Penélope Cruz

Birth Name: Penélope Cruz Sánchez

Place of Birth: Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain

Date of Birth: 28 April, 1974

Ethnicity: Spanish

Penélope Cruz is a Spanish actress and model. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). She has appeared in many Spanish and Hollywood films, also including Jamón Jamón, Belle Époque (1992), Open Your Eyes, Live Flesh, The Girl of Your Dreams, The Hi-Lo Country, Don Juan (1998), All About My Mother, Woman on Top, All the Pretty Horses, Blow, Vanilla Sky (2001), Gothika, Volver, Broken Embraces, Nine (2009), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, I’m So Excited!, The Counselor, Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Everybody Knows, Pain and Glory (2019), Parallel Mothers (Madres paralelas), Official Competition, and Ferrari, and on television’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. She has often collaborated with director Pedro Almodóvar. She has modeled for Mango, Ralph Lauren, and L’Oréal, and has been a house ambassador for Chanel.

Penélope was born in Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Eduardo Cruz, a retailer and auto mechanic, from Alonchel, Extremadura, and Encarna Sanchez, a hairdresser and personal manager, from Andalusia. She is the sister of actress Mónica Cruz, and Eduardo, a singer. Penélope and Monica have designed clothing for Mango. Penélope has volunteered in Uganda and India.

She is married to actor Javier Bardem, with whom she has two children.

One article stated that Penélope has some Romani ancestry:

[Penélope] was the oldest of three siblings… by her grandmother she had Gypsy [Romani] blood… She wanted to became ballerina like her grandmother. And although her family wasn’t rich, the mother decided to invest in the future of her daughter.

It is not clear if this Romani ancestry has been verified/documented.

Penélope’s paternal grandfather was named Manolo Cruz.

Penélope’s paternal grandmother was named Modesta.

Penélope’s maternal grandmother was named Isabel Sánchez.

Source: Genealogy of Penélope Cruz (focusing on her father’s side) – https://www.geni.com

ethnic

Curious about ethnicity

157 Responses

  1. ashash says:

    You don’t know what you’re talking about.

    Antonio Banderas played a Mexican in a popular series (Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico). I believe he was Mexican in The Mask of Zorro as well.

    Penelope Cruz has played plenty of Latinos, including as a Colombian in Blow with Johnny Depp. Of course she has also played plenty of Spaniards (Volver, Vicky Cristina Barcelona).

  2. andrew says:

    Penélope’s paternal grandparents were Manolo Cruz and Modesta.

  3. andrew says:

    She was born to Eduardo Cruz, from Alonchel, Extremadura, and Encarna Sanchez, from Andalusia.

  4. alberto.r7 says:

    She has some gypsy blood in her father side. I dont know if he is partially or fully gypsy but it is sure that he has gypsy blood.
    In the this photo, there are Penélope´s father and his new wife (not Penélope´s mother, who is fully white spaniard). The new wife of the father of Penelope is gypsy too.

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