Recently booed in Australia during a movie preview of Vanilla Sky, Penelope may have lost some of her popularity downunder as a result of her current choice of partner. However, her relationship with Tom Cruise, along with her part in Captain Corelli's Mandolin has effectively skyrocketed her into stardom. Known outside her native country as the "Spanish enchantress," Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Madrid to Eduardo, a retailer, and Encarna, a hairdresser.

As a toddler she was already a compulsive performer, reenacting TV commercials for her family's amusement, but she decided to focus her energies on dance. After studying classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National Conservatory, she continued her training under a series of prominent dancers. At 15, however, she heeded her true calling when she bested more than 300 other girls at a talent agency audition.

The resulting contract landed her several roles in Spanish TV shows and music videos, which in turn paved the way for a career on the big screen. Cruz made her movie debut in (1991) The Greek Labyrinth, then appeared briefly in the Timothy Dalton thriller (1992) (TV), Framed. Her third film was the Oscar-winning Belle époque (1992), in which she played one of four sisters vying for the love of a handsome army deserter. The film also garnered several Goyas, the Spanish equivalent of the Academy Awards.

Cruz made a few more forays into English-language film, but her first big international hit was Almodóvar's madre (1999), All About My Mother, in which she played an unchaste but well-meaning nun. As the film was showered with awards and accolades, Cruz suddenly found herself in demand on both sides of the Atlantic.

Her next big project was Woman on Top (2000), an American comedy about a chef with bewitching culinary skills and a severe case of motion sickness. While in the US, she also signed up to star opposite Johnny Depp in the drug-trafficking drama Blow (2001) and opposite Matt Damon in Billy Bob Thornton's All the Pretty Horses (2000).