Sinlung /
19 May 2011

The Lovely & Talented: Penelope Cruz

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

Known as the "Spanish Enchantress" for her sizzling hot looks and equally cute demeanor, Penelope Cruz is arguably one of the most talented actresses of Hollywood. This young girl from Madrid, who dreamed of being a ballerina, has today touched the peaks of stardom and is counted among the hottest actresses on the planet.

As she rides the Black Pearl on to our shores, this weekend, we bring you the Penelope Cruz tale, in unseen, hot photographs.

Scroll down, and drool!

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

Penelope Cruz Sanchez was born on April 28, 1974 in Madrid, Spain to Encarna Sanchez and Eduardo Cruz.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

She has a younger brother Eduardo who is a singer and a younger sister Monica who is an actress.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

She loves dancing and studied ballet professionally for years.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

About the effect of ballet on her toes she once said' "All of them are twisted," I used to bleed from dancing so much. I would peel my toenails off and throw them away because they were completely black from the pain. To look at them now and see they are like this - they have a lot of life for me."

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

She made her on screen debut at the age of 15 year-old in the video clip of the song "La Fuerza del Destino" of the synth-pop trio Mecano. Then she hosted a couple of TV shows for years before making her feature film debut at the age of 17 as the lead female role in the comedy drama art house film, 'Jamón, Jamón'.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

Her topless act in the movie escalated her to the status of a 'Sex Symbol'. Even before this she was a part of the "Elle et lui" episode of an erotic French TV series called 'Série rose' in 1991, where she appeared totally naked.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

The actress who now speaks fluent English, learned teh language only when she was 20 after moving to New York to study ballet and English at Christopher and Greenwich.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

She remembers that earlier she could only say "How are you?" and "Thank you" except for the dialogues she mugged up. It's interesting that the very same actress has now played a multitude of ethnicities in her films.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

She even tried to pull off a Japanese character (though in vain!) when she read the script for 'Memoirs of a Geisha'. "I heard that Steven Spielberg wants to make that movie. So I was asking everybody, 'Do you think I can look Japanese?' But nobody thinks I can look Japanese," she told the Los Angeles Times in 1999.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

After filming 'All the Pretty Horses', where animals played a prominent role, Penelope Cruz became a vegetarian.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

Penelope Cruz donated her salary from 'The Hi-Lo Country' to Mother Theresa's children's sanctuary in Calcutta after spending a week there as a volunteer.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

Her most famous films are 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' 'Volver', 'Vanilla Sky', 'Blow', 'Bandidas' and 'Jamón, Jamón'.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

She won the Best Supporting Actress award for the movie 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' and became the first Spanish actress in history to receive an Academy Award.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

She is also the first Spanish actress to receive a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

The actress had a much publicized three year long affair with Tom Cruise which ended in 2004.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

She married Spanish actor Javier Bardem, her co-star from 'Jamón, Jamón', in July 2010.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

Cruz gave birth to her first child, son Leo Encinas Bardem, on January 22, 2011 in Los Angeles. In an interview to Vogue magazine, she said that motherhood had brought a revolutionary change to her.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

Her next release is 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides', where she replaces the franchise's favorite Keira Knightley as the leading lady. The movie will hit the theatres on May 20.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

Her sister Monica, who resembles her, was a stand in for her during the movie's shooting because of Penelope's pregnancy.

Know your star: Penelope Cruz

After this she will be seen in Woody Allen's comedy 'Bop Decameron' in 2012 and Sergio Castellitto's 'Twice Born' in 2013.

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