Mónica Cruz

Mónica Cruz
Mónica Cruz at the premiere of the film Jerry Cotton in Munich on February 28, 2010.
Born	Mónica Cruz Sánchez (1977-03-16) March 16, 1977 (age 39) Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain
Occupation	Actress, dancer
Years active	2002–present
Children	1
Parent(s)	Eduardo Cruz Encarna Sánchez
Relatives	Penélope Cruz (sister)

Mónica Cruz Sánchez (born March 16, 1977) is a Spanish actress and dancer. She is the younger sister of actress Penélope Cruz.

She was born in the working-class town of Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser, and Eduardo Cruz, a retailer and auto mechanic. Throughout her childhood, Cruz lived in Alcobendas. Cruz is the middle child of three siblings; she has an older sister, Penélope, who is an actress, and a younger brother, Eduardo (born in 1986), who is a singer. Her parents divorced in 1999, and her father remarried Carmen Moreno in 2003. Moreno gave birth to a baby girl, Salma Cruz, on February 24, 2012. Penélope and Mónica distinguished themselves as promising young dancers and both received professional instruction; 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, Mónica joined Joaquín Cortés’ flamenco dance company. She stayed with the company for seven years until, in 2002, she left dancing to pursue a career as an actress. By 2005, Mónica starred in the Spanish television show Un Paso Adelante alongside Beatriz Luengo, Miguel Ángel Muñoz, Pablo Puyol and Silvia Marty.

In 2010, her sister Penélope was pregnant while filming scenes for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Towards the latter half of shooting, the appearance of her pregnancy was very apparent so the filmmakers had to figure methods of shooting around it. This included shooting Penélope in close up scenes while hiring Mónica to stand-in for long distance scenes as she appeared identical to her sister.