On the 9th day, May 20th, she also helped raise $333,000 for the earthquake-stricken nation of Haiti by auctioning off her designer dresses which aide the Jenkins-Penn Haitian relief organization. The Spanish actress stepped out in a gorgeous red wrap dress and silver shoes to mark the occasion. One celeb that really came up trump for the auction was Pe’s good friend, Salma Hayek who donated the first ever Gucci Couture dress, which she wore to day one of the Cannes film festival.

Although there is a good bit of paparazzi candids of her from Cannes, I obviously will not be posting these more intrusive ones as Penélope tried very hard at not being photographed so I wish to respect her privacy. I did however add a couple of shots I felt were okay.

Pe has now left France and is back in Madrid.

Also tonight, MakingOf.com hosts a Live Red Carpet Feed from the Sex and the City 2 premiere right here on Monday May 24th, 2010 at 6:00pm Edt.

I don’t think Pe will be attended since she was spotted in Madrid early this morning, but you can check out the premiere either way :)

The 36-year-old Oscar-winner and her sister, 33, look stunning on the 100ft-high billboard above the Samantha Thavasa flagship store near Harajuku.

Another ad above the store shows Cruz with her latest handbag design for the trendy Japanese company.

Beyonce, Victoria Beckham, Paris Hilton and Jennifer Lopez have all previously helped design bags for the label.

Currently, Kate Winslet and Julia Roberts are spokesmodels for the brand, I’m not sure what Penélope’s duties will be as a model or when her ads might start appearing but this is very exciting since her duties with Mango ended and I’m ready to see more regular Cruz ads, in addition to her L’Oréal stuff. Lancôme Paris is a luxury beauty brand. Owned by L’Oréal since 1964, Lancôme is part of the Luxury Products division, which offers skin care, fragrances, and makeup at higher-end price points.

Penélope Cruz guest-edited next month’s French Vogue, which has three different covers.

One cover sees modern day screen legends Penélope, Kate Winslet, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Gwyneth Paltrow and Naomi Watts. All the ladies are wearing (RED) clothing, designed to eliminate AIDS in Africa.

While on the other covers, she poses as the other half of Bono’s face, and finally, she toplessly embraces Meryl Streep.

I do not have access to this magazine but I’m hoping we will have scans soon. Please consider donating the other various Pe covers if you manage to obtain and scan them – it would be tremendously appreciated! I can’t wait to see the inside contents!

Region 1 Special Features include the following:
– Commentary with Director Rob Marshall and Producer John DeLuca
– 8 Featurettes
– 3 Music Videos
– Sophia Loren Remembers Cinecitta Studios (Blu-ray only)
– BD Exclusive: Screen Actors Guild Q&A (Blu-ray only)
– movieIQ+sync featuring the “Nine” Playlist and BD-Live connect you to real-time information on the cast, music, trivia and more while watching the movie! (Blu-ray only)

Entertainment in Video has also announced the Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray release of Nine for the April 19, priced at around £19.99 and £24.99 respectively.

Region 2 Special Features include the following:
– The Incomparable Daniel Day Lewis Featurette
– The Women of Nine Featurette
– Director Rob Marshall Featurette
– Behind the Look of Nine Featurette
– The Dancers of Nine Featurette
– The Choreography of ‘Cinema Italiano’ Featurette
– The Choreography of ‘Be Italian’ Featurette
– Making of ‘Cinema Italiano’ Featurette
– ‘Take It All’ Music Video
– ‘Cinema Italiano’ Music Video
– ‘Unusual Way’ Music Video
– Sophia Loren Remembers Cinecitta Studios (BD Exclusive)
– Screen Actors Guild Q&A Session (BD Exclusive)

Last year she was photographed with Woody Allen and this year she’s with her idol Pedro Almodóvar. You can also view the photoshoot in this past update.

Update #1) Penélope Cruz was just spotted on the red carpet wearing a red dress and an up-do! She was briefly shown on E!’s Live Coverage.

Update #2) Penélope Cruz stood next to her Supporting Actress nominees for the official red carpet on ABC before the big show, where she was gracious and even said even though she’s been there multiple times, she didn’t feel like a vet, that it felt like the first time and when she didn’t speak any English. She also said she is “so happy and proud to be in company of these amazing actresses.”

Update #3) The first (tagged) photo of Pe is available on our twitter, here!

Update #4) Cruz just presented Best Actor in a Supporting Role to Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds. He opened his speech with “Penélope Cruz and an Oscar equals a Bingo.”

Update #5) Penélope is wearing a ravishing red Donna Karan couture duchess satin pleated gown, Chopard jewels and soft updo.

Update #6) The first pictures of our girl are being added to the gallery as we speak. Keep checking back for lots more coverage!

Update #7) Penélope shown in the audience.

Update #8) Not surprisingly, Mo’Nique won Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Pe was shown holding hands in the auidence with Javier Bardem.

Update #9) Penélope is carrying an Haute Couture Folies Clutch with a black strass Swarovski buckle and black stripped ostrich feather work by Roger Vivier.

Update #10) Cruz shown briefly in the audience during the Best Score dance performances.

Update #11) It’s a wrap! Pe didn’t attend any after parties.

Stay tuned for more Oscar updates. Not only is Cruz nominated but she will be presenting tonight as well.

Penélope looks absolutely stunning in a ballet pink creation with lace overlay and jeweled shoulders. The dress was by L’Wren Scott Spring 2010 (seems to be one of her favorite designers of late) and it’s train was custom-made for Cruz. The back of the dress looks gorgeous! I especially love Pe’s straight hair and make-up here. She topped off her look with a silver clutch and heels.

The first photos have begun to arrive and I’ve started adding some to the gallery. Hopefully we’ll have more tomorrow.

Penélope looked exquisite in a vintage Gianni Versace ivory column gown with vertical signature Gianni Versace zippers in the back of the dress. It’s nice to see something other than black which she’s been choosing a lot here lately.

I have updated the gallery with over x128 pictures from the festivities. Watch a video of her on the red carpet after the break.

Penélope, last year’s Best Actress winner for Vicky Cristina Barcelona is up again this year for her supporting performance in Nine. She did not find out until about an hour after nominations were announced and “had 19 missed calls and 120 emails and text messages,” so she spent her day returning her messages. The actress is thankful for the support of her loved ones, saying, “It’s beautiful to talk to all the people that love you and care about you and get excited for you with something like this.”

Watch the video after the jump or on ET‘s site.

Frame, Set, and Match
The Romantics
Pedro Almodóvar with Penélope Cruz

Four films together: Live Flesh (1997), All About My Mother (1999), Volver (2006), and Broken Embraces (2009).

Broken Embraces has a valedictory feel to it, or at least it conveys a sense that the 60-year-old Almodóvar—a man for whom it was once compulsory to use the words enfant terrible—is taking stock of his life. The movie is about a filmmaker, cruelly robbed of sight, who recounts to a young man the tragic story of his greatest love: a stunning beauty he rescued from the gilded clutches of kept-womanhood. There are stylistic nods to the 1950s weepie-meister Douglas Sirk and to Michael Powell’s sick-joke movie Peeping Tom. There are glimpses of the movie that the director made with his doomed love, a Day-Glo bauble that harkens back to Almodóvar’s youthful 1980s “wacky” period. And there is Cruz. Almodóvar uses his fractured narrative to frame her in all manner of looks and ways: in a Marilyn wig, in drab secretarial gear, in the Chuck Close–like pixelation of enlarged, super-slo-mo playback … all in the cause of proving that the camera loves her as much as ol’ Pedro does.

Photographed in New York City on December 17, 2009.

Update 1) – Penélope Cruz was interviewed by E! on the red carpet. When asked if she does her own dishes and pumps her own gas in addition to holding her own umbrella, as she did at the Golden Globes. She replied “I’m not gonna tell you I do I do it three times a day, but I can do it!”

Update 2) Added the first photos of Cruz to the gallery.

Update 3) Penélope Cruz lost to Mo’Nique once more which isn’t really a surprise. However when the camera panned to Cruz and her Nine co-stars backstage (about to present) her friends embarrassed her by giving her “bunny ears”, it was a really adorable moment. I can’t wait to see it again!

Update 4) Penélope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman and Kate Hudson showcased a clip from Nine which is in contention for Best Ensemble Cast.

Update 5) The Actor for Best Ensemble Cast went to Inglourious Basterds

Some of the most famous faces in entertainment are uniting in four locations Friday evening for the Hope for Haiti Now telethon, a U.S-led, multi-network TV event to raise money for earthquake relief for the stricken Caribbean nation.

People has a little about the Haiti event that you didn’t see on TV:

Penélope Cruz approached organizer Clooney, who a source says was “very hands-on” during the telecast, and told him, “You’re a genius,” after he brought so many people together for the event, which raised money by encouraging viewers to call 1-877-99-Haiti to pledge money for the cause.

9.5 m dollar Haiti telethon money raised & Hope for Haiti telethon money raised. George Clooney organized Hope for Haiti Telethon reportedly raised around $9.5 million during and immediately after the telethon.

Reports suggests that contributions from across the world are still pouring in and that this 9$.5 million is not final.

So let’s hope the amount reaches at least ten million dollars or as much as 16 million dollars that was reported by CBS.

Clooney has asked the media to keep the issue of Haiti destruction in the aftermath of 7 point earthquake that reportedly snatched 110000 lives in seconds. He said that it was necessary to be able to help the affected people.

Reconstruction of Haiti is a long term program and it will take more than a single telethon to be able to help the Haitian people.

To donate to Hope For Haiti, visit www.hopeforhaitinow.org

Also be sure to follow us on Twitter today for instant live updates regarding the SAG awards. Penélope Cruz is nominated.

After the jump you can check out several clips and interviews of her on the red carpet.

- CBS 60 Minutes Interview
- Web Extra: At The Ballet
- Web Extra: Working With Woody
- Web Extra: Penelope and Pedro
- Web Extra: The Language Barrier

At 35, Spanish actress Penelope Cruz is one of the most sensual and photographed women in the world. She has won critical acclaim, not only in Europe, but now, also in Hollywood. Last year she took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress — the first Spanish actress ever to win an Academy Award.

How did this versatile performer from a working class suburb of Madrid become this generation’s Sophia Loren?

In part, it could be by turning in performances like the one she gives playing Carla, the seductive mistress, in the movie Nine – her first time singing and dancing in a film.

In an interview with Charlie Rose, Cruz said she trained for three months to do a number in the movie.

She told Rose, “I had so much fun.”

And Cruz’s enjoyment shows in her provocative performance.

Cruz loves what she does. She’s a risk taker. She’s also a tireless worker who’s known for throwing herself into roles, pushing herself to the limit. And that’s just what she does in “Nine” to make her character Carla a version of everyman’s fantasy woman.

Cruz said playing Carla “really was a dream that came true.”

In Nine, Daniel Day Lewis plays the character Guido, just another in a string of men who fall hopelessly in love with the obsessed, sensual, unstable women Cruz loves to play.

“I saw something in Carla that’s a little bit off,” Cruz said. “I think she’s a very insecure woman, and she’s a little bit stuck on using her sexuality, because she’s so obsessed with Guido that that’s like one of her weapons.”

However, perhaps the most extreme example of this kind of character is her portrayal of the suicidal painter Maria Elena in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

“I had so much fun playing that woman,” Cruz said.

Cruz explained, “She thought she was too special to be happy — that she was a genius.”

She added, “(Maria Elena) would not allow herself to become more stable and more sane, because she thinks that if she does that, she’s afraid that she will become somebody boring and mediocre.”

In real life, Cruz herself can be tortured, obsessive and driven, which was tough for director Woody Allen, who’s known for shooting a scene in one or two takes.

Rose told Cruz, “You are a perfectionist. You want to try it again and again and again to get it right.”

Cruz replied, “Yeah, I think I — I drove him a little bit crazy, asking for more takes because I need somebody to stop me. I will never find the moment to stop, say, ‘OK, it’s enough. We have it.’”

That’s the performance that earned her an Oscar.

“I still can’t believe that I won the Oscar last year,” she said. “Because the way I grew up, and just to dream about becoming an actress and making a living out of that sounded like science fiction in my environment. You know, I come from a family where we had just what we needed to survive. So to dream about this type of job was crazy.”

Rose asked Cruz, “What qualities in you do you think most served getting where you are now?”

“Maybe something that has been my best friend and my worst enemy at times, which is how stubborn I can be,” Cruz replied. “And then, when people that really know me tell me that I’m stubborn, I always fight them and say, ‘That’s not true. That’s a myth.’ But I really am.”

Cruz grew up in Alcobendas, a working class suburb of Madrid. Today she lives outside of Madrid, but she agreed to meet Rose in her old neighborhood.

Cruz is the oldest of three children. Her father was a salesman, her mother, a hairdresser. The house she grew up in is gone, but she showed 60 Minutes her grandmother’s apartment, where she spent a lot of time.

Cruz says she had a happy childhood. It was a simple life.

When Cruz took Rose to one of her favorite restaurants, Casa Benigna, she talked about her mother and what she learned from watching her.

Rose said, “That was your first acting lesson — watching your mother in her own beauty salon, observing, seeing people talk about their lives.”

“Yeah,” Cruz said. “It was more interesting for me to pay attention to what they were not saying, you know, to what they wanted to hide from the other clients, or from my mother. And they were acting, most of them. And that’s why I always say that beauty salon — that hair salon — was like a first acting school.”

But as a kid, Cruz had no ambition to be an actress. She wanted to be a dancer, and studied classical ballet for over 10 years. She still has a passion for it, as Rose discovered when he and the star visited a New York City Ballet rehearsal.

When watching two performers dance, Rose asked Cruz, “Want to try?”

“No, I wish I could do that. Oh my God. That’s –,” she trailed off.

Rose said, “There’s probably no performing art that requires more physical discipline.”

Cruz agreed, adding, “Nothing harder than that I think.”

Cruz told Rose dance helped her with acting “a lot.”

“If I hadn’t had the discipline of all those years in the dance world, it would have been much, much tougher,” she explained. “I mean, it — it goes too far sometimes. I mean, I used to take my toenails — they would die from dancing — so I would just take the whole toenail and throw it away, and not feel anything. But I loved it.”

Cruz loved dance until she was 14 years old. Then she saw a movie called Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down by up-and-coming Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.

“I’ve never felt so inspired and (I knew) this is what I want to do,” she said. “And that week, I looked for an agent. And I did an audition, and she sent me home and she said, ‘You are too young. Come back next year.’ But I came back the week after. And she sent me away again. And then I came back the week after.”

“What does this story tell you about you?” Rose asked.

Cruz responded, “Stubborn.”

At 16, Cruz landed her first movie role in a Spanish film called Jamon, Jamon, playing a voluptuous teenage seductress opposite Javier Bardem. She became an overnight sensation as much for her nude scenes as for her talent, which made her very uncomfortable.

Rose asked the actress, “Were you concerned about how you’ll be perceived?”

Cruz replied, “I just knew I had to do the complete opposite.”

Her next movie, Belle Epoque, won a Foreign Language Oscar.

“In Belle Époque,” Cruz said, “I was playing a girl that was younger than myself — much younger, and innocent — much more innocent than I was then.”

Cruz’s ability to play both innocence and sensuality caught Hollywood’s attention. In the ’90s, she moved to Los Angeles where she was cast over the next seven years in a string of big budget, but lackluster American films with top directors and big name actors, including All the Pretty Horses with Matt Damon, Captain Correlli’s Mandolin with Nicholas Cage and Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise.

Cruise and Cruz had a well-publicized three-year relationship.

“Tell me about him,” Rose said. “What he meant to you at that time?”

“I don’t feel comfortable talking about that,” Cruz replied. “All I could tell you is that he’s a very, very good person whose only intention, I think, is really to help others and, and I think he’s been treated in a way that, you know, sometimes has been a little bit unfair.”

“In what way?” Rose asked.

Cruz replied, “I really don’t want to get into it with more detail.”

However, Cruz has no problem talking about her great friendship and professional relationship with director Pedro Almodovar. They have known each other for almost 20 years, and have made four critically-acclaimed movies together, including the recently released Broken Embraces.

Vanity Fair celebrated their collaboration by asking them to pose for the magazine’s upcoming Hollywood issue.

Almodovar says Cruz is his muse. She’s says he’s her mentor.

“It is true that we love each other,” Almodovar told Rose.

“And how did that happen?” Rose asked.

Cruz said, “It started many years ago, when I was a kid. And we’ve gone through so much together.”

Both Cruz and Almodovar agree the director relaunched Cruz’s career, which had stalled out in Hollywood when he gave her the lead in the Spanish film Volver in 2006.

Cruz said the film opened up a lot of new doors for her career.

Rose added, “It also showed you what you could do.”

Cruz said, “It’s emotionally, and and in every way, more demanding than most of the characters that I played before that point.

Though the movie was in Spanish, her earthy, expressive performance proved to American critics that Cruz had the range and the talent — no matter what the language — to win an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

The nomination, Rose pointed out, was a vindication for Cruz who has struggled for years to be more than just the beautiful girl. However, her sensuality is an essential part of her appeal.

Rose said, “It’s always there. Other actresses have had (it). Sophia Loren had it. Tell me about you and this sexuality. It’s in your DNA?”

“I never felt, ‘Oh, I think I look good,’” she said. “I always tend to be more in the insecure side. And I thought that has always been a way to protect myself. Because I don’t trust the good feelings that can come from that.”

Rose said, “The good feelings that come from knowing you’re beautiful and sexy and-”

Cruz said, “I never -”

“You don’t trust it?” Rose asked.

“No.”

Rose pressed, “You know it’s there. You know it. You feel it. You know how men react to you. But – ”

“No, that — I didn’t say that I know it’s there,” she said.

“You do know it’s there,” Rose said.

Cruz said, “No, I think -”

“Yes, you do,” Rose stressed. “You know it’s there.”

“At moments it can be there,” she said. “What I can give that to a character if it’s needed, then I can be more free to explore that in me and put it there. But what I think I have is a physique that can change a lot.”

Rose remarked, “You know that you cannot depend on that for a lifetime.”

“No. Nobody. Nobody,” she said. “So I never allowed myself to really enjoy that, which is maybe a bad thing. I don’t know.”

After making more than 40 movies, Cruz has decided to take more time for herself. She’s been in a relationship with Javier Bardem for two years. He co-starred with her in her first film, and then in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” While she won’t talk about that relationship, she will say that she wants more from her life than making movies.

Rose pointed out that Cruz wants to make fewer movies now.

“There was a point where I was making four movies a year,” she said. “I was always on a set. I had no stories to tell. I was feeling empty. My life was just luggage and hotels and from set to set, from character to character. And one day, I said, ‘And where is mine?’ You know? And the moment I started to feel that fear, I stopped and I slowed down.”

She said she likes the rhythm she’s in now.

“I enjoy it more,” she said. “But I feel very, very lucky that I can keep working.”

Source: CBS News

Update 1) – Although not really a surprise, Penélope Cruz did not win Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. That honor went to Mo’nique for her outstanding work in Precious. Nicole Kidman presented the award and Pe blew her a kiss to the stage.

Update 2) Kate Hudson presented the clip for Nine‘s entry in the Best Movie Musical or Comedy category.

Update 3) Several shots of Penélope in the audience, like during Meryl Streep’s acceptance speech.

Update 4) The award for foreign language film went to The White Ribbon and not Broken Embraces. Sophia Loren presented.

Update 5) Reese Witherspoon presented the award for Best Comedy/Musical to The Hangover, unfortunately Nine lost. Lots of shots of Miss Cruz shown in the audience again!

Update 6) Celebrities signed a Chrysler 300 Eco Style car for Stars for a Cause, view images of Pe here for now. I will add them to the site shortly. This Chrysler 300 is one of seven in existence.

Update 7) Penélope Cruz is attended the Belstaff The Weinstein Co. Golden Globe After Party. View the first photos of her and Marion Cotillard here.

Misc. Updates
• Nine‘s song “Cinema Italiano” lost to “The Weary Kind” (Theme From Crazy Heart).

• Stars are wearing ribbon pins on their outfits in support of Haiti.

• Pe gave a red carpet interview with E! News and when Ryan Seacrest pointed out she was holding her own umbrella, she joked, “I knew I would be holding my own umbrella. I’m not like Puff Daddy [Diddy], I hold my own umbrella.” She of course she was referring to Diddy’s infamous personal assistant and “Umbrella Holder,” Farnsworth Bentley.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Speaking of Nine, this Sunday marks the 67th Annual Golden Globes awards. Almost all of the major Nine stars have been tapped for presenters, and since Cruz is nominated herself, its highly unlikely she wouldn’t attended. So although no reports have officially announced her as a guest, we’ll keep our fingers crossed and be sure to tune in on Sunday, January 17! The show, hosted by Ricky Gervais, will be broadcast live coast to coast on NBC (5 to 8 pm PT, 8 to 11 pm ET) from The Beverly Hilton. We will be doing live coverage on the site if Miss Cruz does grace us with her presence. :)

Hope you guys are having a Merry Christmas!

Get showtimes on Fandango and check out more release dates if you are not living in North America. Also don’t forget to pick up the soundtrack if you like what you hear!