• December 20, 2004
• Vol. 62
• No. 25

Lady of Spain

By Ericka Sóuter

Don't Move, Penélope Cruz's New Film, Brought Her An Italian Oscar. Her Next, Sahara, Brought Matthew McConaughey

She dated Tom Cruise. Site's dating Matthew McConaughey. But Penélope Cruz's most memorable moment of 2004 may have been with her pal Salma Hayek. On a flight to Durango, Mexico, last month, where they're filming the movie Bandidas, their small plane began to rapidly lose altitude. Oxygen masks fell. Prayers were said. A few minutes later, the pilot pulled off an emergency landing. "We nearly died together," says Hayek, who nonetheless found a way to look at the bright side: "I thought, 'If I go now, I go with my good friend.' "

Indeed, it has been an eventful year for Cruz, 30, who broke with up Cruise, 42, in January after three years as a couple. "We are friends," insists Cruz, who reunited with her ex for lunch when he was in Madrid in August for the Collateral premiere. "And we will always be friends." By that time, though, she was thoroughly involved with McConaughey, 35, whom she met filming the adventure Sahara last spring. Soon after, they celebrated her birthday together in Madrid and then lounged in London for a couple of weeks. Somewhere along the way she visited the U.S. and sampled some of his native Texas culture—which included a camping trip in his RV.

In the U.S., Cruz may be known more for her relationships than her movies. Elsewhere, it's different. An actress since the age of 17, she has made 40 films—including 5 in the past year. Often she plays controversial characters—for example, an impoverished woman who falls in love with her rapist in the Italian drama Don't Move, opening this week. The role "was really raw," says Cruz, who underwent a Monster-like make-under and won a David di Donatello—Italy's equivalent of an Oscar—for her portrayal. "The more scary the project, the more excited I get."

Raised in Madrid by her father, Eduardo, a hardware store clerk, and mother, Encarna, a hairdresser, Cruz became a sex symbol in Spain with the raunchy comedy Jamon Jamon. "She has a naturalness and authenticity, a spark, that's very difficult to find," says director Pedro Almodóvar, who cast her as a pregnant nun in his All About My Mother, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2000. "And, of course, she is very, very beautiful." And hard-working. Cruz spent years studying English (she also speaks Spanish, Italian and French) to star in movies like 2001's Vanilla Sky, during which she met costar Cruise.

Though Cruz has homes in Madrid, New York City and Los Angeles, her heart is clearly with her native country. In February she opened Amarcord, a clothing boutique featuring her favorite designers, in Madrid. In L.A. she whips up the Spanish favorite huevos con patatas fritas—eggs with fried potatoes—for pals. And she always finds time to lavish attention on loved ones. "She's always calling [her family], checking up and worrying," says Almodóvar. "I am the control freak of the family," says Cruz. "I want to make sure that everyone's okay." A quality that brother Eduardo, 19, doesn't appreciate all the time. "He's always saying, 'Penélope, why don't you have a baby already and leave me alone?' " she told Glamour. For now she's content to lord it over a coterie of eight stray cats and dogs. "I keep forgetting that I cannot control everything" she says. "It's something I'm really going to have to correct."

Ericka Sóuter. Tom Cunneff in Los Angeles, Courtney Rubin in London and Kelly Carter in Italy

• Contributors:
• Tom Cunneff,
• Courtney Rubin,
• Kelly Carter.