Mónica Cruz

Mónica Cruz was born in the working-class town of Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser, and Eduardo Cruz (d. 2015), a retailer and auto mechanic. Throughout her childhood, she lived in Alcobendas. She is the middle child of three; older sister Penélope is an actress, and younger brother Eduardo (born 1986) is a singer. Her parents divorced in 1999, and her father remarried Carmen Moreno in 2003. Moreno gave birth to a girl, Salma Cruz, on 24 February 2012. Penélope and Mónica distinguished themselves as promising young dancers and both received professional training; Penélope attended Spain's National Conservatory while Mónica enrolled in The Royal Academy of Dance to study traditional ballet and flamenco.Upon graduating from the academy, Cruz joined Joaquín Cortés' flamenco dance company. She stayed with the company for seven years until, in 2002, she left dancing to pursue a career in acting. In 2005, she starred in the Spanish television show Un Paso Adelante alongside Beatriz Luengo, Miguel Ángel Muñoz, Pablo Puyol and Silvia Marty. She portrayed Tabitha in the historical drama film The Inquiry (2006). Cruz landed the role of Detective Rosa Mulero in the crime drama film Last Hour (2008) alongside DMX and Paul Sorvino. She also appeared in films Asterix at the Olympic Games (2008), All Inclusive (2008), Jerry Cotton (2010) and Iron Cross (2011). In 2010, her sister Penélope was pregnant while filming scenes for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Towards the latter half of shooting, her pregnancy was quite apparent, so the filmmakers devised creative methods of shooting around it. Due to her strong resemblance to Penélope, Cruz was hired to stand-in for the wider-angle footage, while Penélope was featured in the close up shots, where her visage was most discernable. In 2012, she appeared in a television commercial for the video game New Super Mario Bros. 2. In 2017, Cruz appeared in the music video for British band Jamiroquai's "Cloud 9" from their album Automaton. She also took part in Spanish television series Velvet Colección, where she plays Carmela Cortés, a gypsy flamenco dancer. She shot the second season at the end of 2018. In 2021, Cruz had a guest role as Irene in the Spanish comedy television series La que se avecina. In 2022, she portrayed Silvia Jáuregui in UPA Next, a reboot of the Spanish musical drama series Un paso adelante.