“Awards are great, as you get to meet up with friends and colleagues from your industry – a sort of reunion.”
― Penelope Cruz
“The discipline that ballet requires is obsessive. And only the ones who dedicate their whole lives are able to make it. Your toenails fall off and you peel them away and then you’re asked to dance again and keep smiling. I wanted to become a professional ballet dancer.”
― Penelope Cruz
“You cannot live your life looking at yourself from someone else’s point of view.”
― Penelope Cruz
“When I start a movie, the first day, I feel like a duck.”
― Penelope Cruz
“All those cliches, those things you hear about having a baby and motherhood – all of them are true. And all of them are the most beautiful things you will ever experience.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I have been hearing gossip and lies since I began working. When I was 17, I used to get very angry because I opened a magazine and I saw myself in a picture on a motorcycle, and the headline was, ‘I’m getting married next month.’”
― Penelope Cruz
“My ambition is to be happy.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I want to be remembered as somebody that tried to respect her integrity as an artist and as a person. And I don’t want to be in any box. I don’t want to be one thing.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I have stepped off the relationship scene to come to terms with myself. I have spent most of my adult life being ‘someone’s girlfriend’, and now I am happy being single.”
― Penelope Cruz
“In my house every Sunday, everybody was cleaning the house. There was always music, and everybody was dancing, sometimes naked, around the house. Not hippie, but very free.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I don’t know why, but women in a hair salon share their deepest secrets.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I love the Italian culture – it’s a beautiful culture. I love the language, the Italian people, their music, their attitudes… I just love it! Sometimes I think I’m an Italian trapped in a Spanish woman’s body.”
― Penelope Cruz
“The most difficult thing in the world is to start a career known only for your looks, and then to try to become a serious actress. No one will take you seriously once you are known as the pretty woman.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I like roles that people don’t recognize me in.”
― Penelope Cruz
“In Spain, actresses work until they are old. That’s my plan.”
― Penelope Cruz
“In my everyday life, I just wear jeans, t-shirts and trainers – if I can go barefoot, that’s even better. But for the events I have a stylist, and in two hours we have selected a whole outfit.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I always feel scared and insecure on a film set. I don’t know any other way.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I have a strong personality, and I say what I think.”
― Penelope Cruz
“Johnny Depp is so special that he is like a Martian. In fact, that’s what I call him, Martian.”
― Penelope Cruz
“The most important lesson I’ve learned in this business is how to say no. I have said no to a lot of temptations, and I am glad I did.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I am amazed about how everyone wants to know about my love life. They whisper to me, ‘Tell me the truth? Is it true?’ Who cares? Because we have this job, we are to say to everybody what we do, or with whom we sleep? It’s a bit absurd, but that’s why everybody lies so much.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I want to have babies one day but not right now. When I do it I want to do it really well. I want it to be my best project in life.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I don’t know if I believe in marriage. I believe in family, love and children.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I’m strong and opinionated. Those qualities brought me a lot of problems since I was a little girl in school, saying ‘I don’t agree’ and fighting with the children. It’s part of my curiosity for life.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I came to Los Angeles for the first time in 1994. I spoke no English. I only knew how to say two sentences: ‘How are you?’ and ‘I want to work with Johnny Depp.’”
― Penelope Cruz
“There’s so much more I want to do. I refuse to get to 50 and wait at home for the phone to ring.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I have a little bit of an addiction to work. So I’m always hiding in the bathroom with my Blackberry to work when I’m on holiday.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I really like the Caribbean. Anyplace in the Caribbean. I get there, and I feel like a monkey – the perfect state.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I love New York, but being there the whole year, it gets a little crazy with the speed and rhythm of things.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I remember when I got my first opportunity to work in America, I didn’t speak a lot of English, so I only really knew my lines for the movie I was doing.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I came to New York to study ballet and English.”
― Penelope Cruz
“Maybe I’ll make one movie a year, maybe two, but it’s not going to be more than that because I have other priorities now.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I am living for every day and trying to have less fear, less worry. But I have always worried about everything; it’s in my nature. It’s the thing that makes me suffer the most.”
― Penelope Cruz
“One thing that I am proud of: I am really capable of laughing at myself.”
― Penelope Cruz
“There’s so much more I want to do. I refuse to get to 50 and wait at home for the phone to ring. In Spain, actresses work until they are old. That’s my plan.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I remember playing with some friends and being aware that I was acting as I was playing with them – I would think of a character and pretend to be someone else.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I try to look at the whole thing and say ‘yes’ to the projects that I cannot stop thinking about. If I read a script and the subject stays with me – then that’s when I want to go to work.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I learned English kind of late. I remember when I got my first opportunity to work in America, I didn’t speak a lot of English, so I only really knew my lines for the movie I was doing.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I won’t go to places where you’re going to find more attention. I go to the opposite.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I only drive in movies. I know that’s very weird to hear for an American. I have a weird relationship with it. I know how to drive, but I never went to take the test.”
― Penelope Cruz
“Even if you were aware of children and felt compassion, when you have your own, it multiplies. It breaks your heart to know that there are so many children in the world suffering so much.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I want my son – and my kids, if I have more – to grow up in a way that is as anonymous as possible. The fact that his father and I have chosen to do the work that we do doesn’t give anybody the right to invade our privacy.”
― Penelope Cruz
“Especially when you are advertising a product, I talk to the photographer and we create a character – it always gives you more freedom because it makes it less about yourself.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I am a big fan of photography, more of being behind the camera – so when I get the opportunity to work with such great photographers, I always try and learn from their technique.”
― Penelope Cruz
“It’s great working with my sister, because we are very close as a family – my brother, my sister and myself. We have a great relationship.”
― Penelope Cruz
“There are so many designers that I love, and I’m so lucky that I get to work with so many of them and sometimes spend time with them.”
― Penelope Cruz
“When I read a script, I try not to judge the characters. I try to have an open mind and really see what it makes me feel.”
― Penelope Cruz
“For ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona,’ for example, Woody Allen is one of the greatest American directors, and we really had a very good working relationship. We understand each other really well. He gave me one of the best opportunities somebody has ever given me in my career.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I can cook a little bit. I can cook a few Spanish dishes. But, in movies, it looks like I cook much better than I cook.”
― Penelope Cruz
“Unfortunately, I am very aware of editing and I look at the monitor too much. Sometimes the monitor can become your worst enemy because you can, consciously or unconsciously, start editing yourself.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I am someone who worries a lot. I’m always worrying ‘what if?’ Now I’m a mum – there will be worries for the rest of my life, but they’re not about me anymore.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I used to dance for seventeen years -classical ballet, which was very disciplined. I like yoga and Pilates, but I don’t have the discipline to go to the gym.”
― Penelope Cruz
“When I was 16, I got ‘Jamon, Jamon.’ Of course, I had to lie about my age. And I had to lie to my parents about the content of the script.”
― Penelope Cruz
“There is a part of your brain that has to stop when you’re acting. You have to be in the moment and dare to fly. Words can’t be on your mind.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I don’t play comedy as comedy. That would be the biggest trap. I think about the characters and their situations. Then you don’t have to worry where the laugh is going to be. But comedy is harder than drama.”
― Penelope Cruz
“When I was 16 or 17, when I started, I never even considered not doing a project. I just wanted to work.”
― Penelope Cruz
“As a kid, I had a lot of energy; but the ballet lessons made me calm – this pleased my mother.”
― Penelope Cruz
“Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve worried too much. It always bothers me because sometimes you end up worrying more about the worry and you are not resolving things that are right there in front of you. I have been like that all my life, and it’s hard to change.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I’ve worked myself to exhaustion before. I was so young, and I thought I could do everything; it was just too much for my body and my mind.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I have had a very singular kind of life since I started working so young, so I am very used to traveling, working, taking time for myself.”
― Penelope Cruz
“Sometimes you will do a close-up for a scene in the morning where you are totally distraught, then shoot the rest of that scene seven hours later. How do you hang on to that feeling all day without burning up, without going so far that you have nothing left to give when the cameras roll again?”
― Penelope Cruz
“I was 11 when I first said I wanted to become an actress, and everyone looked at me as if I had said I wanted to go to the moon.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I was very superstitious when I was a teenager, and I had to fight against that because it made me feel anxious.”
― Penelope Cruz
“My first fear was about the devil, when I was around fire, something I saw in a movie. I think it’s about pain, in whichever form it comes.”
― Penelope Cruz
“You can always keep learning with acting, because the school is life and yourself and your friends and your relationships. I’m fascinated by it! It’s infinito!”
― Penelope Cruz
“Calcutta is like another world. People there are very special and grateful.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I love Salma Hayek; we’ve been friends for a really long time. I admire how she has come such a long way and always remained grounded and who she is. She never compromises to follow her vision, and she is loyal. Such qualities only mark the great stars.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I remember playing with some friends and being aware that I was acting as I was playing with them – I would think of a character and pretend to be someone else. My parents also took me to ballet school, and there I think I was able to start communicating those feelings or emotions – I danced for so many years.”
― Penelope Cruz
“As an actress, I really love people like Anna Magnani and Debra Winger. I also think there is nobody better than Meryl Streep.”
― Penelope Cruz
“It doesn’t happen every day, but many nights my dreams are like a movie. I don’t see normal movement – I see things in very complicated shots. That’s why I do remember many of them.”
― Penelope Cruz
“Making a living out of acting sounded like science-fiction when I was growing up. I didn’t know anyone around me who lived from anything related to art.”
― Penelope Cruz
“There are so many designers that I love, and I’m so lucky that I get to work with so many of them and sometimes spend time with them. As an actress, you get to go to these events and wear their things – it’s fun, but it is what it is. I don’t put a lot of time into it, but I respect what they do.”
― Penelope Cruz
“There’s a lot of work that goes into it – if you think about how many collections a year that Karl Lagerfeld has to do, with Chanel and all the other things he does – you can’t do that unless you are working 18 hours a day. It’s really a lot of hard, hard work.”
― Penelope Cruz
“There are roles I have said no to, but for different reasons. And, I never talk about those because I feel it’s disrespectful to say, ‘Oh, I said no to this project or that other project.’ I’d rather talk about the ones that I said yes to and the reasons why.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I am not somebody who likes to give advice, or anything like that, unless it’s my closest friends or family.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I just try not to label myself in any way. I just have an allergy to labels in general. I can tell you that I am surrounded by very strong women and that I really appreciate that, but I’d rather not label myself.”
― Penelope Cruz
“Madrid is what I call home, but also the States.”
― Penelope Cruz
“In ‘Twice Born’ I play my character in her 20s, 30s and 50s. For the fifty year old scenes, I had some prosthetics; it was interesting to see how I’m going to look when I’m fifty-five or so. I actually saw similarities between my grandmothers and my mother.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I really dislike it when the media asks young actresses, normally when they’re about 23, how they feel about ageing. There are other things to worry about.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I always knew I wanted a family because of the way I grew up. Family has always been the most important thing.”
― Penelope Cruz
“My parents owned a hair salon, so I learned a few tricks there. I can cut people’s hair – if they let me.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I don’t do Twitter, Facebook; none of that. My email I do from my Blackberry or my iPhone.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I try to do as much as possible for every character. Some of them, it is easier to do the research because you have either real examples that you work with, maybe some specific person that inspires you in that case, or the performances from other people, or the characters, or a character from a book.”
― Penelope Cruz
“The thing that really makes me happy is the real work and rehearsing and creating the character and the process of making the movie. Hollywood’s not real.”
― Penelope Cruz
“My first fear was about the devil, when I was around fire, something I saw in a movie. I think it’s about pain, in whichever form it comes. I had a lot of energy as a child – sometimes too much – and I didn’t know how to channel it. It was making me suffer. It was bigger than myself, and I was very young.”
― Penelope Cruz
“My favourite actress is Meryl Streep. Oh, and Anna Magnani.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I have fear, always, on the set. Insecurity to the point where the first week I always think I could be fired. I think that’s a fear most actors have.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I never felt, ‘Oh, I think I look good.’ I always tend to be more in the insecure side. And I thought that has always been a way to protect myself. Because I don’t trust the good feelings that can come from that.”
― Penelope Cruz
“There was a point where I was making four movies a year. I was always on a set. I had no stories to tell. I was feeling empty. My life was just luggage and hotels and from set to set, from character to character. And one day, I said, ‘And where is mine?’ You know? And the moment I started to feel that fear, I stopped and I slowed down.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I try to eat healthily, but I love fried food and bad things. Give me a plate of bread, some oil and salt and I’m happy. But you can’t eat like this all the time.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I breastfed my son for 13 months, and I plan to do at least the same with my daughter. That’s an amazing thing for babies, but it’s also really good for the mother because it regulates your body again after pregnancy.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I love Spanish food. My diet is the Mediterranean diet, which is good food. I eat well.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I love ballet, and it’s a little boring for me to go to the gym because I’m used to the dancing discipline – it’s really hard but much more fun.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I had a very curly perm in the ’80s, thanks to the ‘Way You Make Me Feel’ Michael Jackson video. I liked the girl in it.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I never want to lie about my age. If I look around at the actresses I admire, they are all women who have not fought growing older, but embraced it and been proud of it – women like Sophia Loren or Audrey Hepburn.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I hope that I will be able to work all of my life – even when I am older. It’s easier to do that in Europe than in America, because in America it is difficult for older actresses to find work.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I was raised Catholic, but then I discovered Buddhism, and I used to have a boyfriend who was a Scientologist, and they are all good religions that help people. As far as I’m concerned, you can have all three religions at once and it’s okay!”
― Penelope Cruz
“It’s a good thing to be old. Because when you get older, that means you haven’t died yet, right? And when I do get older, I want to have the grace to be proud of it, not to lie about it or try to fight it.”
― Penelope Cruz
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