I am actually a New Yorker with no Spanish blood whatsoever. Right now I’m on vacation here in Spain in the lovely island of Palma de Mallorca. Why do I love being here? It all began when I was here two years ago as an exchange student at the Universite de Paris. During that summer of our stay there, all of us foreign exchange students decided to troop to Palma de Mallorca because it has a great Mediterranean weather there. And the locals are lovely. That’s why I’m back vacationing here. Indeed, the Spanish are one such lovely people. I am a fan of Spanish stars and I would like to talk about two of them – Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas.

According to my personal research, Penelope has long been an acclaimed actress here in Spain before moving on to the United States to take that American dream which she eventually realized. To acclimatize myself into Spanish culture, I rented all Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas movies two months back before coming here. And so I’m gonna tell you why I admire Penelope. Penelope’s first Hollywood break came when she was cast as a Brazilian woman who suffers from constant motion sickness and needs to be always on top during sex. Thus, the comedy Woman on Top was conceived exclusively for her. That may be a laughing matter but the revenues garnered from the film are not. In fact, it was the same movie that catapulted Penelope to fame and her constant movement in the movie made agents notice her and she was ultimately cast in several movies.

After Woman on Top, Penelope was cast in All the Pretty Horses. Here, Penelope is a horse whisperer and together with a boyfriend, they eloped from Mexico to the borders of the United States, bringing with them the beloved horses of their landlord. Penelope’s next movie after that is Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Here, Penelope plays a Greek woman smitten by an Italian military officer during their invasion of the country in World War II. In all these three movies alone, we already know that Penelope can play various nationalities. In Woman on Top, she’s a Brazilian; in All the Pretty Horses, she’s Mexican; and in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, she’s Greek. It only shows that this lady is really flexible indeed.

After that, Penelope was cast opposite Tom Cruise’s love interest in Vanilla Sky. Ably directed by the great Cameron Crowe, Vanilla Sky discusses the subject of lucid dreaming. Here, Penelope plays an American. By 2005, she was famous enough to be cast in the film adaptation of Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt adventure Sahara opposite Matthew McConaughey and Steve Zahn. Here, Penelope plays a WHO expert on infectious diseases.

I need not talk about Antonio Banderas because he has been famous since the 1990s here in Spain and in the United States. But what most people don’t know and which I admire him for is that he was able to establish a chain of restaurants here in Spain as a result of his Hollywood income. That’s cool indeed!