Updated April 28, 2024 at 11:45 a.m. Spanish actress Penélope Cruz was born on this day in 1974, in Madrid, Spain. She began her acting career in the early 1990s. Get This Happened straight to your inbox ✉️ each day! Sign up here. Where did Penélope Cruz grow up?Penélope Cruz Sánchez grew up in Alcobendas, a town near Madrid, Spain. She grew up in a working-class family, the daughter of a hairdresser mother and a car mechanic father. Cruz has two younger siblings, Monica and Eduardo. She showed an interest in performing arts from an early age. At the age of 15, she enrolled at Spain’s National…