Penelope Cruz felt judged by her accent when she started out in Hollywood
The 51-year-old Spanish star - who has appeared in the likes of Open Your Eyes, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Murder On The Orient Express and more over the years - has opened up about how the film industry has changed for women over the years.
8 March 2026
She told Extra: "When I started I was around 19.
"Eighteen is when I started to also work in English but I spoke very little English because I learned French before so I've been in so many situations where that was looked at in a way that you know, it was very tricky and it has changed, but it's not yet in a place where it's just natural."
Penelope revealed how there was "a big conversation" around casting actors with accents.
She added: "When I started working in English and working in America, it was like a big conversation, you know, if you were going to cast or not somebody with an accent and it has changed a lot but very slowly."
It means she is "very grateful" with her latest role as Myrna Mallow in Maggie Gyllenhaal's upcoming Frankenstein spinoff The Bride!
She said: "Maggie doing this kind of thing... It all makes sense... Reflecting a reality that was also there in that time...
"It adds something else to the character and I'm very grateful that she thought of me for this."
Meanwhile, Penelope previously admitted she prefers the relationship she has with herself now to decades past.
Pondering how experience gives you "peace of mind", she told Elle Spain: "If you ask me what my relationship with myself was like now and the one I had in my 20s or 30s, I honestly prefer the one now.
"Because of how I feel, and maybe there have been other times where I wouldn't have said it."
She added: "I take advantage of every decade, every moment, and I never think that 'I was better before.' "
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