The actress, who was the first Spanish to win an Oscar and this Monday received the National Film Award, has participated in a total of 68 films, many of them directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Penelope Cruz continues to reap success in her extensive career as an actress. The Spanish interpreter, the first to receive an Oscar and who has been nominated three times, was crowned this Monday with the 2022 National Film Award.
Cruz, who made his debut in 1991 with ‘The Greek Labyrinth’, by Rafael Alcázar, and who only a year later stood out with ‘Jamón, Jamon’ by Bigas Luna, together with Javier Bardem, has participated in a total of 68 films during his artistic career, many of them directed by the also Oscar winner Pedro Almodóvar, in addition to some series, television commercials and even video clips.
Furthermore, the Spanish Film Academy has vindicated her work with twelve nominations for the Goya Awards since 1993, the year in which she was nominated for the first time for ‘Jamón, Jamón’.
These are some of his most notable roles: ‘Ham, Ham’ – 1992
‘Jamón, Jamon’ was the film that launched the Madrid actress to stardom, in which she starred alongside her current husband, Javier Bardem. Bigas Luna’s film was nominated for seven Goya Awards but received none.
‘Belle Epoque’ – 1993
‘Belle Époque’, by Fernando Trueba, premiered in 1993 and It was the second Spanish production won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and also won 9 Goya Awards, being one of the most awarded Spanish films. It is a choral film, full of ingenuity and framed in a time, which despite the title, is not the Belle Époque, but the days before and after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic.
Penelope Cruz, who plays Luz, shared a cast with actors such as Ariadna Gil, Jorge Sanz, Agustín González, Chus Lampreave or Fernando Fernán Gómez among others. After ‘Jamón, Jamón’, it was the production that finally catapulted her to success after being nominated for several awards and winning a Fotogramas and the Union of Actors award for best actress.
‘The apple of your eyes’ – 1998
Cruz, who gets into the skin of Macarena Granada In this film by Fernando Trueba, she received the Goya for Best Leading Female Performance and the European Film Award for Best European Actress for her performance. Altogether, the film received 18 Goya Award nominations and won seven of them.
It is about a group of Spanish filmmakers who are invited to Germany during Nazism to shoot the double version, German and Spanish, of the musical drama with an Andalusian setting, The Girl with Your Eyes, at the UFA studios in Berlin.
‘Back’ – 2007
With ‘Volver’, by Pedro Almodóvar, Cruz was nominated for an Oscar for the first time, although he did not win it. The film, in which she gives life to Raimunda and which achieved innumerable successes, speaks of “three generations of women who survive the east wind, fire, madness, superstition and even death based on kindness, lies and boundless vitality”, in the words of the director himself. “‘Volve’r destroys the clichés of black Spain and proposes a Spain that is as real as it is opposite. A white, spontaneous, fun, intrepid, supportive and fair Spain,” he adds.
‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ – 2008
On this occasion, the international performer put herself in the hands of the legendary Woody Allen to finally become the first Spanish woman to receive the Oscar for best supporting actress. In ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ she gets into the role of María Elena and, together with Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) and Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), she lives a polygamous relationship.
‘Parallel mothers’ – 2021
His latest film, in which he once again put himself in the hands of Almodóvar, has had innumerable successes, although Cruz has not been able to take neither the Goya nor the Oscar.
In the film, Two women meet in a hospital room where they are going to give birth. both are single and got pregnant by accident. Middle-aged Janis (Penélope Cruz) is unrepentant and exultant. The other, Ana (Milena Smit), a teenager, is scared, remorseful and traumatized. Janis tries to cheer her up as they stroll through the hospital corridors. The few words they exchange in those hours will create a very close bond between the two, which by chance develops and complicates, decisively affecting their lives.