There is a part of your brain that has to stop when you're acting. You have to be in the moment and dare to fly. Words can't be on your mind.
— Penelope Cruz
I used to dance for seventeen years -classical ballet, which was very disciplined. I like yoga and Pilates, but I don't have the discipline to go to the gym.
Unfortunately, I am very aware of editing and I look at the monitor too much. Sometimes the monitor can become your worst enemy because you can, consciously or unconsciously, start editing yourself.
When I read a script, I try not to judge the characters. I try to have an open mind and really see what it makes me feel.
I am a big fan of photography, more of being behind the camera - so when I get the opportunity to work with such great photographers, I always try and learn from their technique.
Even if you were aware of children and felt compassion, when you have your own, it multiplies. It breaks your heart to know that there are so many children in the world suffering so much.
I learned English kind of late. I remember when I got my first opportunity to work in America, I didn't speak a lot of English, so I only really knew my lines for the movie I was doing.
I love the Italian culture - it's a beautiful culture. I love the language, the Italian people, their music, their attitudes... I just love it! Sometimes I think I'm an Italian trapped in a Spanish woman's body.
I am living for every day and trying to have less fear, less worry. But I have always worried about everything; it's in my nature. It's the thing that makes me suffer the most.
I came to New York to study ballet and English.
I really like the Caribbean. Anyplace in the Caribbean. I get there, and I feel like a monkey - the perfect state.
I have a little bit of an addiction to work. So I'm always hiding in the bathroom with my Blackberry to work when I'm on holiday.
I'm strong and opinionated. Those qualities brought me a lot of problems since I was a little girl in school, saying 'I don't agree' and fighting with the children. It's part of my curiosity for life.
I want to have babies one day but not right now. When I do it I want to do it really well. I want it to be my best project in life.
My ambition is to be happy.
The most important lesson I've learned in this business is how to say no. I have said no to a lot of temptations, and I am glad I did.
When I was 16, I got 'Jamon, Jamon.' Of course, I had to lie about my age. And I had to lie to my parents about the content of the script.
Awards are great, as you get to meet up with friends and colleagues from your industry - a sort of reunion.
I can cook a little bit. I can cook a few Spanish dishes. But, in movies, it looks like I cook much better than I cook.
There are so many designers that I love, and I'm so lucky that I get to work with so many of them and sometimes spend time with them.
Especially when you are advertising a product, I talk to the photographer and we create a character - it always gives you more freedom because it makes it less about yourself.
I only drive in movies. I know that's very weird to hear for an American. I have a weird relationship with it. I know how to drive, but I never went to take the test.
I try to look at the whole thing and say 'yes' to the projects that I cannot stop thinking about. If I read a script and the subject stays with me - then that's when I want to go to work.
There's so much more I want to do. I refuse to get to 50 and wait at home for the phone to ring. In Spain, actresses work until they are old. That's my plan.
I have a strong personality, and I say what I think.
I remember when I got my first opportunity to work in America, I didn't speak a lot of English, so I only really knew my lines for the movie I was doing.
In Spain, actresses work until they are old. That's my plan.
There's so much more I want to do. I refuse to get to 50 and wait at home for the phone to ring.
You cannot live your life looking at yourself from someone else's point of view.
When I start a movie, the first day, I feel like a duck.
I have stepped off the relationship scene to come to terms with myself. I have spent most of my adult life being 'someone's girlfriend', and now I am happy being single.
The most difficult thing in the world is to start a career known only for your looks, and then to try to become a serious actress. No one will take you seriously once you are known as the pretty woman.
In my everyday life, I just wear jeans, t-shirts and trainers - if I can go barefoot, that's even better. But for the events I have a stylist, and in two hours we have selected a whole outfit.
I am someone who worries a lot. I'm always worrying 'what if?' Now I'm a mum - there will be worries for the rest of my life, but they're not about me anymore.
For 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona,' for example, Woody Allen is one of the greatest American directors, and we really had a very good working relationship. We understand each other really well. He gave me one of the best opportunities somebody has ever given me in my career.
It's great working with my sister, because we are very close as a family - my brother, my sister and myself. We have a great relationship.
I want my son - and my kids, if I have more - to grow up in a way that is as anonymous as possible. The fact that his father and I have chosen to do the work that we do doesn't give anybody the right to invade our privacy.
I won't go to places where you're going to find more attention. I go to the opposite.
I remember playing with some friends and being aware that I was acting as I was playing with them - I would think of a character and pretend to be someone else.
One thing that I am proud of: I am really capable of laughing at myself.
Maybe I'll make one movie a year, maybe two, but it's not going to be more than that because I have other priorities now.
I love New York, but being there the whole year, it gets a little crazy with the speed and rhythm of things.
I want to be remembered as somebody that tried to respect her integrity as an artist and as a person. And I don't want to be in any box. I don't want to be one thing.
I came to Los Angeles for the first time in 1994. I spoke no English. I only knew how to say two sentences: 'How are you?' and 'I want to work with Johnny Depp.'
I don't know if I believe in marriage. I believe in family, love and children.
I like roles that people don't recognize me in.
I am amazed about how everyone wants to know about my love life. They whisper to me, 'Tell me the truth? Is it true?' Who cares? Because we have this job, we are to say to everybody what we do, or with whom we sleep? It's a bit absurd, but that's why everybody lies so much.
Johnny Depp is so special that he is like a Martian. In fact, that's what I call him, Martian.
