2009.

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