Espana, Spain: She has her World Cup, The Tour de France, writers the likes of Cervantes and Lorca, architects of dream-scapes like Gaudi, and painters such as Velasquez, Goya, Picasso, Dali, et.al., the list is worthy of an entire continent or more, and... Penelope (audible sigh) Cruz Sanchez. Their spirits are humbly summoned in portraying her, begun with Serrat's painterly title for this, here portrait in words, which but begins to capture her gorgeous humanity.

Like many American youths during JFK's 'Operation Amigo', this author wished to study Spanish. As was and is the custom in any foreign language class, the students are called upon to select surrogate names in that tongue. Mine would have been Jose, so commanding, so evocative of, say, the glorious Jose Feliciano, soon, on my behalf and others, to invite the lighting of our boyish fires with his very Spanish version of that Doors paean, but it was not to be. It was taken, and I took, somewhat crestfallen, the lesser Pepe. And, while there were many girls in that class, none had chosen Penelope, nor was it even available, if not mistaken.

After all, it is Greek, after the faithful wife of the legendary Odysseus. And like that patient young woman spoken of by Homer and sung about by the Catalan Serrat, Penelope Cruz has her 'eyes full of yesterday's mist', most recently joining Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow as his old flame (see: Feliciano, Jose, above), Angelica, in that most Spanish of quests, after Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth.

This is altogether fitting and proper for the self-effacing young actress who has been quoted as both feeling '...like a duck' (on any film's first day of shooting) and 'I like being ugly', referring, of course, to her admirable welcoming of unflattering and challenging roles utterly unlike herself after even a fleeting glance.

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Her Sunday Look: A Progressive Melange

Imagining her parents as artists, and Penelope, both the instrument and the cumulative work of their creation (feel free to hold up your hands, film directors' framing style, one eye artistically shut), April, 1974 marks the initial framing of the life's portrait is hardly enclosed by anything so static as an ordinary frame, no; hers, then, is a varietal, kinetic panorama with a background which seems to morph in complex beauty over time. From a primary coat comprised of images of her nine years at the National Conservatory in classical dance pose, to three years of balletic movement, with a bit of jazz dance styling as accent, we witness the marvelous precocious work's progress.

Combining the modeling of fashionable attire at year fifteen of this progressive work with some dramatic study, a colorful melange begins to take shape. Then, in the ensuing year, the work takes on a televised feel, with young children its principal audience, adding a three-dimensional aspect to the already busy, yet most appealing tapestry-like canvas, melding nicely into the silvery film now growing in captivating appearance to the craving eyes of the work's beholders.

Soon, that all-important critic, known simply as 'Oscar', would approvingly smile upon the subject's captivating star-like appearance, as wouls a Silver Lion enter her growing scenic display, broader European strokes of the silver film appear in that background, with the added flair of French, Italian and English tongues of colorful inflection now in evidence, layered, as it were, upon that burgeoning silvery rectangular work.

And, as the work progresses, you, the rapt audiences, are compelled to 'Open Your Eyes'(1), your mind caught amidst the swirling reeling chaos of time, faces and masks of the real, through techniques flattering to our enchanting subject. Then, there is a strong appearance of the maternal, habit-like, after the distinctive style of the silvery artist, Almodovar. (2)

Further developing in her background, a 'Woman on Top'(3), figuring prominently in that background's first U.S. studio's appearance. A 'Blow'(4)appears with a favorite star known as 'Martian' to the subject, conjuring great strangeness, followed by a 'Vanilla Sky'(5), another eye-opening effect in silver. And, in the distance, an attractive Cruise(r) seems to float away, never solidifying in her or our eyes.

Now, while we (those compatriot spirits and this author) have rightly exiled foolish gossip to the tabloid tableaus, we shall deal in painterly strokes in analyzing this developing masterpiece.

Let's step back, and take in the full perspective on this stunning portrait, deconstructing the crucial highlights of this womanly work of art, these, simply selected painterly points, spots, if you will, on a vast canvas:

1. The first Spanish actress to be given a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame;
2. Most appealing half of a dynamic acting marriage, with Javier Bardem (Spain is obviously no country for old, uninteresting men);
3. First Spaniard actress to be nominated in both a foreign language as well as English-speaking roles (winning the Oscar in 2009 for 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona', nominated for 2006's 'Volver');
4. At the tender age of 37 there have been, according to IMDb, 55 nominations and 34 wins in various international as well as provincial award programs; here're the most well-known wins:
5. 2009, Oscar, Supporting Actress for 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona';
6. 2009, Bafta, Goya & Gaudi for 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona';
7. 2006, Cannes Film Festival for 'Volver';

and, from scores of nominations:

• 2010 Golden Globe ('Nine');
• 2009 Golden Globe ('Vicky Cristina Barcelona');
• 2008 LA Film Critics ('Vicky Cristina Barcelona');
• 2007 Golden Globe ('Volver');
• 2007/09/10 Screen Actors Guild ('VCB', 'Nine', 'Volver', respectively);
• 2005 Teen Choice ('Sahara');
• 2002 MTV Movie Awards ('Blow').

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Her High-heeled Look: No Longer a Work in Progress

Certainly, with this century's achievements, the portrait's subject, glistening of permanent silver and golden patina (as deemed by Oscar, mentioned above), Penelope's palette has now come to include a rainbow's hues in cosmetics (L'Oreal) and costumery (having launched her own line with her actress sister for 'Mango' boutiques).

She has singled out Woody Allen, whose films have now become more international in location, and owner of a notorious eye for youthful exuberance (albeit closer to home), for brilliantly casting her in his 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona', winning approval from Oscar, Bafta and Goya, not to mention a Bardem, Javier. Also worthy of special mention for his having included her in his many 'adventures', Oscar-winning Pedro Almodovar, the talk of the directorial world. America is lucky to now harbor Spain's Hollywood power couple, in their new country for young man, and wife (plus a child, to be named later).

Of special final note, 'Nine's Rob Marshall, who wanted her for the latest 'Pirates' episode, thrilling all fans of the picaresque genre, all of her admirers, and Mr. Depp who worked with her in 'Blow'. (It is certain that she enjoys his directing style, as Penelope was the sole nominee from a bevy of accomplished older actresses in 'Nine'----"muy impresionante" (sorry, can't do the dual exclamation points she deserves, one inverted, you know), cries the impressed world (none louder than someone named Pepe).

Her 'Misty Eyes' Look... to a Brilliant Future

Penelope's odyssey, then, has come to rival Homer's, her international stardom having taken her everywhere for both camera, and cause. Now a mother, the 'girl with the high-heeled Sunday look' has, after a second physical collapse (the first coming at age 16) due to her sincere yet exhausting humanitarian work in India for a Spanish charity focused upon deprived children, she has returned to a more balanced lifestyle as a vegetarian non-smoker practicing meditation and other centering techniques. Among her many sacrificial doings, she has worked for the late Mother Teresa, and has donated her compensation from the film 'Hi-Lo' to Teresa's Sisters of Charity. As her countryman poet Lorca has said of such a corporeal spirit:

'Adam dreams in the fever of the clay
of a child who comes galloping
through the double pulse of his cheek.'

Speaking of a child, such another has arrived, in January 2011, and, while the exile of silly speculation has been enforced strictly, a tiny exception is indulged, never intended to impinge upon Penelope's 'sacred' view of her private life (she has used that spiritual word)---one cannot but wonder if, perhaps, just perhaps, Jose Feliciano, or our Joan Serrat, yes, wrote a song Penelope and Javier liked, entitled... 'Pepe'.

Finally, and in closing, for all of us---and especially those who got the 'p' names in Spanish class and foolishly considered them to be second-thoughts, we, wiser and empowered by your creative parents' artfulness, smilingly, adoringly mouth that name, Penelope, as we 'Cruz' along, reclining into a Sunday look... of bliss, remaining in the cloudless heights to which you have taken yourself and us. An imaginary flight attendant's voice pierces our ears, its happiness evident, as is ours: "Ladies & Gentlemen, our movie tonight will be 'Open Your Eyes', starring the fabulous Penelope Cruz.