Actress Penelope Cruz was born on April 28, 1974, in Alcobendas, Spain. She debuted as a model at the age of 14. After dropping out of high school, she studied classical ballet and Spanish dance at the National Academy of Arts for nine years. Her film debut was in 1992's "Jamon, Jamon," in which she played the pregnant daughter of a prostitute who seduces another man, for which she was nominated for the Goya Award for Best Actress. In 1998, she won the Goya Award for Best Actress for her role in "The Beautiful Slave." She rose to international fame in the same year with Pedro Almodóvar's "All About My Mother." She won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actress Award and the European Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the 2006 Spanish film "Volver." She also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Woody Allen's "Victim of Barcelona" in 2008.

In her private life, she began dating Tom Cruise in 2001 after co-starring in Vanilla Sky. They broke up in January 2004, and she then began dating Javier Bardem. They married in July 2010 and have two children.

In the past, she has appeared in advertising campaigns for cosmetics brands L'Oréal and Lancôme. Since Spring/Summer 2013, she has been a brand ambassador for fashion brand LOEWE.