From working-class child to icon: Penélope Cruz is 50

"This sofa was very important to me, it was like a window to the world," she recently told the fashion magazine "Elle". "It helped me to dare to dream." Although she has achieved everything both professionally and privately, Cruz still has dreams and wishes before her milestone birthday.

Cruz wants to direct
The Oscar winner ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), who has children Leo (13) and Luna (10) with Bardem, wants to direct, as she revealed to TV station RTVE. She told her mentor, Spanish star director Pedro Almodóvar, this at the beginning of her career. He advised her not to wait too long to do it. "But I told him that I would at least wait until I was 50, and that's probably what will happen now."

But Cruz also has another very special wish for her milestone birthday. She wants to be really "happy" and completely carefree at some point, she admitted to "Elle". "I think I'm a pretty happy person, but also a pretty intense and anxious person. There are things that no matter how much therapy I do, they're still there. Me and my worries. And I don't know how much that's going to improve."

Doesn't like big parties
Among other things, the daughter of a car mechanic and a hairdresser is afraid of driving, doesn't like big, loud parties with lots of people and is afraid of being "fired in the first few days of filming" for every new movie, as she revealed to RTVE not so long ago. She is insecure and "hypersensitive in every way: visually, to noises, to people's feelings".

However, her insecurities and fears have not put a damper on the career of the trained ballet dancer, who is also more in demand than ever as a model. According to the film database IMDb, she has appeared in around 90 projects as an actress, including "Sahara", "Vanilla Sky", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Sex and the City 2" and most recently "Ferrari".

Her sensuality, her naturalness and, above all, her ability to slip into a wide variety of roles have drawn praise from film stars such as Juliette Binoche, Ridley Scott and Keira Knightley. Cate Blanchett described the Cruz/Almodóvar duo as "legendary".

Awards don't count
In addition to the Oscar, "Pé", as she is known in Spain, also won the Bafta, the Goya and the European Film Award, among others. But she doesn't count: "If I looked back to see what I've achieved or how many awards I've won, it wouldn't help me to be happy or to keep growing."

Her rise was meteoric: Cruz dropped out of school at 15 after achieving her first minor fame as a model and in a music video. At just 17, she became the sex symbol of an entire country with her role in the film "Jamón, Jamón" (Desire for Meat), where she met Bardem.

Comet-like rise
Her international breakthrough came with the role of a pregnant nun suffering from AIDS in the Almodóvar film "All About My Mother" (1999), which paved her way to America. In Hollywood, she initially only caused a stir with romances with Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey. But after Woody Allen's romantic comedy "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", which made her the first Spanish actress to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2009, she became a global star.

She still takes regular acting lessons in Madrid with one of her first teachers, Juan Carlos Corazza. She is socially committed. In her early 20s, she spent time in India working for Mother Teresa's organization. Among other things, she publicly campaigns against violence against women and also appears in low-budget films that denounce social grievances, most recently in 2022 in the Spanish film "En los Márgenes", which is about forced evictions and migrants.

Family has priority
After marrying Bardem in 2010, the two initially continued to live in Los Angeles, but at some point the down-to-earth couple moved back to Madrid, where they still live today. Both in the USA and in Spain, the two managed to remain scandal-free in the difficult industry and largely shield their private lives.

She sometimes flies back and forth to Los Angeles on business in one day, Cruz revealed to "Elle", so as not to neglect her children. "They are my absolute priority today."