By Will Lawrence Last Updated: 5:47PM GMT 06 Feb 2009  Penélope Cruz in Broken Embraces  Whenever Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem share the big screen, sparks fly. The Spanish superstars first sizzled together in the Oscar-nominated Jamon, Jamon, in 1992, before teaming up again in Pedro Almodóvar's 1997 Bafta-nominated Live Flesh.  This month, they are reunited once again for their first joint English-language project, Woody Allen's whirlwind of a sex comedy, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.  The Golden Globe-winning film heralds a return to form for Allen – whose recent, London-set triptych comprising Match Point, Scoop and Cassandra's Dream, are among the worst of his long career – and it has already earned Cruz both Bafta and Oscar nominations, in the Best Supporting Actress category.  "At the outset, when we read Woody's script, all of the actors thought that this would be a really funny comedy," says Cruz. "But when we shot the film, it turned out much more like a drama. It's funny, but tragic too. My character suffers like an animal and we didn't always want to laugh at that."  Cruz's character, Maria Elena, doesn't appear until the halfway point of the film, before which the narrative follows American friends, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), on a trip to Barcelona. While there, they are seduced by the charm, intellect and, ultimately, physique, of rugged Spanish painter, Juan (Bardem).  No sooner has Juan persuaded Cristina to move into his apartment, than his volatile ex-wife, Maria Elena is back on to the scene, and the three soon strike up a feisty, passionate and complicated relationship. Cruz admits to approaching her character – a volatile, self-destructive, and yet extremely talented woman – with no small degree of trepidation. "But I think that type of fear is what I am always looking for as an actress. The more distance there is between the character and myself the better. I never need to be like my characters, to agree with them ever, I just need to understand them.  "Maria Elena is someone who has been told when she was very young that she was a genius. Those words then became her worst enemy because she believes them and it makes it impossible for her to relate to the rest of the world."  The one person to whom she can relate – occasionally, at least – is Bardem's Juan, and the couple's chemistry ignites the latter half of the film. While shooting, Cruz and Bardem also sparked up an off-screen relationship. "I'm not talking about that," says Cruz.  Refusal to discuss her personal life is a long-standing habit with the 34 year-old – ever since the days when high-profile romances, first with Matt Damon and then with Tom Cruise, threatened to overshadow her career. She started dating Cruise in 2002, in the wake of his split from Nicole Kidman, at a time when she was struggling to convert her European acting successes (in Oscar-winning foreign language films Belle Époque and Jamon, Jamon) into mainstream international fame.  In the eyes of Hollywood, she was in danger of becoming nothing more than an A-lister's arm-candy, a galling prospect for someone who had always put her work first.  Penélope Cruz was born in Madrid and raised in the Spanish capital by her parents (a hairdresser and a mechanic) alongside her younger brother and sister. "We didn't have much money then, but we had what we needed.  We also learned to value money and the need to work hard. My parents had to work six days a week, just so we could have the basics. I loved being part of a family like that. It was very inspiring for me: to see that my mum was so strong."  She took the first steps to stardom when, at 15, she dropped out of full-time education to work as a model. At the age of 17, now already struggling with her first acting roles, she suffered a breakdown. She had a second in 2002, following an asserted bid to establish herself in the US, with back-to-back film shoots for Woman on Top, All The Pretty Horses, Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Blow.  "I've worked myself to exhaustion in the past," she admits, "but now my life feels more balanced. Once my life was all about work, yet now I do take time for myself. It was a hard lesson to learn that sometimes it is so much healthier to say no even to a role that you like."  After Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Cruz will appear in a Spanish-language thriller, Broken Embraces, her fourth collaboration with Pedro Almodóvar. The highly acclaimed 59-year-old director has a knack for inspiring Cruz to her best performances, including 2006's Volver, for which she earned her first Bafta and Oscar nominations. "Pedro treats human confusion with such beautiful irony," she says.  "He has that in common with Woody Allen. They both do that better than anybody else."
Bafta nominee Pen&eacute;lope Cruz talks about her roles in Woody Allen's Vicky    Cristina Barcelona and Pedro Almod&oacute;var's Broken Embraces.