Penelope Cruz Free Screensaver. Photos slideshow. Penelope Cruz Sanchez (born April 28, 1974 in Madrid, Spain), better known as Penelope Cruz, is a Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominated Spanish actress. Originally a dancer, she soon moved into Spanish television, and since then she has appeared in a string of films, in Spanish, English, French and Italian.By 2002, Penelope Cruz had become one of the most famous actresses in the world. Aside from her cinematic output, she stared down from Ralph Lauren posters everywhere, and there was the small matter of a relationship with Tom Cruise, then daily tabloid fodder following his split from Nicole Kidman. Unfortunately for Cruz, everyone knew who she was, but few knew what she did. Her huge success in Europe, where she'd appeared in two movies awarded Oscars as Best Foreign Language film and a slew of other notable productions, had passed most people by. To them, she was simply Tom's latest glamorous squeeze. So, having toiled to achieve Hollywood success (not easy for a non-English speaker), then been totally overshadowed by her illustrious partner, 2004's split from Cruise would see Penelope battling to maintain her position and win the respect she should have already received. The road had not been long - she was still only 30 - but it had been bumpy, indeed.