Spanish actress confesses that her idol ‘must think I’m crazy’

Even hot Hollywood stars get starstruck on occasion.

Penelope Cruz, the Spanish beauty who captured American audiences with her turn as Maria Elena in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” tells the May issue of Harper’s Bazaar that she still idolizes Meryl Streep.

“When I first started watching movies and I saw Meryl’s work, that’s when I became obsessed with acting,” she admits to the magazine. “Now I kiss her whenever I see her! She must think I’m crazy.”

Cruz, 37, even recalls once doing a magazine shoot with the “The Devil Wears Prada” actress and being put in the precarious position of posing on top of her.

“As soon as she got to the set, I had to sit topless on top of her,” she says of the AIDS charity (RED) campaign they both starred in. “It was the most interesting love scene I’ve ever done.”

Currently, the brunette stunner is set to star in Woody Allen’s “To Rome With Love” — but fans will have to accept a slower stream of films from the actress in coming years.

Cruz, who is married to actor Javier Bardem, 43, is learning to strike a better balance between work and family.

“Maybe I’ll make one movie a year, maybe two, but it’s not going to be more than that because I have other priorities now,” she said of spending time with the couple’s 1-year-old son, Leonardo.

And as for red-carpet affairs and big Hollywood to-dos, Cruz says she’ll pass if it means spending more time doing what she loves most: “running around with my family at the beach, that’s all.”

Spanish star Penelope Cruz has become a big sister at the age of 37 after her stepmother gave birth to a baby girl.

The actress’ dad Eduardo Cruz, Sr. and his second wife Carmen Moreno became parents to daughter Salma last Friday (24Feb12), according to Hola! magazine.

Cruz, Sr. is also the father of Penelope’s younger siblings, Monica and Eduardo Jr.

Little Salma already has a playmate – the Vicky Cristina Barcelona star gave birth to a son named Leo, her first child with husband Javier Bardem, last January (11).

source: contactmusic.com

Spanish actress Penelope Cruz will be one of the presenters during the Feb. 26 Oscar awards ceremony at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday.

Cruz, the winner of the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008), will join the artists who will participate in the gala, a group that includes Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie, Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Halle Berry and Cameron Diaz.

The Madrid native has become a regular at these award ceremonies, having also been nominated for her work in “Volver” in 2006 and in “Nine” in 2009.

Among the Latino nominees at this year’s Oscars are Mexico’s Demian Bichir (“A Better Life”), who is in the running for Best Actor, and his countryman Emmanuel Lubezki, who will vie for the golden statue for Best Cinematography for “The Tree of Life,” as well as Argentine-born Berenice Bejo, who is up for Best Supporting Actress for “The Artist.”

Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias has been nominated in the Best Music (Original Score) category for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.”

Also, Spain’s “Chico & Rita” was nominated for Best Animated Feature.

Source: http://latino.foxnews.com

Penelope Cruz has condemned the use of real fur by posing on a 70-foot billboard as part of an anti-fur campaign.

The Hollywood actress – who is married to actor Javier Bardem – turns her head to look over her bare back next to the words, ‘Give Fur the Cold Shoulder’, on the PETA US advertisement which is set to be displayed outside New York’s Madison Square Garden.

source: indiatimes.com

Getting another cinema celebration underway, Penelope Cruz took center stage at Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy on Friday night (November 25).

The Spanish actress was joined by Emile Hirsch for the 29th Torino Film Festival Opening Ceremony.

Penelope and Emile co-star in a picture titled “Venuto al Mondo,” which is a drama that centers around a single mother who takes her teenage son to Sarajevo, where his father died in the Bosnian conflict years ago.

The Sergio Castellitto directed work will be released in Italy on September 21, 2012 and after that, debut in Spain come November 9th.

source: HollywoodGossip

Penelope Cruz is certainly embracing being a new mommy.

The Spanish darling says her current film role as a single mom is one of the most beautiful characters she has ever played.

Cruz made a cameo appearance in Rome Wednesday night on the eve of the Rome Film Festival. She had been in Bosnia recently filming Sergio Castellitto’s “Venuto al Mondo” about a single woman who brings her teenage son to Sarajevo, where the boy’s father died during the 1990s Bosnian conflict.

She told reporters being a mother is the strongest experience a woman can have. Cruz and husband actor Javier Bardem became parents of a baby boy in January.

Cruz, stunning in a somber black suit, says every experience in life makes you change and grow.

Cruz has had an eventful month. She filmed in Sarajevo and security was tight, forcing reporters to shoot from afar. It was previously reported that Cruz arrived for filming in an SUV with a wall of bodyguards preventing the new mom from being photographed.

The stunner did not hold back and scolded a reporter who dared snap a photo of her, son in hand, despite promising the actress not to publish the image.

Multiple sources in Bosnia reported that the paparazzo took the photo while she and Oscar winning husband took a walk in between shooting for the film. The couple strolled by Bascarsija, Bosnia’s capital and historical district. Their son, Leo, was also present.

Production for “Venuto al Mondo” is set to return back to Sarajevo from Rome by late October.

The film is scheduled to premiere next year.

Source: http://foxnews.com