What is the best Penélope Cruz movie?

Spanish Oscar winner, Almodóvar muse, Hollywood star — Penélope Cruz has tackled everything from erotic tragicomedy to mind-bending sci-fi to swashbuckling pirates. Which film showcases her at her absolute finest?

1. 1
   Volver

   A haunting Pedro Almodóvar drama where Cruz plays a woman dealing with her husband's mysterious disappearance, earning her a Best Actress Academy Award nomination.
2. 2
   Vicky Cristina Barcelona

   Woody Allen's sun-soaked romance set in Spain where Cruz won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as a volatile, seductive ex-wife.
3. 3
   All About My Mother

   Pedro Almodóvar's masterpiece and Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, with Cruz in a pivotal role in this multigenerational family drama.
4. 4
   Parallel Mothers

   Almodóvar's 2021 drama about two women whose lives intertwine after childbirth, earning Cruz another Academy Award Best Actress nomination.
5. 5
   Pain and Glory

   A deeply personal 2019 Almodóvar film about a director confronting his past, nominated for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards.
6. 6
   Open Your Eyes

   Alejandro Amenábar's mind-bending 1997 psychological thriller that launched Cruz internationally and was later remade as Vanilla Sky.
7. 7
   Broken Embraces

   Almodóvar's 2009 stylish neo-noir romance featuring Cruz as a woman entangled in a dangerous and obsessive love affair.
8. 8
   Blow

   Ted Demme's 2001 crime drama about cocaine trafficker George Jung where Cruz delivers a memorable performance alongside Johnny Depp.
9. 9
   Nine

   Rob Marshall's 2009 musical drama based on Fellini's 8½, where Cruz earned an Academy Award Best Supporting Actress nomination.
10. 10
    Vanilla Sky

    Cameron Crowe's 2001 psychological thriller where Cruz stars alongside Tom Cruise in a complex, mind-bending narrative about reality and obsession.
11. 11
    Ferrari

    Michael Mann's 2023 acclaimed biopic where Cruz brings the compelling Laura Ferrari to life in this portrait of a pivotal year in the legendary car designer's life.
12. 12
    Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

    The 2011 blockbuster where Cruz plays a seductive and dangerous rival to Captain Jack Sparrow in the high-seas adventure franchise.
13. 13
    Jamón Jamón

    Bigas Luna's 1992 erotic tragicomedy that launched Cruz's career, featuring her breakthrough performance that announced a major new Spanish talent.
14. 14
    Live Flesh

    Cruz's first collaboration with Almodóvar in 1997, a passionate romantic thriller about reconnection and past trauma in modern Madrid.