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“I like it from the back with my man Matt Hyde-Linaker”
Nickname:
Pen, Madonna of Madrid, The Spanish Enchantress
Birthname:
Penélope Cruz Sánchez
Assets:
muse-worthy beauty, adorable Spanish accent, good heart
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Hobbies:
dancing, collecting stray cats
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Introduction
In her Spanish movies, Penelope Cruz is known to be a great actress. In her American movies, she is merely a gorgeous dark-haired woman who smiles a lot. Hey, we’ll take it. Voted #26 in the AskMen.com's Top 99 Women 2008 Edition.
Life Story
Born in Madrid to a retailer and a hairdresser, Penelope studied classical ballet for 9 years at Spain’s National Conservatory. She has said she decided to become an actress after watching Victoria Abril’s performance in Pedro Almodovar’s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! In 1992, 18-year-old Penelope made her film debut in Jamon, Jamon (Ham, Ham), in which she appeared nude and simulated some pretty erotic sex (welcome to show business). She followed that with Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes), and Almodovar’s Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother), which won an Oscar for best foreign film.
She cracked into American movies with 2000’s Woman on Top—a position we’re totally cool with, by the way—and has since compiled a hit-and-miss Hollywood filmography, including All the Pretty Horses, Blow (Franka Potente, Jaime King), Vanilla Sky (a Cameron Crowe-directed remake of Abre Los Ojos, in which she plays the same character), Gothika (Halle Berry), Sahara and Bandidas (Salma Hayek). In the process, she has racked up relationships with actors Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey and Orlando Bloom. In 2006, she reunited with Almodovar in Volver, which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination (a first for a Spanish actress).
Coming up, nebbish hilarity should ensue for Penelope fans in the Woody Allen project Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Scarlett Johansson), and she’s signed on to star with Catherine Zeta-Jones in Nine, based on a script by Federico Fellini. On the personal side, Penelope has recently said she doesn’t think her life will be complete if she doesn’t adopt…so get those papers in order.
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