Penélope Cruz (born 1974 in Alcobendas, Spain) has built a remarkable career across Spanish and English-language cinema. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) - the first Spanish actress ever to receive the honour - and has since earned three further Oscar nominations, including for Volver and Parallel Mothers. A long-standing collaborator of director Pedro Almodóvar, she is equally at home in major international productions.
Bunker, the psychological thriller by Florian Zeller with Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem, will have its world premiere on 8 September 2026 in the main competition of the Venice Film Festival, in the race for the Golden Lion.
La bola negra, the Spanish-language queer epic by Los Javis in which Cruz plays a cameo, received a twenty-minute standing ovation at its world premiere in Cannes - almost a festival record.
After the Cannes premiere of La bola negra, a bidding war broke out between major studios - including A24, Mubi and Netflix - for the American distribution rights.
Director Nancy Meyers announced that Cruz will star alongside Emma Mackey and Jude Law in her new romantic comedy, scheduled for Christmas 2027.
Cruz and Bardem were announced in May 2025 as the lead actors in Bunker; director Florian Zeller wrote the film specifically for the couple.
