'ALMODÓVAR Girl'-turned-Hollywood great Penélope Cruz will receive the Donostia Prize at this year's San Sebastián Film Festival – the most prestigious award of the entire event.
As well as netting this 'lifetime achievement' award, Cruz, 45, is the face of this year's Film Festival poster (pictured left).
“I was full of emotion and gratitude to the San Sebastián Festival for having offered me this immense honour when I heard the news about this award,” Penélope says.
“San Sebastián is not just an internationally-respected festival, but also the biggest in our country and is in a place I am especially fond of, having had the pleasure of visiting it frequently from a very young age and enjoying some truly exciting times there.
“Thank you, right from my heart.”
A regular in the works of off-the-wall cult film director Pedro Almodóvar, Penélope Cruz made her début in Hollywood in 2001 alongside Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky, the English-language remake of Abre los Ojos ('Open Your Eyes'), which she also starred in and which, like the US version, was directed by Alejandro Amenábar, of The Others fame.
She swiftly followed this up with key roles in All the Pretty Horses, Blow, and Captain Corelli's Mandolin alongside Nicholas Cage, playing the main female character, Pelagia.
Other than Antonio Banderas, she has been, to date, the only notable Spanish actress in mainstream global cinema, but has carried on working on Spanish productions and continues to feature in Almodóvar's prolific films, including Dolor y Gloria ('Pain and Glory'), alongside Banderas, which will première at Cannes in a week's time.
At present, she is working on Olivier Assayas' Red Avispa ('Wasp's Net'), due for release in 2020.
Cruz has competed three times at San Sebastián Film Festival – with Todo es Mentira ('It's All Lies') in 1994, Volavérunt in 1999, and Volver a Nacer ('Being Born Again') in 2012.
Her star-studded career has seen her net an Oscar, a BAFTA, three Goyas, Best Actress at Cannes, an honorary Caesar, and Spain's Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts, among other awards.
