Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Volver
director	Pedro Almodóvar
producer	Esther García (producer)Agustín Almodóvar (executive)
writer	Pedro Almodóvar
starring	Penélope CruzCarmen MauraLola DueñasBlanca PortilloYohana CoboChus Lampreave
music	Alberto Iglesias
cinematography	Jose Luis Alcaine
editing	José Salcedo
distributor	Sony Pictures Classics
released
runtime	121 minutes
country
language	Spanish
budget	€9.4 million
gross	$84,021,052 }}

''Volver'' (; , ) is a 2006 Spanish dramatic comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Headed by actress Penélope Cruz, the film features an ensemble cast starring Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, and Chus Lampreave. Revolving around an eccentric family of women from a wind-swept region south of Madrid, Cruz plays Raimunda, a working-class woman forced to go to great lengths to protect her 14-year-old daughter Paula. To top off the family crisis, her mother Irene comes back from the dead to tie up loose ends.

The plot originates in Almodóvar's earlier film ''The Flower of My Secret'' (1995), where it features as a novel which is rejected for publication but is stolen to form the screenplay of a film named ''The Freezer''. Drawing inspiration from the Italian neorealism of the late 1940s to early 1950s and the work of pioneering directors such as Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, and Pier Paolo Pasolini, ''Volver'' addresses themes like sexual abuse, loneliness and death, mixing the genres of farce, tragedy, melodrama, and magic realism. Set in the La Mancha region, Almodovar's place of birth, the filmmaker cited his upbringing as a major influence on many aspects of the plot and the characters.

''Volver'' was one of the films competing for the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. It eventually won two awards: Best Actress (shared by the six main actresses) and Best Screenplay. The film's premiere was held on March 10, 2006, in Puertollano, Spain, where the filming had taken place. Penélope Cruz was nominated for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the second Spanish woman ever to be nominated in that category.

Plot

Raimunda (Penélope Cruz) and Soledad (Lola Dueñas) are sisters who grew up in Alcanfor de las Infantas, a small village in La Mancha, but now both live in Madrid. Their parents died in a tragic fire three years prior to the beginning of the film. The events which occurred on the night of the fire are only gradually revealed, but are central to the plot.

Sole returns to the village for the funeral of her elderly Aunt Paula (Chus Lampreave). Aunt Paula's neighbour Agustina (Blanca Portillo) confesses to Sole that she has heard Paula talking to the ghost of Sole's mother Irene (Carmen Maura). Sole encounters the ghost herself, and when she returns to Madrid, she discovers that the ghost has stowed away in the trunk of her car. Irene has brought luggage, intending to stay with her daughter for a while, and Sole, though frightened, agrees to let her mother stay with her: Sole operates a hair salon in her apartment, and Irene will assist her, posing as a Russian woman to hide her true identity. Sole tries to determine why her mother's ghost has returned to Earth, asking her if she left anything undone in her life. Irene says that she does have issues to resolve, relating to the questions of why Raimunda hates her and why she is afraid to reveal herself to Raimunda.

Meanwhile Raimunda and her daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo) have a different death to cope with. Paula's father Paco (Antonio de la Torre ) attempts to rape her, claiming that he is not really her father, and Paula stabs him in self-defense. Raimunda quickly hides the corpse in the deep-freezer of a nearby unused restaurant. The owner of the restaurant building, Emilio (Carlos Blanco), is out of town and entrusted Raimunda with the keys so that she can show it to prospective tenants. When members of a film crew happen upon the restaurant, Raimunda strikes a deal to cater for them, and suddenly finds herself back in the restaurant business.

Raimunda reveals to Paula that Paco was not, in fact, her biological father, and promises to tell her the whole story at a later time. Agustina is diagnosed with cancer and must go to Madrid for medical treatment. Raimunda visits her in the hospital. Agustina asks Raimunda if she has seen her mother's ghost. Agustina hopes that the ghost will be able to tell her about the fate of her own mother, who disappeared three years ago without a trace. Raimunda undertakes the task of disposing of Paco’s remains: she leaves Paula with Sole, rents a van and transports the freezer to a convenient spot by the river Júcar, 180 kilometres away. While staying in Sole's apartment, Paula meets her grandmother's ghost and grows close to her. The next night, Agustina comes to the restaurant to renew her request to Raimunda to ask her mother’s ghost about her own mother's whereabouts. She reveals two startling secrets: that Raimunda's father and Agustina’s mother were having an affair and that Agustina's mother disappeared on the same day that Raimunda’s parents died in the fire.

Sole finally confesses to Raimunda that she has seen their mother's ghost and that the ghost is, in fact, watching television in the next room with Paula. Raimunda is confused, angry, and frightened, but Paula urges her to tell her the truth: is she really alive, and not a dead spirit? Irene admits that she did not, in fact, die in the fire, and reveals the whole truth. We learn that the reason for Raimunda and Irene's estrangement is that Raimunda's father sexually abused her, resulting in the birth of Paula; thus Paula is Raimunda’s daughter and also her sister. Raimunda had been angry with her mother for never noticing and ending this abuse. Irene tells Raimunda that she had never understood Raimunda's anger and distance until her Aunt Paula told her about what her husband had done to her daughter, and Irene became furious with herself when she found out.

Irene explains that, due to her husband's abuse of Raimunda, she started the fire that killed him. The ashes that had been presumed to be Irene’s were, in fact, the ashes of Agustina's mother, the woman with whom Irene's husband was having an affair. After the fire, Irene wandered for several days in the countryside, until she decided that she wanted to turn herself in. But first, she wanted to say goodbye to her sister Paula, who had lost the ability to look after herself and with whom Irene had been living prior to setting the fire that killed her husband. Paula, who was living in the past due to her senility, welcomed Irene home as if nothing had happened, and Irene stayed, caring for her sister and expecting that the police would come soon to arrest her. Due to the superstitious and closed nature of the community, however, the police never came and the residents, who are accustomed to tales of the dead returning, explained the rare sightings of Irene as "un fantasma", a ghost.

The film ends with the family reunited at Aunt Paula’s house. Irene reveals her presence to Agustina, who believes Irene to be a ghost. Irene pledges to stay in the village and care for Agustina as her cancer worsens, saying to Raimunda that it was the least that she could do after killing Agustina's mother. In the last scene Raimunda visits her mother at Agustina's house. The two embrace and tell one another that they now have time to repair their relationship.

Production

Origins

''Volver'' was first developed by Pedro Almodóvar, based on a story actress Marisa Paredes told him during the production of their 1995 film ''The Flower of My Secret'', another film set in the La Mancha region. The story revolved around a heartbroken Puerto Rican man who opts to kill his mother-in-law in hopes of reuniting with his beloved wife, who left him and broke off contact, at her mother's funeral. Owning a restaurant, he leaves it in his neighbour’s care, when he is about to kill his victim. Fascinated by the story and its background, Almodóvar decided on incorporating elements of it into the screenplay of ''The Flower of My Secret'', making it the plot of a movie-within-the-movie based on the main character's novel in the film. While working on the script for ''Volver'', he would however settle on outlining the role of the neighbour Raimund, as the film's central character, while Emilio, the Puerto Rican, eventually became a supporting role only.

Almodóvar says of the story that “it is precisely about death...More than about death itself, the screenplay talks about the rich culture that surrounds death in the region of La Mancha, where I was born. It is about the way (not tragic at all) in which various female characters, of different generations, deal with this culture.”

Cast

Penélope Cruz as Raimunda, a feisty hard-working mother living in Madrid's suburbs. Cruz was the first reported to have landed one of the starring roles in ''Volver'', having previously worked with Almodóvar on his films ''Live Flesh'' (1997) and ''All About My Mother'' (1999). In preparing for her role, the actress watched Italian neorealism films from the 1950s, many of them starring Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale, to study "the Italian ''maggiorate''" that Almodóvar envisioned for her performance in the film. Cruz, who had to wear a prosthetic bottom while filming, noted the role of Raimunda as "the best gift an actress can get." Carmen Maura as Irene, Raimunda's mother. Maura, the star of Almodóvar's debut ''Pepi, Luci, Bom'' (1980) and five additional films with the director, was the first to be cast in the film alongside Cruz. Her engagement marked her first collaboration with Almodóvar after a period of 18 years and a reported fallout during the production of ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' (1989). Maura commented on the "borderline character" of Irene as a "very complicated [role to play]."

Lola Dueñas as Soledad ("Sole")

Blanca Portillo as Agustina

Yohana Cobo as Paula

Chus Lampreave as Tía Paula

Antonio de la Torre as Paco

María Isabel Díaz as Regina

Carlos Blanco as Emilio

Neus Sanz as Inés

Release

Commercial performance

In the US alone, as of May 9, 2007, the film had made $12,897,993 (15.4% of total) in the box office, after 26.4 weeks of release in 689 theatres. The box office figure from the rest of the world is somewhere in the region of $71,123,059 (84.6% of total) according to the results of 'BoxOfficeMojo'. The total worldwide gross was estimated at $84,021,052.

As of January 22, 2007, the film had grossed $12,241,181 at the Spanish Box Office.

Critical reception

The film received rave reviews when it was released in Spain. ''Fotogramas'', the country's top film magazine, gave it a five-star rating. It also received a standing ovation when it was screened as part of the official selection at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and won the Best Screenplay award as well as the award for Best Actress — which was shared by the six stars of the film. In addition, the film received two nominations at the 2006 Golden Globes: Best Actress for Penélope Cruz as well as Best Foreign Language Film. Cruz also received Academy Award, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Actress.

The film has received a ''Certified Fresh'' rating from critics at Rotten Tomatoes, scoring 91 percent on the site's "Tomatometer", as well as 91 percent from the users on the site.

Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006.

2nd - Marjorie Baumgarten, ''The Austin Chronicle''

3rd - Glenn Kenny, ''Premiere''

3rd - Kevin Crust, ''Los Angeles Times''

3rd - Richard Corliss, ''TIME'' magazine

3rd - Philip Martin, ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette''

4th - Andrew O'Hehir, ''Salon''

4th - Peter Travers, ''Rolling Stone''

4th - Ray Bennett, ''The Hollywood Reporter''

5th - Desson Thomson, ''The Washington Post''

6th - Claudia Puig, ''USA Today''

6th - Scott Tobias, ''The A.V. Club''

7th - Kenneth Turan, ''Los Angeles Times''

8th - A.O. Scott, ''The New York Times''

8th - Keith Phipps, ''The A.V. Club''

8th - Kirk Honeycutt, ''The Hollywood Reporter''

8th - Stephen Holden, ''The New York Times''

9th - Shawn Levy, ''The Oregonian''

10th - David Ansen, ''Newsweek''

10th - Lou Lumenick, ''New York Post''

General top ten

Carina Chocano, ''Los Angeles Times''

Carrie Rickey, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''

Joe Morgenstern, ''The Wall Street Journal''

Liam Lacey and Rick Groen, ''The Globe and Mail''

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards (0/1):

*Best Actress (Penélope Cruz)

2006 Cannes Film Festival(2/2):

*Best Actress (Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo and Chus Lampreave)

*Best Screenplay (Pedro Almodóvar)

BAFTA Awards (0/2):

*Best Actress (Penélope Cruz)

*Best Foreign Language Film

Broadcast Film Critics (0/2):

*Best Actress (Penélope Cruz)

*Best Foreign Language Film

Chicago Film Critics (0/2):

*Best Actress (Penélope Cruz)

*Best Foreign Language Film

César Awards (0/1):

*Best Foreign Film

Empire Awards (1/1):

*Best Actress (Penélope Cruz)

European Film Awards (4/6):

*Best Actress (Penélope Cruz)

*Best Cinematographer (José Luis Alcaine)

*Best Composer (Alberto Iglesias)

*Best Director (Pedro Almodóvar)

*Best Film

*Best Screenwriter (Pedro Almodóvar)

Golden Globe Awards (0/2):

*Best Actress - Drama (Penélope Cruz)

*Best Foreign Language Film

Goya Awards (5/14):

*Best Actress (Penélope Cruz)

*Best Director (Pedro Almodóvar)

*Best Film

*Best Original Score (Alberto Iglesias)

*Best Supporting Actress (Carmen Maura)

*Best Cinematography (José Luis Alcaine)

*Best Costume Design (Sabine Daigeler)

*Best Make-Up and Hairstyles (Massimo Gattabrusi and Ana Lozano)

*Best Production Design (Salvador Parra)

*Best Production Supervision (Toni Novella)

*Best Screenplay - Original (Pedro Almodóvar)

*Best Sound

*Best Supporting Actress (Lola Dueñas)

*Best Supporting Actress (Blanca Portillo)

National Board of Review (1/1):

*Best Foreign Language Film

Satellite Awards (1/4):

*Best Foreign Language Film

*Best Actress - Drama (Penélope Cruz)

*Best Director (Pedro Almodóvar)

*Best Screenplay - Original (Pedro Almodóvar)

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) (0/1):

*Best Actress (Penélope Cruz)

Vancouver Film Critics (1/1):

*Best Foreign Language Film

Music

Tango ''Volver'' by Carlos Gardel with lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera is converted to flamenco and is sung in the movie with the voice of Estrella Morente and lip synced by Penélope Cruz.

The dance tune playing at the party prior to Raimunda's lip syncing is called "Good Thing" by British three-piece indie-dance combo Saint Etienne.

References

External links

}}

Volver Production Notes

Category:2006 films Category:Spanish films Category:Spanish-language films Category:2000s drama films Category:Best Film Goya Award winners Category:Castilla-La Mancha in fiction Category:2000s comedy-drama films Category:Films directed by Pedro Almodóvar Category:Films featuring a Best Actress Goya Award winning performance Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Goya Award winning performance Category:Films shot anamorphically Category:Films shot in Madrid Category:Incest in fiction Category:Films set in Madrid Category:Sony Pictures Classics films Category:Spanish drama films

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Carlos Gardel
background	solo_singer
born	December 11, 1890
birth place	Toulouse, France
death date	June 24, 1935
death place	Medellín, Colombia
genre	Tango
years active	1917–1935
website	}}

Carlos Gardel (11 December 1890 – 24 June 1935) was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. (See below.) He lived in Argentina from the age of two and acquired Argentine citizenship in 1923. He grew up in the Abasto neighborhood of Buenos Aires. He attended Pio IX Industrial high-school located in the Almagro neighborhood of Buenos Aires. He died in an airplane crash at the height of his career, becoming an archetypal tragic hero mourned throughout Latin America. For many, Gardel embodies the soul of the tango style. He is commonly referred to as "Carlitos", "El Zorzal" (The Song Thrush), "The King of Tango", "El Mago" (The Magician) and "El Mudo" (The Mute).

The unerring musicality of Gardel's baritone voice and the dramatic phrasing of his lyrics made miniature masterpieces of his hundreds of three-minute tango recordings. Together with lyricist and long-time collaborator Alfredo Le Pera, Gardel wrote several classic tangos, most notably: ''Mi Buenos Aires querido, Cuesta abajo, Amores de estudiante, Soledad, Volver, Por una cabeza'' and ''El día que me quieras.''

Career

Gardel began his singing career in bars and at private parties. He also sang with Francisco Martino and later in a trio with Martino and José Razzano. Gardel created the ''tango-canción'' in 1917 with his rendition of Pascual Contursi and Samuel Castriota's ''Mi Noche Triste''. The recording sold 10,000 copies and was a hit throughout Latin America. Gardel went on tour through Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, and also made appearances in Paris, New York, Barcelona and Madrid. He sold 70,000 records in the first three months of a 1928 visit to Paris. As his popularity grew, he made a number of films for Paramount in France and the U.S. While sentimental films such as ''El día que me quieras'' and ''Cuesta abajo'' lack lasting dramatic value, they were outstanding showcases of his tremendous singing talents and movie star looks.

In 1915 Gardel was supposedly wounded after being shot by Che Guevara's father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch, as a result of a bar room brawl in the belle epoque ''Palais de Glace'' in the Recoleta district of Buenos Aires, although different versions assert that he was shot in the chest or in the leg. Yet another variation holds that it was not Che's father but rather Roberto Guevara, an upper-class boy often involved in quarrels, who shot him.

Death and ongoing profile

{|align=right | |} Gardel died in 1935 in an airplane crash in Medellín, Colombia. Le Pera, two of their guitarists (Guillermo Desiderio Barbieri and Ángel Domingo Riverol) and several business associates and friends of the group died in the crash as well. It is believed that a third guitarist, José María Aguilar, died a few days after the crash.

Millions of his fans throughout Latin America went into mourning. Hordes came to pay their respects as his body was taken from Colombia through New York City and Rio de Janeiro. Thousands rendered homage during the two days he lay in state in Montevideo, the city in which his mother lived at the time. Gardel's body was laid to rest in La Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires. In the neighborhood of Abasto, Buenos Aires, Gardel's childhood home, the Carlos Gardel Museum opened in 2003.

Gardel is still revered from Tokyo to Buenos Aires. A popular saying in Latin America, which serves as a testimony to his long-lived popularity, claims, "Gardel sings better every day." The fingers of his life-sized tuxedo-clad statue on his tomb nearly always hold a burning cigarette left by an admirer. Another commonly used phrase in Latin America, which asserts that ''Veinte años no es nada'' (''Twenty years is nothing''), comes from his song ''Volver''. It is also common in Argentina, the phrase ''sos/soy Gardel y Le Pera'' (''I'm/You are Gardel and Le Pera'') referring to the greatness of both; used when somebody excels at something.

Statues in Scotland

During 2009/2010 statues depicting Gardel are scheduled to be erected temporarily throughout twenty-five small villages and towns of Scotland, commemorating his tour of 1930 where the singer used funds from his well-paid appearances in Glasgow and Edinburgh to subsidize small unannounced concerts in rural venues. These impromptu (and free) appearances endeared him to the working population of Scotland and his legacy of passion and art endure through regular commemorative concerts and amateur productions.

Birthplace controversy

The place of Gardel's birth is a matter of considerable controversy that still provokes passionate debate in Uruguay and Argentina.

After his death, his legal representative, Armando Defino, produced a handwritten will, which he assured was written by Gardel himself, claiming he was born in Toulouse, France, to Berthe Gardès (1865–1943), and baptized with the name of Charles Romuald Gardes. It is not known who Gardel's father was. There is an original birth certificate of a child, Charles Romuald Gardes, born in Toulouse to Berthe Gardès on December 11, 1890. On 14 April 1937, the government of Uruguay declared Berthe Gardès to be Gardel's sole heir.

Reporters often wrote that Gardel was Uruguayan, born in Tacuarembó. In the newspaper ''El Telégrafo'' (Paysandú, Uruguay, October 25, 1933), Gardel was reported as saying, "I'm Uruguayan, born in Tacuarembó" ["soy uruguayo, nacido en Tacuarembó"]. In the June 1935 issue of ''Caretas'' magazine of Antioquia, Colombia, Gardel was reported as saying, "My heart is Argentinian, but my soul is Uruguayan, because that is where I was born" ["Mi corazón es argentino, pero mi alma es uruguaya, porque allí nací"].

Legacy

In literature

Gabriel García Márquez mentions Gardel in his novel, ''Love in the Time of Cholera''. When Florentino Ariza and doctor Juvenal Urbino meet at the former's office in the Caribbean Fluvial Company, doctor Urbino unexpectedly asks Ariza, "Do you like music?". After seriously thinking the issue, Ariza answers, "I like Gardel."

Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Ernesto Sábato and Jimmy Buffett also mention Gardel in their works. Gardel appears as a fictionalized character in the 1979 play, "El día que me quieras," by the Venezuelan writer José Ignacio Cabrujas.

In film

There are two films about Gardel, both in production as of March 2009: ''Gardel 2008'' (July 2009), starring Gael García Bernal as Gardel, and ''Dare to Love Me'' (2010).

''Dare To Love Me''

In July 2003 Warner Brothers announced that they were working on a film version of Gardel's biography, ''The Vision of Love'' (the original cast included Jessica Alba, Ricardo Chavira and Halle Berry), but production was postponed in spring 2005 until early 2006, by that time both Alba and Chavira had backed out of the film. In 2007, Lindsay Lohan and Raoul Bova were cast in the lead roles of Gardel and La Ritana. It was left unknown when production would begin up until autumn 2008, when it was officially announced that production is set to begin on the film on 18 May 2009 and it will be released in late 2010. This was again postponed and no further news is available at this time.

In postage stamps

On March 16, 2011, the United States Postal Service issued a set of five "Latin Music Legends" stamps including one picturing Carlos Gardel. In the News Release announcing the U.S. Postage Commemorative Forever stamps, the Postal Service said "A superb and evocative singer, Carlos Gardel (1890?-1935) was one of the most celebrated tango artists of all time. Raised in Argentina, Gardel helped popularize the tango in the United States, Europe and throughout Latin America through his performances and recordings. Known as 'the man with the tear in his voice,' he also achieved fame as one of the stars of Spanish-language cinema."

Filmography

''Flor de Durazno'' (1917) (silent). This was Gardel's first film and was directed by Francisco Defilippis Novoa and was made in collaboration with Celestino Petray.

''Luces de Buenos Aires'' (1931) (filmed in Paris)

''Esperame'' (1932)

''La Casa es seria'' (1932)

''Melodía de Arrabal'' (1932)

''Cuesta abajo'' (1934)

''El Tango en Broadway'' (1934)

''El Día que me quieras'' (1935)

''Cazadores de estrellas'' (1935)

''Tango Bar'' (1935)

References

http://www.montevideo-tango.com/mvdt/Gardel.htm

External links

''www.gardelbiografia.com.ar''

Chronicles

Gardel Web Documents of Carlos Gardel

Category:1890 births Category:1935 deaths Category:Argentine actors Category:Argentine film actors Category:Argentine male singers Category:French male singers Category:Uruguayan male singers Category:People with acquired Argentine citizenship Category:Spanish-language singers Category:Tango musicians Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Colombia

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Penélope Cruz
alt	The photo shows a close-up of a Spanish woman with her brown highlight hair clipped behind her ears. The woman is wearing eyeliner and lipgloss as well as pink and white colored dangling earrings on both her ears. She is wearing a strapless black dress with black feathers. In the background, a blonde woman can be seen as well as a red curtain.
birth name	Penélope Cruz Sánchez
birth date	April 28, 1974
birth place	Alcobendas, Community of Madrid, Spain
occupation	Actress
years active	1992–present
spouse	Javier Bardem (2010–present)
children	1 }}

Penélope Cruz (born Penélope Cruz Sánchez on April 28, 1974) is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in ''Jamón, jamón'' (1992), to critical acclaim. Her subsequent roles in the 1990s and 2000s included ''Open Your Eyes'' (1997), ''The Hi-Lo Country'' (1999), ''The Girl of Your Dreams'' (2000) and ''Woman on Top'' (2000). Cruz achieved recognition for her lead roles in ''Vanilla Sky'' and ''Blow''. Both films were released in 2001 and were commercially successful worldwide.

In the 2000s she has appeared in films from a wide range of genres, including the comedy ''Waking Up in Reno'' (2002), the thriller ''Gothika'' (2003), the Christmas movie ''Noel'' (2004), the action adventure ''Sahara'' (2005), the animated ''G-Force'' and the musical drama ''Nine''. Her most notable films to date are ''Volver'' (2006), for which she earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and ''Vicky Cristina Barcelona'' (2008), for which she received an Academy Award. She was the first Spanish actress in history to receive an Academy Award and the first Spanish actress to receive a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Cruz has modeled for companies such as Mango, Ralph Lauren and L'Oréal. Cruz and her younger sister Mónica Cruz have designed items for Mango. She has donated both her time and money to charities. Cruz has volunteered in Uganda and India, where she spent one week working for Mother Teresa; she donated her salary from ''The Hi-Lo Country'' to help fund the late nun's mission.

Early life

Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Alcobendas, Community of Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser and personal manager, and Eduardo Cruz, a retailer and auto mechanic. She was raised Roman Catholic. Throughout her childhood, Cruz lived in Alcobendas, a working-class town, although she spent "a lot" of time at her grandmother's apartment. Cruz is the oldest of three siblings; she has a younger brother, Eduardo, who is a singer, and a younger sister, Mónica, who is an actress. She has said that she had a happy childhood, and Charlie Rose of ''60 Minutes'' described Cruz's childhood as a "simple life." In a foreshadowing way, Cruz remembers when she was four years old, "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."

Initially, Cruz had no ambition to be an actress and focused on dance, having studied classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National Conservatory. She received three years of Spanish ballet training and four years of theater at Cristina Rota's New York school. She commented that "I used to take my toenails—they would die from dancing—so I would just take the whole toenail and throw it away, and not feel anything," however, ballet instilled in her discipline that would be important in her future acting career. She became a fan of movies at age 10 or 11. With no movie theaters nearby, her first relationship with cinema was watching movies on Betamax. Her father bought this "[Betamax] machine", of which Cruz recalls that it was very rare to own one in her neighborhood at the time.

When Cruz was a teenager, she began having an interest in acting after seeing the film ''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'' by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. She began doing casting calls for an agent, but was rejected multiple times because the agent felt that she was too young. Cruz commented on the experience that "I was very extroverted as a kid. [...] I was studying when I was in high school at night, I was in ballet and I was doing castings. I looked for an agent and she sent me away three times because I was a little girl but I kept coming back. I'm still with her after all these years." In 1989, at the age of 15, Cruz won an audition at a talent agency over more than 300 other girls. In 1999, Katrina Bayonas, Cruz's agent, commented, "She was absolutely magic [at the audition]. It was obvious there was something very impressive about this kid. [...] She was very green, but there was a presence. There was just something coming from within."

Acting career

Early work, 1989–1996

In 1989, 15 year-old Cruz made her acting debut in a music video for the Spanish pop group Mecano's song ''La Fuerza del Destino''. Between 1990 and 1997, she hosted the Spanish TV channel Telecinco's talk show ''La Quinta Marcha'' , a program that was hosted by teenagers, aimed at a teenage audience. She also played in the ''Elle et lui'' episode of an erotic French TV series called ''Série rose'' in 1991, where she appeared totally naked. In 1992, Cruz made her feature film debut at 18 as the lead female role in the comedy drama art house film, ''Jamón, jamón''. In the film, she portrayed Silvia, a young woman who is expecting her first child with a man whose mother does not approve of the relationship and attempts to sabotage it by paying Javier Bardem's character to seduce her. ''People'' magazine noted that after Cruz appeared topless in the film, she became "a major sex symbol." In an interview with the ''Los Angeles Daily News'' in 1999, Cruz commented that "it was a great part, but...I wasn't really ready for the nudity. [...] But I have no regrets because I wanted to start working and it changed my life." Charlie Ross of ''60 Minutes'' noted that Cruz "became an overnight sensation as much for her nude scenes as for her talent." When Ross asked Cruz if she was concerned about how she would be perceived after her role in the film, Cruz replied, "I just knew I had to do the complete opposite."

''Jamón, jamón'' received broadly favorable reviews, with Chris Hicks of the ''Deseret News'' describing Cruz's portrayal of Silvia as "enchanting." Writing for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', film critic Roger Ebert wrote "[The film] stars actors of considerable physical appeal, most particularly Penelope Cruz as Silvia." For her performance, Cruz was nominated for a Spanish Actors Union Newcomer Award and a Goya Award for Best Actress. The same year she appeared in the Academy-Award winning ''Belle Epoque'' as the virginal Luz. ''People'' magazine noted that Cruz's role as Luz showed that she was versatile. From 1993 to 1996, Cruz appeared in ten Spanish and Italian films. At 20, she went to live in New York for two years at Christopher and Greenwich to study ballet and English between movies. She recalls learning English "kinda of late" only knowing the dialogue she had learned for the casting beyond that, she could only say, “How are you?” and “Thank you.”

Early critical success, 1997–2000

In 1997, Cruz appeared in the Spanish comedy film ''Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health''. She portrays Diana, a fan of The Beatles band member John Lennon; she tries unsuccessfully to meet him. Years later, after multiple failed relationships, Diana re-unites with an acquaintance under unusual circumstances. Also in 1997, she appeared in the opening scene of Pedro Almodóvar's ''Live Flesh'' as a prostitute who gives birth on a bus and in ''Et hjørne af paradis'' (A Corner of Paradise) as Doña Helena. Cruz's final appearance in 1997 was the Amenabar-directed Spanish sci-fi drama ''Open Your Eyes''. She plays Sofia, the girlfriend of lead character's best friend, who eventually begins a brief relationship with the lead character. ''Open Your Eyes'' received positive reviews but was not commercially successful, grossing $370,000 in the United States. Kevin N. Laforest of the ''Montreal Film Journal'' commented in his September 2002 review that Cruz "has been getting some really bad reviews for her recent American work, but I personally think that she's a more than decent actress, especially here, where she's charming, moving and always believable. [...] There's one shot in particular, where Cruz enters a room in a greenish glow, which is right out of Hitchcock's picture [''Vertigo'']."

The following year, Cruz appeared in her first American film as Billy Crudup's consolation-prize Mexican girlfriend in Stephen Frears' western film, ''The Hi-Lo Country''. Cruz stated that she had difficulties understanding people speaking English while she was filming ''The Hi-Lo Country''. The film was critically and commercially unsuccessful. Kevin Lally of the ''Film Journal International'' commented in his review for the film that "in an ironic casting twist, the Spanish actress Penelope Cruz [...] is much more appealing as Josepha [than in her previous roles]." For her performance in the film, she was nominated for an ALMA Award for Best Actress. Also in 1998 Cruz appeared in ''Don Juan'' and ''The Girl of Your Dreams''.

In ''The Girl of Your Dreams'', Cruz portrayed Macarena Granada, a singer who is in an on-and-off relationship with Antonio Resines's character, Blas. They are part of a movie troupe that moved from Spain to Berlin (Germany) for a joint production with UFA during the years of Nazis. Cruz's performance in the film was praised by film critics, with Jonathan Holloland of ''Variety'' magazine writing "if confirmation is still needed that Cruz is an actress first and a pretty face second, then here it is." A writer for ''Film4'' commented that "Cruz herself is the inevitable focus of the film" but noted that overall the film "looks great." Cruz's role as Macerna has been viewed as her "largest role to date." For her performance, Cruz received a Goya Award and Spanish Actors Union Award, and was nominated for a European Film Award. In 1999, Cruz worked with Almodóvar again in ''All About My Mother'', playing Sister María Rosa Sanz, a pregnant nun with AIDS. The film received favorable reviews, and was commercially successful, grossing over $67 million worldwide, although it performed better at the box office internationally than domestically.

In 2000, she appeared in ''Woman on Top'' in the lead female role as Isabelle, a world-class chef who has suffered from motion sickness since birth, her first American lead role. Lisa Nesselson of ''Variety'' magazine praised the performances of both Cruz and her co-star, Harold Perrineau, saying they "burst off the screen," and added that Cruz has a charming accent. BBC film critic Jane Crowther said that "Cruz is wonderfully ditzy as the innocent abroad" but remarked that "it's Harold Perrineau Jr as Monica who pockets the movie." Annlee Ellingson of ''Box Office'' magazine wrote "Cruz is stunning in the role—innocent and vulnerable yet possessing a mature grace and determined strength, all while sizzling with unchecked sensuality." Also in 2000, she played Alejandra Villarreal, who is Matt Damon's love interest in Billy Bob Thornton's film adaptation of the western bestselling novel, ''All the Pretty Horses''. Susan Stark of the ''Detroit News'' commented that in the film Thornton was able to guide Damon, Henry Thomas and Cruz to "their most impressive performances in a major movie yet." However, Bob Longigo of the ''Atlanta Journal Constitution'' was less enthusiastic about Cruz and Damon's performance, saying that their "resulting onscreen chemistry would hardly warm a can of beans."

Breakthrough, 2001–2005

2001 marked a turning point when Cruz starred in the feature films ''Vanilla Sky'' and ''Blow''. In ''Vanilla Sky'', Cameron Crowe's interpretation of ''Open Your Eyes'', she played Sofia Serrano, the love interest of Tom Cruise's character. The film received mixed reviews but made $200 million worldwide. Her performance was well received by critics, with BBC film critic Brandon Graydon saying that Cruz "is an enchanting screen presence," and Ethan Alter of the ''Film Journal International'' noting that Cruz and her co-star Cruise were "able to generate some actual chemistry." Her next film was ''Blow'', adapted from Bruce Porter's 1993 book ''Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All''. She had a supporting role as Mirtha Jung, the wife of Johnny Depp's character. The film received mixed reviews, but made $80 million worldwide. Nina Willdorf of the ''Boston Phoenix'' described Cruz as "multi-talented" and Mark Salvo of the ''Austin Chronicle'' wrote "I may be one of the last male holdouts to join the Cruz-Rules camp, but her tour de force performance here sucks you right in."

In 2001, she also appeared in ''Don't Tempt Me'', playing Carmen Ramos. The film received negative reviews,. Jeff Vice of the ''Deseret News'' commented that "unfortunately, casting Cruz as a tough girl is a hilariously bad one..." and Michael Miller of the ''Village Voice'' writing that "as Satan's helper Carmen, Penélope Cruz doesn't hold a candle to her cocaine-huffing enabler in ''Blow''." Cruz's last film in 2001 was ''Captain Corelli's Mandolin'', film adaption of the novel of the same name. She played Pelagia, who falls in love with another man while her fiancé is in battle during World War II. ''Captain Corelli's Mandolin'' was not well received by critics, but made $62 million worldwide. In 2002, she had a minor role in ''Waking Up in Reno''. It had negative reviews and was a box office failure, making $267,000 worldwide. The following year, Cruz had a minor role in the horror film ''Gothika'', as Chloe Sava, a patient at a mental hospital. David Rooney of ''Variety'' wrote that Cruz "adds a serviceably malevolent edge to Chole's apparent madness." Cruz's performance in ''Fanfan la Tulipe'', also in 2003, was not well received, Peter Bradshaw of ''The Guardian'' commenting that Cruz "deserves a special Cannes Razzie for a performance of purest teak."

In 2004, Cruz appeared in the Christmas film ''Noel'' as Nina, the girlfriend of Paul Walker's character and as Mia in the romantic drama, ''Head in the Clouds'', set in the 1930s. ''Head in the Clouds'' performed poorly at the box office. For ''Head in the Clouds'', Bruce Birkland of ''Jam! Canoe'' said, "The story feels forced and the performances dreary, with the notable exception of Cruz, who seems to be in a different film from the rest of the cast." Desson Thompson of the ''Washington Post'' was more critical; his comment about the character's "pronounced limp" was that "Cruz (hardly the world's greatest actress) can't even perform without looking fake." She also starred in Sergio Castellitto’s melodrama ''Don’t Move''. Cruz, who learned Italian for the role, earned critical acclaim for her performance and won the David di Donatello. She was also awarded the European Film Award for Best Actress for the film in 2004.

In 2005, Cruz appeared as Dr Eva Rojas in the action adventure ''Sahara''. She earned $1.6 million for her supporting role. The film grossed $110 million worldwide but did not recoup its $160 million budget. ''Moviefone'' dubbed the film "one of the most famous flops in history" and in 2007, listed it at 24 on its list of "Biggest Box-Office Turkeys of All Time". Lori Hoffman of the ''Atlantic City Weekly'' felt Cruz put her "considerable [acting] skills on cruise control as Dr Eva Rojas" and James Berardnelli of ReelViews described Cruz's performance as a "black hole," that she "lacks screen presence." Also in 2005, Cruz appeared in ''Chromophobia'', screened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and released the following year. Mathew Turner of ''View London'' said Cruz's character Gloria, a cancer-riddled prostitute, is "actually more interesting than the main storyline" while Time Evan's of ''Sky Movies'' wrote, "The Cruz/Ifans storyline – featuring the only two remotely sympathetic characters – never really fuses with the main plot." Her final 2005 film was ''Don't Move'' playing Italia. Eric Harrison of the ''Houston Chronicle'' noted that Cruz "goes all out" with her appearance and Patrick Peters of ''Empire'' magazine commented that the film's director, who also appears in the film, was able to draw a "sensitive performance" from Cruz.

Worldwide recognition, 2006–present

Cruz appeared in the 2006 Western comedy film, ''Bandidas'', as María Álvarez, a poor farm girl who robs banks with a wealthy friend to combat an enforcer terrorizing their town. Randy Cordova of the ''Arizona Republic'' said the film "sports" Cruz and her co-star Salma Hayek as the "lusty dream team" and that they were the "marketing fantasy" for the film. A writer for ''20minutos.es'' called Cruz and Hayek the "demand curves" of the film. Also in 2006, Cruz received favourable reviews for her performance as Raimunda in Pedro Almodóvar's ''Volver''. The film was well received by critics and on multiple top ten film lists for 2006. Carina Chocano of ''The Los Angeles Times'' wrote, "Cruz, who has remarked that in Hollywood she's rarely allowed to be anything more than pretty, instills her with an awesome resoluteness and strength of character." Jan Stuart of ''Newsday'' described Cruz as having "never been more radiant and funny." IGN film critic Todd Gilchrist praised Cruz, saying her "performance is nothing short of revelatory" and that "Here, she finds the best role of her career, and leaps in with complete commitment." She shared a Best Actress award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival with five of her co-stars, as well as receiving a Goya Award and European Film Award, and was nominated for the Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the BAFTA Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actress in a leading role. She was the first Spaniard to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

In 2007, Cruz appeared in the lead female role in ''Manolete'', a biopic of bullfighter Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez, playing Antoñita "Lupe" Sino. She also appeared in ''The Good Night'', playing two characters, Anna and Melody. The film received negative reviews and did not perform well at the box office. TV Guide film critic Maitland McDonagh noted that in the film Cruz "expertly mines the contrast between chic, compliant, white-clad Anna and funky, street-smart Melody, who treats [Martin Freeman's character] Gary like the world-class drag he is." David Edelstein of ''New York Magazine'' said "Cruz shows up in the flesh, and she's wonderfully tart and funny." In 2008, Cruz appeared in Isabel Coixet's film ''Elegy'', which was based on the Philip Roth story ''The Dying Animal'', as the lead female role, Consuela Castillo. The film generated mixed to positive reviews, and appeared on multiple film critics' top ten film lists for 2008. Ray Bennett of the ''Hollywood Reporter'' described Cruz's performance as being "outstanding in an otherwise lame male fantasy [film]" and MSNBC film critic Alonso Duralde praised Cruz and her co-star, Ben Kingsley, writing that they give "extraordinary performances" in the film.

Later that year, she starred in Woody Allen's ''Vicky Cristina Barcelona'' as María Elena, a mentally unstable woman. Peter Bradshaw of ''The Guardian'' praised Cruz's performance in the film, commenting, "Cruz looks as if she has wandered in from a more hefty film entirely; everything she does and says seems to mean more, count for more. This isn't to say that she gets bigger laughs, or perhaps any laughs, but she certainly walks off with the film." Kirk Honeycutt of the ''Hollywood Reporter'' remarked that the film "belongs" to Cruz and her co-star Bardem. Todd McCarthy of ''Variety'' magazine felt that Cruz's performance was "dynamite" in both of the languages she spoke. A writer for ''20minutos.es'' described Cruz as having planted "relentless growth" in the film. Cruz received a Goya Award and her first Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also received a Golden Globe and SAG nomination. Cruz was the first Spanish actress to ever be awarded an Academy Award in that category and the sixth Hispanic person to ever receive the award.

Cruz's next film was the kid-friendly ''G-Force'', which was released to theaters in July 2009. In the film, she voiced a guinea pig spy named Juarez. ''G-Force'' was a commercial success, making over $290 million worldwide. Also in 2009, she appeared in the film ''Broken Embraces'' as Lena, the lead character's mistress and assistant who is an aspiring actress. Moira Macdonald of the ''Seattle Times'' wrote "Cruz, so lovely she hardly seems real, makes Lena both vulnerable and steely. Lena's life, it seems, is turning into a movie that she can't escape, as men and cameras seem to blur together and her dazzling smile becomes little defense." Claudia Puig of ''USA Today'' described Cruz's performance as Lena as being "superb." Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com noted in her review for the film that Cruz "doesn't coast on her beauty in ''Broken Embraces'', and she has the kind of role that can be difficult to flesh out." Cruz received nominations from the Satellite Awards and European Film Awards for her performance in ''Broken Embraces''.

Cruz's final 2009 film was the film version of the musical ''Nine'', playing the character Carla Albanese, the lead character's mistress. ''Variety'' reported that Cruz had originally auditioned for the role of the film within a film's star, Claudia, which eventually went to Nicole Kidman. Cruz said that she trained for three months for the dance routine in the film. The film generated negative reviews and was a financial failure. Claudia Puig of ''USA Today'' commented that while Cruz "does a steamy song and dance," her "acting is strangely caricatured." Chris Tookey of the ''Daily Mail'' made a similar comment, saying: "I know Penelope Cruz has been nominated for a Golden Globe for her camp vamp act, but to me she is unnervingly over the top [in this film], like Strictly Come Dancing's Bruno Tonioli in drag." F. Bernal of Que.es commented, "In terms of its ability to integrate with luck in the cast of a musical, it is clear that Penelope does a good note [in the film]." Cruz's performance as Carla garnered her nominations for Best Supporting Actress from the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and SAG Awards.

In 2010, Cruz appeared in the film ''Sex and the City 2'', the sequel to the 2008 film, in a cameo role. Cruz appeared in her biggest Hollywood turn to date, in the fourth ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' film, as Angelica, Blackbeard's daughter and the former love interest of Captain Jack Sparrow. This film had Cruz and director Rob Marshall reuniting once more since the film ''Nine''. On 1 April 2011, prior to the film's release, Cruz received the 2,436th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the El Capitan Theatre. She became the first Spanish actress to receive a Star. Her upcoming roles include Woody Allen's ''The Bop Decameron'', and she is set to reunite with Italian director Sergio Castellitto in his war tale "''Venuto al Mondo''" as Gemma, a single mother who brings her teenage son to Sarajevo, where the boy’s father died during the Balkan War. The film is based on an Italian bestseller. The part is a switch for Cruz, who has until now mostly been sliding between Hollywood- and Spain-based movies. “I like that it’s a movie that’s not Spanish or English. [...] I love this part of the job that lets you become someone else with a different nationality.” In an interview with the Italian publication ''La Repubblica'', Cruz commented on playing Gemma, saying, "I feel as an actress Gemma will be playing one of the most important opportunities of my life." After being shelfed since 2007 Cruz's film ''Manolete'' (originally shot in 2005, four years before Cruz won her Oscar for ''Vicky Cristina Barcelona'') released on demand via cable, satellite, telco and online in June 7, 2011 under the title, ''A Matador’s Mistress''.

Public image

In 2006, she became spokesmodel for the French beauty company, L'Oréal, to promote products such as the L'Oréal Paris hair dye Natural Match and L'Oreal mascara products. Cruz appears in television and print ads for the company. She receives $2 million a year for her work for the company. Cruz has appeared in print ads for Mango and had a contract with Ralph Lauren in 2001. Cruz and her sister designed their second collection for Mango in 2007. It was inspired by Brigitte Bardot and summers in St Tropez. Cruz said: "It's been a really good collaboration because they're a great Spanish company and they give us a lot of [creative] freedom. My sister and I have a great time working on the designs."

Cruz ranked as No. 58 in Maxim's ''Hot 100'' of 2007 list, and was chosen by ''Empire magazine'' as being one of the 100 Sexiest Movie Stars in the world. Penelope was also ranked on Askmen.com's Most Desirable Women of 2008 at No.26, in 2009 at No. 25, and in 2010 at No.7 In April 2010, she replaced Kate Winslet as the new face and ambassador of Lancôme's Trésor fragrance. Lancôme has signed Cruz as the brand’s third superstar spokesmodel, along with Julia Roberts and Winslet. The campaign was shot by Mario Testino at Paris's Hotel de Crillon and debuted in the fall 2010.

In 2010, Cruz was a guest editor for the French ''Vogue'' magazine, focusing on larger-size models in a provocative photo shoot. ''Vanity Fair'' asked them to pose for a Hollywood issue in 2010. Almodovar described her as his muse. On the cover of Spanish Vogue's December 2010 issue, she agreed to be photographed by fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh only if her pregnancy not be shown. In 2011, ''The Telegraph'' reported the most sought after body parts of the rich and famous revealed by two Hollywood plastic surgeons who carried out a survey among their patients to build up the picture of the perfect woman. Under the category of the most sought after body shape Penelope Cruz, known for her voluptuous figure, was voted as having the top body with Gisele Bundchen and Jennifer Aniston finishing the top three.

Philanthropy

Cruz has donated money and time to charity. In addition to work in Nepal, she has volunteered in Uganda and India, where she spent a week working for Mother Teresa that included assisting in a leprosy clinic. That trip inspired Cruz to help start a foundation to support homeless girls in India, where she sponsors two young women. She donated her salary from her first Hollywood movie, ''The Hi-Lo Country'', to Mother Teresa's mission. In the early 2000s, she spent time in Nepal photographing Tibetan children for an exhibition attended by the Dalai Lama. She also photographed residents at the Pacific Lodge Boys' Home, most of whom are former gang members and recovering substance abusers. She said: "These kids break my heart. I have to control myself not to cry. Not out of pity, but seeing how tricky life is and how hard it is to make the right choices." A pregnant Cruz showed her support for the battle against AIDS by lighting up the Empire State Building with red lights in New York City December 1, 2010 on International AIDS Day, as part of (RED)'s new awareness campaign, 'An AIDS Free Generation is Due in 2015,' which aims to eradicate the HIV virus from pregnant mothers to their babies.

Personal life

Cruz is friends with Pedro Almodovar, whom she has known for almost two decades and with whom she has worked on films. Cruz, is known to friends as ''Pe'', owns a house near her family's home in Madrid and another in Los Angeles. Although Cruz's parents are divorced, in 2008 she said she is close to both parents and to her brother as well as having a "100 percent" bond with her younger sister. She speaks Spanish, Italian, French and English. She was a vegetarian in her youth and has spoken out about bullfights. In 2008, she said she described tabloid newspapers as "disgusting" and said that, aside from false stories that affect her directly, "this culture of gossip affects our society on a much deeper level, on an ethical level." Cruz owns a clothing store in Madrid and designed jewelry and handbags with her younger sister for a company in Japan.

In her 1989 music video debut ''La Fuerza del Destino'' (The Force of Fate) by Mecano, 15 year-old Cruz met musician Nacho Cano. In the video she plays his love interest, ironically the song was actually dedicated to Cano's girlfriend of many years but it was Cruz who would end up being his girlfriend after the video was made. Cruz had a three-year relationship with Tom Cruise after they appeared together in ''Vanilla Sky''. It ended in January 2004. In April 2003, she filed a lawsuit against the Australian magazine ''New Idea'' for defamation over an article about her relationship with Cruise. Her lawyers claimed that "the proceedings state that the article contains a number of false and defamatory statements concerning Ms. Cruz" and she is seeking "substantial damages and is confident that legal proceedings will vindicate her reputation."

After filming ''Sahara'' in February 2005, she began dating actor Matthew McConaughey. In June 2006, they told ''People'' that they "have decided to take time off as a couple" and that "due to busy work schedules and so much time apart" they decided that "separating was the best thing to do." In April 2007, Cruz who was single, told the Spanish edition of ''Marie Claire'' said she would like to adopt children.

Cruz began dating co-star Javier Bardem in 2007. They married in early July 2010 in a private ceremony at a friend's home in the Bahamas; a spokesman confirmed that the ceremony had taken place and revealed that Cruz wore a dress by Galliano. After photos emerged of Cruz appearing to be pregnant on the set of ''Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides'', representatives said the couple expect a child in January 2011. ''Marie Claire'' reported that Cruz gave birth to her first child, a son named Leo, on January 22, 2011 at the Cedars Sinai Hospital, three days before Bardem was nominated for an Oscar.

Filmography

! Year	! Title	! Role	Other notes
1992	''Jamón, jamón''	Silvia
1992		Luz
1992	''Framed''	Lola Del Moreno	TV series
1993	''For Love, Only for Love''	Mary	''Per amore, solo per amore''
1993	''The Greek Labyrinth''	Elise	''El Laberinto griego''
1993		Enza	''La Ribelle''
1994	''Alegre ma non troppo''	Salome
1994	''Todo es mentira''	Lucia
1995	''Entre rojas''	Lucia
1995	''El Efecto mariposa''	Party guest
1996	''La Celestina''	Melibea
1996	''Brujas''	Patricia
1996	''Más que amor, frenesí''
1997	''Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health''	Diana	''El amor perjudica seriamente la salud''
1997		Sofia	''Abre los ojos''
1997		Isabel Plaza Caballero
1997	''Et horne af paradis''	Helena
1998	''The Girl of Your Dreams''	Macarena	''La niña de tus ojos''Cinema of Spain
1998	''[[The Hi-Lo Country''	Josepha
1998		Mathurine
1999	''All About My Mother''	Maria Rosa Sanz	''Todo sobre mi madre''
1999	''Twice Upon A Yesterday''	Louise
2000		Alejandra Villarreal
2000	''Woman on Top''	Isabella Oliveira
2001		Mirtha Jung	Nominated–MTV Movie Award
2001	''[[Don't Tempt Me''	Carmen Ramos	''Bendito infierno'' (Spanish) / ''No News from God'' (English)
2001		Pelagia
2001	''Vanilla Sky''	Sofia Serrano
2002	''Waking Up in Reno''	Brenda
2003		Adeline la Franchise
2003	''Gothika''	Chloe Sava
2004	''Head in the Clouds''	Mia
2004		Nina Vasquez
2004		Italia	''Non ti muovere''David di Donatello
2005		Eva Rojas
2005	''[[Chromophobia''	Gloria
2006	''Bandidas''	Maria Alvarez
2006	''Volver''	Raimunda	Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress (Prix d'interprétation féminine) shared with Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus LampreaveCinema Writers Circle Award for Best ActressEmpire Award for Best ActressEuropean Film Award for Best ActressFotogramas de Plata Best Movie Actress (Mejor Actriz de Cine)Goya Award for Best ActressSpanish Actors Union Award for Lead Performance (Protagonista Cine)Nominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Irish Film and Television Audience Award for Best ActressNominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion PictureNominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2007		Antonita Sino
2007	''The Good Night''	Anna
2008		Consuela Castillo
2008	''Vicky Cristina Barcelona''	Maria Elena	Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressALMA Award
2009		Juarez	Voice only
2009	''[[Broken Embraces''	Magdalena	''Los abrazos rotos''Nominated—European Film Award for Best ActressNominated—Goya Award for Best ActressNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
2009		Carla Albanese
2010		Carmen Garcia Garrón
2011	''Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides''	Angelica
2012	''The Bop Decameron''

References

External links

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:Spanish people Category:People from Alcobendas Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:Independent Spirit Award winners Category:BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress Category:Spanish film actors Category:Spanish television actors Category:Spanish television presenters Category:Spanish vegetarians Category:Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Actress Goya Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Goya Award winners Category:Spanish expatriates in the United States

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Pedro Almodóvar
birthname	Pedro Almodóvar Caballero
birth date	September 25, 1949
birth place	Calzada de Calatrava, Ciudad Real, Spain
occupation	Filmmaker
yearsactive	1974 - present
url	http://www.pedroalmodovar.es }}

Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.

Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular songs, irreverent humor, strong colors, glossy décor and LGBT themes. Desire, passion, family and identity are among Almodóvar’s most prevalent themes. His films enjoy a worldwide following and he has become a major figure on the stage of world cinema.

He founded Spanish film production company El Deseo S.A. with his younger brother Agustín Almodóvar who has produced almost all of Pedro’s films. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.

Early life

Pedro Almodóvar Caballero was born in Calzada de Calatrava, Spain, a rural small town of Ciudad Real, a province of Castile-La Mancha in the administrative district of Almagro. La Mancha is the windswept region of flat lands made famous by Don Quijote. He was born as one of four children (two boys, two girls) in a large and impoverished family of peasant stock. His father, Antonio Almodóvar, who could barely read or write, worked most of his life hauling barrels of wine by mule. Almodóvar's mother, Francisca Caballero, turned her son into a part time teacher of literacy in the village and also a letter reader and transcriber for the neighbors. When Pedro was eight years old, the family sent him to study at a religious boarding school in the city of Cáceres, Extremadura, in the west of the country, with the hope that he might someday become a priest. His family eventually joined him in Cáceres, where his father opened a gas station and his mother opened a bodega where she sold her own wine.

While Calzada did not have a cinema, the streets where he lived in Cáceres contained not only the school, but also a movie theater. “Cinema became my real education, much more than the one I received from the priest,” he said later in an interview.

Almodóvar was influenced by such directors as Luis Buñuel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Alfred Hitchcock, John Waters, Ingmar Bergman, Edgar Neville, Federico Fellini, George Cukor, Luis García Berlanga and neorealist Marco Ferreri.

Against his parents' wishes, Pedro Almodóvar moved to Madrid in 1967. His goal was to be a film director, but he lacked the economic means to do it and besides, Franco had just closed the National School of Cinema so he would be completely self-taught. To support himself, Almodóvar worked a number of odd jobs, including a stint selling used items in the famous Madrid flea market El Rastro. He eventually found full-time employment with Spain's national phone company, Telefonica, where he worked for twelve years as an administrative assistant. Since he worked only until three in the afternoon, he had the rest of the day to pursue his own interests.

Beginnings

In the early seventies, Almodóvar grew interested in experimental cinema and theatre. He collaborated with the vanguard theatrical group, Los Goliardos, where he played his first professional roles and met Carmen Maura. He was also writing comics and contributing articles and stories to a number of counterculture magazines, such as Star, Víbora and Vibraciones.

Madrid’s flourishing alternative cultural scene became the perfect scenario for Almodóvar's social talents. He was a crucial figure in La Movida Madrileña (Madriliene Movement), a cultural renaissance that followed the fall of the Franco regime. Alongside Fabio McNamara, Almodóvar sang in a glam rock parody duo. He published a novella, ''Fuego en las entrañas'' (''Fire in the Guts''). Writing under the pseudonym "Patty Diphusa", he penned various articles for major newspapers and magazines, such as ''El País, Diario 16'' and ''La Luna''. He kept writing stories that were eventually published in a compilation volume, ''El sueño de la razón'' (''The Dream of Reason'').

Short films

Almodóvar bought his first camera, a Super-8, with his first paycheck from Telefonica when he was 22 years old, and began to make hand-held short films. Around 1974, he made his first short film, and by the end of the 1970s they were shown in Madrid's night circuit and in Barcelona. These shorts had overtly sexual narratives and no soundtrack: ''Dos putas, o, Historia de amor que termina en boda'' (1974) (''Two Whores, or, A Love Story that Ends in Marriage''); ''La caída de Sodoma'' (1975) (''The Fall of Sodom''); ''Homenaje'' (1976) (''Homage''); ''La estrella'' (1977) (''The Star'') 1977 ''Sexo Va: Sexo viene'' (''Sex Comes and Goes'') (Super-8); ''Complementos'' (shorts) 1978; (16mm).

“I showed them in bars, at parties… I could not add a soundtrack because it was very difficult. The magnetic strip was very poor, very thin. I remember that I became very famous in Madrid because, as the films had no sound, I took a cassette with music while I personally did the voices of all the characters, songs and dialogues. After four years of working with shorts in Super-8 format, in 1978 Almodóvar made his first Super-8, full-length film: ''Folle, folle, fólleme, Tim'' (1978) (''Fuck Me, Fuck Me, Fuck Me, Tim''), a magazine style melodrama. In addition, he made his first 16 mm short, ''Salome''. This was his first contact with the professional world of cinema. The film's stars, Carmen Maura and Felix Rotaeta, encouraged him to make his first feature film in 16 mm and helped him raise the money to finance what would be ''Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón''.

Film career

Asked to explain the success of his films, he says that they are very entertaining. "It's important not to forget that films are made to entertain. That's the key." He was heavily influenced by old Hollywood movies in which everything happens around a female main character, and aims to continue in that tradition.

Almodóvar is openly gay, and he has incorporated elements of underground and gay culture into mainstream forms with wide crossover appeal, thus redefining perceptions of Spanish cinema and Spain.

''Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón'' (1980)

Almodóvar made his first feature film, ''Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls on the Heap'' (''Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón''), in 1980 with a very low budget and a team of volunteers shooting on weekends. The film was based on his photo-novella, ''General Erections'', previously published in the magazine ''El Víbora'' (''The Viper''). ''Pepi, Luci, Bom…'' consists of a series of loosely connected sketches rather than a fully formed plot. It follows the adventures of the three characters of the title: Pepi, who wants revenge from the corrupt policeman who raped her; Luci, a mousy, masochistic housewife; and Bom, a lesbian punk rock singer. The central theme of the film, friendship and female solidarity, appears repeatedly in Almodóvar’s filmography.

The film was plagued by financial and technical problems. However, Almodóvar would look back fondly to his first film: "Pepi, Luci, Bom… is a film full of defects. When a film has only one or two, it is considered an imperfect film, while when there is a profusion of technical flaws, it is called style. That’s what I said joking around when I was promoting the film, but I believe that that was closer to the truth''.

The film captured the spirit of the times – above all the sense of cultural and sexual freedom – and established Almodóvar as an ''agent provocateur''. With its many kitsch elements, campy style, outrageous humor, and explicit sexuality (there is a famous golden shower scene in the middle of a knitting lesson), the film amassed a cult following. It toured the independent circuits and then spent four years on the late night showing of the Alphaville Theater in Madrid which provided the funds for Almodóvar's second film.

''Laberinto de Pasiones '' (1982)

''Labyrinth of Passions'' (''Laberinto de Pasiones'') is a screwball comedy about multiple identities, one of Almodóvar’s favorite subjects. The plot follows the adventures of two sex-crazy characters: Sexilia, an aptly named nymphomaniac pop star, and Riza, the gay son of the leader of a fictional Middle Eastern country. Their unlikely destiny is to find one another, overcome their sexual preferences and live happily ever after on a tropical island. The campy roundelay also involves Queti, Sexilia’s “biggest fan”, whose delusional father rapes her. The film is an outrageous look at love and sex, framed in Madrid of the early 1980s, during the so called Movida madrileña, a period of sexual adventurousness between the dissolution of Franco's authoritarian regime and the onset of AIDS consciousness. ''Labyrinth of Passions'' caught the spirit of liberation which then ruled in Madrid and it became a cult film.

Almodóvar said about ''Labyrinth of Passions'': "I like the film even if it could have been better made. The main problem is that the story of the two leads is much less interesting than the stories of all the secondary characters. But precisely because there are so many secondary characters, there's a lot in the film I like."

''Entre Tinieblas'' (1983)

''Dark Habits'' (''Entre Tinieblas'') heralded a change in tone to somber melodrama with comic elements. This film has an almost all-female cast featuring many of Almodóvar's favorite leading ladies: Carmen Maura, Julieta Serrano, Marisa Paredes and Chus Lampreave. The narrative centers upon a cabaret singer, who, running away from justice, finds refuge in a convent of destitute nuns, each of whom explores a different sin. The mother superior, a lesbian drug addict, falls in love with the singer.

The film is a satire of Spain's religious institutions, portraying spiritual desolation and moral bankruptcy. ''Dark Habits'' explores the force of desire in characters who are ruled by their intuition rather than reason. This is also Almodóvar’s first film in which he clearly uses popular music to express emotion: in a pivotal scene, the mother superior and her protégé sing along with Lucho Gatica’s ''bolero'': ''Encadenados'' (''Chained together'').

''Dark Habits'' was a modest success, and cemented Almodóvar’s reputation as the ''enfant terrible'' of the Spanish cinema.

''¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto?'' (1984)

Almodóvar's next film, ''What Have I Done to Deserve This?'' (''¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto?'') was inspired by the Spanish black comedies of the late 50s and early 60s. It is the tale of a struggling housewife named Gloria and her dysfunctional family: her abusive husband, who works as a taxi driver; her oldest son, a cocaine dealer; the youngest son, who sells his body to the local perverts; and the grandmother who hates the city and just wants to return to her rural village.

The theme of the downtrodden housewife coping with the travails of everyday life arises repeatedly in the director's work, as do other issues of female independence and solidarity. ''What Have I Done to Deserve This?'' is also a critique on consumerism and patriarchal culture. In one scene, the housewife trades her own son so she doesn't have to pay a dentist bill, and in another the only witness of a crime is a lizard, aptly named “Money.”

''What Have I Done to Deserve This?'' was more successful than Almodóvar’s previous films and became his first with international distribution.

''Matador'' (1986)

Almodóvar's subsequent films deepened his exploration of sexual desire and the sometimes brutal laws governing it. ''Matador'' is a dark, complex story that centers on the relationship between a former bullfighter and a murderous female lawyer, both of whom can only experience sexual fulfillment in conjunction with killing. The film offered up desire as a bridge between sexual attraction and death.

Written together with Spanish novelist Jesús Ferrero, Matador drew away from the naturalism and humor of the director’s previous work into a deeper and darker terrain. Almodóvar established the interrelation between sexuality and violence as seen in his cinematographic quotation of the final sequence from King Vidor’s ''Duel in the Sun''. The violent elements of the film caused some controversy. Almodóvar justified his use of violence explaining "The moral of all my films is to get to a stage of greater freedom." Almodóvar went on to note, "I have my own morality. And so do my films. If you see Matador through the perspective of traditional morality, it's a dangerous film because it's just a celebration of killing. Matador is like a legend. I don't try to be realistic; it's very abstract, so you don't feel identification with the things that are happening, but with the sensibility of this kind of romanticism".

''La Ley del Deseo'' (1987)

Almodóvar solidified his creative independence when he started the production company El Deseo, together with his brother Agustín Almodóvar, who has also had several cameo roles in his films. From 1986 on, Pedro Almodóvar has produced his own films.

The first movie that came out from El Deseo was the aptly named ''Law of Desire'' (''La Ley del Deseo''). The narrative follows three main characters: a gay film director who embarks on a new project; his sister, an actress who used to be his brother (played by Carmen Maura), and a repressed murderously obsessive stalker (played by Antonio Banderas).

The film presents a gay love triangle and drew away from most representations of homosexuals in films. These characters are neither coming out nor confronting sexual guilt or homophobia; they are already liberated, like the homosexuals in Fassbinder’s films. Almodóvar said about ''Law of Desire'' : " It's the key film in my life and career. It deals with my vision of desire, something that's both very hard and very human. By this I mean the absolute necessity of being desired and the fact that in the interplay of desires it's rare that two desires meet and correspond".

Almodóvar's films rely heavily on the capacity of his actors to pull through difficult roles into a complex narrative. In ''Law of Desire'' Carmen Maura plays the role of Tina, a woman who used to be a man. Almodóvar explains: "Carmen is required to imitate a woman, to savour the imitation, to be conscious of the kitsch part that there is in the imitation, completely renouncing parody, but not humour."

Elements from ''Law of Desire'' grew into the basis for two later films: Carmen Maura appears in a stage production of Cocteau’s ''The Human Voice'', which inspired Almodóvar’s next film, ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown''; and Tina's confrontation scene with an abusive priest formed a partial genesis for ''Bad Education''.

''Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios'' (1988)

Almodóvar’s next film was his first huge international success: ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' (''Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios''), a feminist light comedy that further established Almodóvar as a "women's director" like George Cukor and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Almodóvar has said that women make better characters: “women are more spectacular as dramatic subjects, they have a greater range of registers, etc.”

The film, staged as a faux adaptation of a theatrical work, details a two-day period in the life of Pepa, (Carmen Maura) a professional movie dubber who has been abruptly abandoned by her married lover and who frantically tries to track him down. In the course of her search she discovers some of his secrets, and realizes her true feelings.

Inspired by Hollywood comedies of the 1950s, ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' became the stepping stone for Pedro Almodóvar's later work. This light comedy of rapid-fire dialogue and fast-paced action remains one of Almodóvar’s most accessible films (with no drugs or sex, although there is a sequence in which a sleeping woman dreams that she is having sex, and we see only her reactions). The film received public and critical acclaim worldwide, and brought Almodóvar to the attention of American audiences. ''Women'' was showered with many awards, and received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film.

''¡Átame!'' (1990)

Almodóvar's next film marked the breaking-off with his reference actress, Carmen Maura, and the beginning of a fruitful collaboration with another great actress of Spanish and European cinema: Victoria Abril. ''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'' (''¡Átame!'') was also the director's fifth and most important collaboration with Antonio Banderas.

In ''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'', Ricky (played by Antonio Banderas), a recently released psychiatric patient, kidnaps and holds hostage an actress (played by Victoria Abril) in order to make her fall in love with him. “I’m 23 years old, I have fifty thousand pesetas and I am alone in the world. I will try to be a good husband for you and a good father for your children,” he tells her.

Rather than populate the film with many characters, as in his previous films, here the story focuses on the compelling relationship at its center: the actress and her kidnapper literally struggling for power and desperate for love. The film’s title line ''¡Tie Me Up!'' is unexpectedly uttered by the actress as a genuine request. She does not know if she will try to escape or not, and when she realizes she has feelings for her captor, she prefers not to be given a chance.

In spite of some dark elements, ''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'' can be described as a romantic comedy, and the director's most clear love story, with a plot similar to William Wyler's thriller, ''The Collector''. Nevertheless, the film was the subject of heated debate; it was decried by feminists and women's advocacy groups for what they perceived as the film's sadomasochist undertones. Its U.S. release was marked by further scandal and controversy. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which determines film ratings in the U.S., marginalized its distribution with the stigma of an 'X' rating. The film's distribution company, Miramax, filed a lawsuit against the MPAA over the X rating, but lost in court. However, numerous other filmmakers had complained about the X rating given to their films, and in September 1990 the MPAA dropped the X rating and replaced it with the NC-17 rating. This was especially helpful to films of explicit nature that were previously regarded unfairly as pornographic because of the X rating.

''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'', which did not enjoy the wide acclaim of ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'', rather had a negative reception among some Spanish critics, who declared that Almodóvar had lost his sense of direction; similar criticism was leveled at his two subsequent films.

''Tacones Lejanos'' (1991)

The family melodrama ''High Heels'' (''Tacones Lejanos'') is built around the fractured relationship between a self-involved mother, a famous torch song singer, and the grown daughter she abandoned as a child, who works as TV newscaster. The daughter has married her mother's ex-lover and has befriended a female impersonator of her mother. Popular songs, always a key element in Almodóvar’s work, are never more present than in this film full of ''boleros''. ''High Heels'' also contains an unexpected prison yard dance sequence.

The film has the feel of other mother-daughter melodramas like ''Stella Dallas'', ''Mildred Pierce'', ''Imitation of Life'' and particularly ''Autumn Sonata'', which is quoted directly in the film. ''High Heels'' was an interpretative tour de force for two essential actresses of the "Almodovarian universe": Marisa Paredes and Victoria Abril.

''Kika'' (1993)

After the melodramatic intensity of ''High Heels'', Almodóvar took another sudden turn in his career by shooting one of his most unclassifiable movies: ''Kika'', a choral film where each character belongs to a different film genre, thus generating a very free and heterodox movie. The plot centers on Kika, a clueless but good-hearted make-up artist involved with an older expatriate American writer and his bewildered stepson. A vampy, oddball television reporter who is constantly in search of sensational stories follows Kika's misadventures.

''Kika'' is a critique of mass media, particularly its sensationalism. Here Almodóvar gives a cameo role to his real life elderly mother, Francisca Caballero, who plays an ill-qualified hostess of a literary T.V. program. She reads badly and not much as her eyesight is bad, but she explains to the audience that she has been given her job as presenter by her son, the director (a self-reflexive Almodóvar), so that mother and son can spend time together.

''Kika'' created a certain amount of controversy in the United States thanks to a humorous rape scene that was perceived as being both misogynistic and exploitative. The film was not well received by critics, but opened the door to a new era in the director’s career.

''La flor de mi secreto'' (1995)

Almodóvar changed gears with his next effort, 1995's ''The Flower of My Secret'' (''La flor de mi secreto''). It is an exploration of denial in its various forms, a film in which melodrama is treated more as theme rather than as plot line. ''The Flower of My Secret'' is the story of Leo Macias, a successful romance writer who has to confront both a professional and personal crisis. Estranged from her husband, a military officer who has volunteered for an international peacekeeping role in Bosnia and Herzegovina to avoid her, Leo fights to hold on to a past that has already eluded her, not realizing she has already set her future path by her own creativity and by supporting the creative efforts of others.

Starring Almodóvar regular Marisa Paredes, this psychological drama was hailed as his most mature film to date, and remains one of the director's humblest films. Leaving Almodóvar's usual choral exercises aside, the story centered on the love-torn writer. ''The Flower of My Secret'' has many common elements with ''All About My Mother'' and ''Talk to Her''. The three films are about “loss, growth and recovery”.

''The Flower of my Secret'' heralded a change in Almodóvar's filmography to a more mature period. It is the transitional film between his earlier and later style. It is worth noting, however, that many leading critics did not respond well to this film.

''Carne trémula'' (1997)

Almodóvar has written all of his films, but with ''Live Flesh'' (''Carne trémula'') the director shared script writing credits. This was his first script adapted from a book, Ruth Rendell’s novel ''Live Flesh''. All that remains in the film from the book is the plot line of the two male protagonists: David, a police detective, and Víctor, the man accused of wounding and paralyzing him. Upon his release, Víctor, looking for revenge, is soon entangled in the lives not only of David and his wife, but also of David’s former partner, Sancho, and Sancho’s wife.

''Live Flesh'' explores love, loss, and suffering with a sober restraint only briefly glimpsed in the director's earlier work. The film tells the story of several characters implicated in each other's fates in ways that are beyond their control. ''Live Flesh'' is historically framed from 1970, when Franco declared a state of emergency, to 1996, when Spain had completely shaken off the restrictions of the Franco regime. With this film Almodóvar started his collaboration with Penélope Cruz.

''Todo sobre mi madre'' (1999)

Almodóvar then continued to work in more serious dramatic confines, directing ''All About My Mother'' (''Todo sobre mi madre''). The film grew out of a brief scene in ''The Flower of My Secret,'' telling the story of a mourning mother who, after reading the last entry in her dead son's journal about how he wishes to meet his father for the first time, decides to travel to Barcelona in search of the boy's father. She must tell the father that she had their son after she left him many years ago, and that he has now died. Once there, she encounters a number of odd characters - a transvestite prostitute, a pregnant nun, and a lesbian actress - all of whom help her cope with her grief.

The film revisited Almodóvar's familiar themes of the power of sisterhood and of family. Dedicated to Bette Davis, Romy Schneider and Gena Rowlands, ''All About My Mother'' is steeped in theatricality, from its backstage setting to its plot, modeled on the works of Federico Garcia Lorca and Tennessee Williams, to the characters' preoccupation with modes of performance.

The comic relief on the film centers on Agrado, a pre-operative transsexual. In one scene, she tells the story of her body and its relationship to plastic surgery and silicone, culminating with a statement of her own philosophy: “The more you become like what you have dreamed for yourself, the more authentic you are”.

''All About My Mother'' received more awards and honors than any other film in the Spanish motion picture industry. Its recognition includes an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a Golden Globe in the same category, Best Director Award and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Award at Cannes; the French Cesar for Best Foreign Film, the Goya Award as best film of the year, best Actress in a Leading Role for Argentine actress Cecilia Roth and a twelfth Annual European Film Award. as played by Alain Delon in René Clément's ''Purple Noon''. A criminal without scruples, but with an adorable face that betrays nothing of his true nature. Almodóvar explains : "He also represents a classic film noir character - the femme fatale. Which means that when other characters come into contact with him, he embodies fate, in the most tragic and noir sense of the word."

''Volver'' (2006)

''Volver'' (''Return''), a mixture of comedy, family drama and ghost story, is set in part in La Mancha (the director's native region). The film opens showing dozens of women furiously scrubbing the graves of their deceased, establishing the influence of the dead over the living as a key theme. The plot follows the story of three generations of women in the same family who survive wind, fire, and even death. The film is an ode to female resilience, where men are literally disposable.

Many of Almodóvar's stylistic hallmarks are present: the stand-alone song (a redemption of the Argentinian tango song "Volver"), references to reality TV, and an homage to classic film (in this case Luchino Visconti's ''Bellissima'').

''Volver'' started as a story of ''la España negra,'' or 'black Spain'--the rural, superstitious and conservative part of the country still often associated, the director says, with violence, tragedy, even backwardness: "It looks like they are living a century before. But I tried to demonstrate that the same Spain, in the same local places with the same local characters, could be called 'white Spain', because the neighbors are in complete solidarity, all the women join together and create a kind of family. The movie really talks about women who survive, women who fight fiercely.

The storyline of ''Volver'' appears as both a novel and movie script in Almodóvar's earlier film, ''The Flower of My Secret''.

The film reunited Almodóvar with Carmen Maura, who had appeared in several of his early films.

''Los Abrazos Rotos'' (2009)

Almodóvar’s next film ''Broken Embraces'' (Los Abrazos Rotos), was released in Spain on 18 March 2009, is the director’s longest and most expensive feature. The plot follows the tragic fate of a former film director, who was blinded in a car accident fourteen years before. The film has a fractured puzzling structure, mixing past and present and film within a film that Almodóvar explored previously in both ''Talk to Her'' and ''Bad Education''. ''Broken Embraces'' is built up as homage to the craft of film making and takes some cues from Roberto Rossellini’s ''Journey to Italy'' and Almodóvar’s own ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown''.

''La Piel que Habito''

On 5 May 2010 Almodóvar cast Antonio Banderas for the male lead role in his thriller film ''The Skin I Live In''. Filming started on 23 August and lasted 11 weeks. It premiered in Competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmography

Year	English title	Original title	Notes
1980	''Pepi, Luci, Bom''	'' Pepi, Luci, Bom y Otras Chicas del Montón''	* Original Script
1982	''Labyrinth of Passion''	''Laberinto de Pasiones''	* Original Script
1983	'' Dark Habits ''	''Entre Tinieblas''	* Original Script
1984		''Que he hecho yo para merecer esto''	* Original Script
1986		''Matador''	* Original script with Jesús Ferrero
1987	''Law of Desire ''	''La Ley del Deseo''	* Original Script	* 37th Berlin International Film Festival: Winner of the first Teddy Award
1988	''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown''	''Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios''	* Original Script	* Goya Award for Best Picture	* Nominee of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
1990	''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!''	'' ¡Átame!''	* Original Script. Entered into the 40th Berlin International Film Festival
1991		''Tacones Lejanos ''	* Original Script	César Award: César Award for Best Foreign Film>Best Foreign Film
1993	'' Kika''	'' Kika ''	* Original Script
1995	''The Flower of My Secret ''	''La Flor de Mi Secreto''	* Original Script
1997		''Carne Trémula''	* Script with Ray Loriga and Jorge Guerricaechevarría, loosely based on Ruth Rendell’s novel
1999	'' All About My Mother''	''Todo Sobre Mi Madre''	* Original Script	* Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film	* 1999 Cannes Film Festival	Cannes Film Festival: Audience Award	* BAFTA Award: BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language	: César Award for Best Foreign Film>Best Foreign Film	* Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film	* Seven Goya Awards (including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Director)
2002	''Talk to Her''	''Hable Con Ella''	* Original Script	Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)>Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay	* BAFTA Award: BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language	: Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film>Best Foreign Language Film	* Goya Awards (Spain): Best Original Score (Alberto Iglesias)	* Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Director (Pedro Almodóvar
2004	''Bad Education''	''La Mala Educación''	* Original Script	* New York Film Critics Circle Awards :Best Foreign Language Film
2006	''Volver''	''Volver''	* Original Script	* 2006 Cannes Film Festival	* [[2006 Cannes Film Festival	* [[Goya Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress in Leading Role, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Music	* National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Film
2009	''Broken Embraces''	''Los Abrazos Rotos''	* Original Script	Golden Globe Awards: Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film>Best Foreign Language Film
2011	''The Skin I Live In''	''La piel que habito''	* Based on ''Tarantula'' by Thierry Jonquet

See also

List of Spanish Academy Award winners and nominees

''Bibliography''

Allinson, Mark: '' A Spanish Labyrinth : The Films of Pedro Almodóvar'', I.B Tauris Publishers, 2001, ISBN 1-86064-507 - 0

Bergan, Ronald '' Film'', D.K Publishing, 2006, ISBN 0756622034

Cobos, Juan and Miguel Marias: ''Almodóvar Secreto'', Nickel Odeon, 1995

D’ Lugo, Marvin: ''Pedro Almodóvar'', University of Illinois Press, 2006, ISBN 0-252-073614 - 4

Edwards, Gwyne : ''Almodóvar: labyrinths of Passion.'' London: Peter Owen. 2001, ISBN 0720611210

Strauss, Frederick '' Almodóvar on Almodóvar'', Faber and Faber, 2006, ISBN 0-57123-192-6

References

External links

Viva Pedro Official website of the Viva Pedro series, featuring the theatrical re-release of 8 of the celebrated auteur's films.

Almodóvar Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)

Category:1949 births Category:Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners Category:People from Ciudad Real (province) Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:César Award winners Category:Gay writers Category:LGBT directors Category:LGBT people from Spain Category:LGBT screenwriters Category:Living people Category:Spanish film directors Category:Spanish film producers Category:Spanish screenwriters Category:Best Director Goya Award winners Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Name	Andrés Calamaro
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Andres Calamaro
Born	August 22, 1961 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Genre	RockTangoPop rockNew wave
Instrument	Piano, Guitar, Vocals
Occupation	Musician, Songwriter, Producer
Wife	Julieta Cardinali
Associated acts	Los Abuelos de la Nada, Los Rodriguez }}

Andrés Calamaro (born Andrés Calamaro Masel, August 22, 1961), is an Argentine musician, composer and Latin Grammy winner. His former band ''Los Rodríguez'' was a major success in Spain in the 1990s. He became one of the main icons of the Argentine rock in the last two decades and has sold over 1.3 million copies.

Life and career

Abuelos de la Nada

Calamaro was born in Buenos Aires. At 17 years of age he participated as a guest in the recording of an album of the group ''Raíces'', and shortly after he started his own band, the ''Elmer Band'', with guitarist friend Gringui Herrera. This band had an underground hit, ''Tristeza de la Ciudad'' (City Blues).

When Miguel Abuelo, leader of ''Los Abuelos de la Nada'', returned to Argentina, he reunited the band and invited Calamaro to play keyboards. The band was a big success; Calamaro wrote some of their greatest hits, such as ''Sin gamulán'', ''Mil horas'' and ''Costumbres argentinas''.

Separation

Before the dissolution of ''Los Abuelos de la Nada'', Calamaro released his first solo album, ''Hotel Calamaro'' in 1984. A second album, ''Vida Cruel'', recorded shortly after his separation from the band, was received warmly by the press but did not achieve commercial success.

After a third album, ''Por Mirarte'' (1988), Calamaro started producing for bands such as Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Los Enanitos Verdes and soloists such as Fabiana Cantilo.

Calamaro closed the 1980s with his own band, featuring old friends Gringui Herrera and Ariel Rot, who recently came back from Spain. The trio recorded the album ''Nadie sale vivo de aquí'' (No One Here Gets Out Alive) in 1989 with a number of guest musicians, which obtained the nomination of Best Record of the Year.

Los Rodríguez

Due to the economic situation in Argentina, Calamaro and Rot relocated to Spain. Then, they created the band ''Los Rodríguez'' with Julián Infante. Germán Villela joined at the drums. The band didn't have a bass player, but Guillermo Martin, Candi Avello and later Daniel Zamora accompanied the band in recordings and tours.

Los Rodríguez released three successful studio albums: ''Buena Suerte'' (1991), ''Sin documentos'' (1993) and ''Palabras más, palabras menos'' (1995), as well as the live ''Disco Pirata'' (1992), and the compilation ''Hasta luego'' (1996).

''Sin documentos'' gave them international acclaim, with its mixture of flamenco and Latin American rhythms. They toured Spain and Latin America, and entered the history of Rock in Spanish.

Solo

Andrés Calamaro released ''Grabaciones Encontradas'' ("Found recordings" which in Spanish could also be understood as "Conflicting Recordings") while working with Los Rodríguez. After ''Palabras más, palabras menos'', the band released a "Greatest Hits" album, which sold nicely, and then dissolved.

In 1996, Calamaro performed "Cosas Que Me Ayudan A Olvidar (Things That Help Me To Forget)" for the AIDS benefit album ''Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin'' produced by the Red Hot Organization. In 1997 Calamaro recorded ''Alta suciedad'' (literally "High Filth," but also a pun "High Society"/"Alta Sociedad"), which sold over half a million copies and took him again touring around Latin America.

Calamaro began composing song after song. In six months, he had over 100 songs ready to be released. Thirty seven of these found their way to his next album, ''Honestidad brutal''. The album included hits such as: ''Te quiero igual'', ''Paloma'', ''Los aviones'', ''Cuando te conocí'' and ''La parte de adelante''. This double CD was created after the breakup with his girlfriend, which reflected in the songs. The album also contains a collaboration with Diego Maradona.

In 2000, he recorded 103 songs in his five-CD album ''El Salmón''.

Free music

In the following years, Calamaro made many guest appearances in concerts and recordings. He posted unpublished songs from 2001-2002 for free download over the Internet, saying that ''"Music belongs to those who want to hear it; and to nobody else"''.

He also made his home recordings available at DeepCamboya. Due to the low quality of the recordings, and with permission of the author, Camisetas Para Todos, a group of fans, re-mastered Calamaro's songs and made them available on their site. He also started ''Radio Salmón Vaticano'', a virtual recording studio at his web site.

In 2004 he released ''El Cantante'' (The Singer), an album with covers of Tangos and other Latin American rhythms, and a few of his web released songs.

The Return

In 2005 he released ''El Regreso'' (The Return), a compilation of the live recordings from his appearance in the Luna Park Stadium earlier that year. The disc was presented on December 17 to an audience of 20,000 in the Obras Sanitarias Stadium, and was awarded with the 2006 Gardel Award for ''Rock album by Male Artist'' and ''Best Album Cover''. Calamaro was awarded the Golden Gardel (main award).

After that, he released ''Tinta Roja'', a collection of classic Tangos as ''El día que me quieras'',''Como dos extraños'' or ''Sur''. On November 20 of 2006 was released ''El Palacio de las Flores'', recorded with Litto Nebbia and on September 11 of 2007, ''La Lengua Popular'' comes to light. In 2008 ''Raíces 30 Años'' followed with the band ''Raíces'', and in 2009 ''Andrés'', a solo-antology of 6 CDs.

In June 2010 he released his album "On The Rock", an album which returned to his more rock-oriented sound. The album became an instant hit as well as the first single "Los Divinos" a song about the passing of time.

Discography

Los Abuelos de la Nada

Los Abuelos de la Nada (1982)

Vasos y besos (1983)

Himno de mi corazón (1984)

En directo desde el Ópera (1985)

Los Rodríguez

Buena suerte (1991)

Disco pirata (1992)

Sin documentos (1993)

Palabras más, palabras menos (1995)

Hasta luego (1997)

Hasta luego (Collector CD/book) (2001)

Para no olvidar (2001)

Solo

Hotel Calamaro (1984)

Vida cruel (1985)

Por mirarte (1988)

Nadie sale vivo de aquí (1990)

Grabaciones encontradas Vol. I (1993)

Live en Ayacucho 1988 (1994)

Caballos salvajes (album)|Caballos salvajes (1995)

Grabaciones encontradas Vol. II (1996)

Alta Suciedad (1997)

Las otras caras de Alta Suciedad (1998)

Una década perdida (1998)

Honestidad brutal (1999)

Alta Suciedad (Collector Series) (1999)

El Salmón (2000)

Duetos (2001)

El Cantante (2004)

El Regreso (2005)

Tinta Roja (2006)

Made in Argentina (DVD) (2006)

El Palacio de las Flores (2006)

La Lengua Popular (2007)

Dos son Multitud (together with Fito & Fitipaldis) (2008)

Nada se Pierde (2009)

On the Rock (2010)

References

External links

Andres Calamaro Official Website

Camisetas para todos

AC30

Andrés Calamaro - Beyond Prolific

Calamaro Web

laWEBdeCALAMARO

Deepcamboya

Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:People from Buenos Aires Category:Argentine people of Italian descent Category:Argentine male singers Category:Argentine musicians Category:Argentine singer-songwriters Category:Multi-instrumentalists Category:Argentine multi-instrumentalists Category:Argentine film score composers Category:Rock en Español musicians Category:Latin Grammy Award winners

ca:Andrés Calamaro cs:Andrés Calamaro de:Andrés Calamaro es:Andrés Calamaro fr:Andrés Calamaro pt:Andrés Calamaro uk:Андрес Каламаро