Penélope Cruz’s career in movies has been (0) EXTRAORDINARILY successful, although she feels she has always had to struggle for 1RECOGNISE as an actress because of her looks. As she says, ‘Once you are seen as 2GLAMOUR, you get called “The pretty woman” and no one takes you seriously’. Nevertheless, in the best movies she has made in her native Spain, she managed to play some well-rounded, 3BELIEVE characters that people could identify with. In 2000, Cruz was 4ABLE to resist the call of Hollywood and early on appeared in one or two 5DISAPPOINT movies there, such as ‘All the pretty horses’.
Now she is an international performer who appears in both Spanish and English-language films and many regard her 6PERFORM in Pirates of Caribbean as one of her best later English-language movies. In it, she plays the dangerous pirate who not only looks good but also has great 7STRONG of character. Not just a talented actress, Cruz gives generously to charitable 8ORGANISE as a volunteer in Uganda.