It’s Penélope Cruz’s 46th birthday! Today, we take a look back at the gorgeous Oscar-winner’s effortless style and amazing accomplishments in her decades-long career on the big screen!
In her talent, filmography, and fashion, actress Penélope Cruz is truly unmatched. Today, the gorgeous Oscar-winner turns 46, and in her time on the big screen, she has amassed an incredible résumé and worked with fascinating filmmakers. In her over 20-year career, Cruz has barely aged a day, showing off the same timeless sense of fashion and glowing complexion that she had when she first appeared on screen. To commemorate her birthday, we’re looking back at her amazing career and flawless beauty!
The actress rose to fame in the mid-90s after starring in films like Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes), Don Juan, and All About My Mother. By the early 2000s, Cruz received more international attention when she starred in Blow alongside Johnny Depp and Vanilla Sky, co-starring with Tom Cruise. Her fame reached a completely new level, however, in 2006 when she reunited with her All About My Mother director, Pedro Almodóvar.
That year, she starred in Almodóvar’s film Volver, which received incredible praise from critics. Many fawned over Cruz’s performance of a Raimunda, a haunted woman who travels with her sister and daughter to visit the graves of her parents before a series of startling events unfold. For her work in the 2006 film, the actress earned her very first Oscar nomination and stunned everyone at the award ceremony with her style and poise. Of course, this wouldn’t be Cruz’s only Oscars, and in the years to come, she would win her first statuette!
Two years after Volver, Cruz starred alongside Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem in the film Vicky Cristina Barcelona. For her work, Cruz earned her second Oscar nomination and her very first win! At the award ceremony, she wore a gorgeous tulle and lace strapless gown with a sweetheart neckline. The vintage Balmain gown was an absolute classic, old Hollywood look and was the perfect dress for her big night — where she brought her co-star, Bardem, as her date. The two would go on to marry in 2010 and have two children. They share a son, Leo Encinas Cruz, 9, and daughter, Luna Encinas Cruz, 6.
After her Oscar-winning turn in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Cruz has gone on to continue to have an incredibly successful career with appearances in The Queen Of Spain, Murder On The Orient Express, and American Crime Story. All the while, she has maintained her elegant style, which she recently showed off at the 2020 Academy Awards in her Chanel gown from the 1995 collection. To see more images of Penélope Cruz through the years, check out the gallery above!