Penélope Cruz burst onto the scene in her native Spain in the early 1990s and quickly established herself as a talent to be reckoned with in any language. A longtime critical darling on the international film circuit, Cruz was a favorite creative muse of famed Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar. But it was after she crossed the Atlantic that Cruz truly became a global superstar. Her highly-publicized off-screen dalliances with such A-list box office co-stars as Matt Damon, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise and Javier Bardem only added to her mystique and earned her a place amongmagazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” list in the mid-2000s, as well as title of top fashionista each time she hit the red carpet in an impeccable gown. Regardless of her tabloid presence, there was no doubt that Cruz was a gifted performer and perhaps one of the best to crossover from her native Spain.