'ALMODÓVAR Girl' Penélope Cruz has become the youngest-ever actress to be awarded the Donostia Prize for lifetime achievement at San Sebastián Film Festival – the greatest distinction possible at the star-studded event on Spain's Basque coast.
The 45-year-old from Madrid, who made her leap into Hollywood in 2000 when she was still learning to speak English, attended last night's ceremony with husband and 'Bond villain' actor Javier Bardem and brother-in-law Carlos Bardem, who is also in the film industry.
And perhaps an even greater honour than the Donostia Prize itself was the fact Irish rock legend Bono, from U2, flew over to San Sebastián solely to present Penélope with her award on stage.
This lifetime achievement award was first presented in 1986, to Gregory Peck, for his role in To Kill a Mockingbird, and high-profile winners since have included Bette Davis, Lana Turner, Susan Sarandon, Catherine Deneuve, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael Caine, Woody Allen, Sean Penn, Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Glenn Close, Ian McKellen, Meryl Streep, Hugh Jackman, Denzel Washington, Benicio del Toro, Emily Watson, Sigourney Weaver, Ethan Hawke, Judi Dench and Danny DeVito.
In the award's 34-year history, only five Spanish stars have won the Donostia Prize, including Penélope – Málaga-born Hollywood great Antonio Banderas in 2008, Fernando Fernán Gómez in 1999, Paco Rabal in 2001, and fellow 'Almodóvar Girl' Carmen Maura in 2013.
Among her numerous awards, Penélope has won a BAFTA and and Oscar for her role in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which also netted her a Goya Award, and two other Goyas for Fernando Trueba's La Niña de Tus Ojos and Pedro Almodóvar's Volver.
She was practically unknown outside the Spanish-speaking world until she starred alongside Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky, a Hollywood remake of Abre Tus Ojos ('Open Your Eyes'), by The Others' Alejandro Amenábar, and in which she had played the same part.
Penélope also made mainstream cinema outside Spain in the early years of the 21st century with rôles in All The Pretty Horses, Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Blow.
She is pictured here with Bono handing her the Donostia trophy.
