Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, the iconic Spanish couple

They will meet on the Croisette for the first time in eight years, but this time will be in competition. Coincidentally, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem are both expected at the Cannes Film Festival this year to present their latest film, The Black Ball for her, The Loved One for him.

In 2018, the two Spanish actors walked the red carpet as both on-screen partners who came to defend Everybody Knows by Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, and as a couple. Their arrival at the Palais des Festivals electrified the cohort of photographers and the crowd gathered behind the barriers. In Cannes, this crazy, excessive excitement is only reserved for legendary duos, those who have made people dream and inspired for years. Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem are undeniably part of it.

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A story of friendship

This year, a question is shaking up the Croisette: will the two actors arrive hand in hand on the red carpet this May 16, before the screening of Javier Bardem’s film, or May 21, the date on which Penélope Cruz must go up the steps? Unless they create the event twice, or not at all… One thing is certain: they will never be far from each other, and will support each other even if each dreams of leaving with the palme d’or. This is how they have always functioned, being a pillar for each other, understanding each other in a single look, in a single gesture. This close bond was born from a beautiful story of friendship.

When they met in 1992 on the set of the film Ham, HamPenélope Cruz and Javier Bardem do not become a couple. However, their eyes meet during a costume fitting, and something happens; “something inexplicable, which goes beyond all logic,” Javier Bardem recalled in an interview withGentleman’s Journal,in 2024. At the time, the actress was only 18 years old, he was already 23. They did not seek to understand this alchemy or go further. Their bonds remain strictly friendly even if they have to play erotic scenes, their characters, Silvia and Raúl, falling madly in love in the film. The filming finished, everyone goes their way. Penélope Cruz continues the castings, supported by her companion, the Spanish musician Nacho Cano. Ambitious, Javier Bardem also devotes all his time to his career.

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In 1997, the two actors both landed roles in A chair et an us by Pedro Almodóvar. They are delighted at the idea of ​​being on set. They talk for hours, laughing, telling each other about their lives between takes. Little by little, they learn to know each other better, to understand each other, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. But again, nothing happens.

Penélope does not (yet) see Javier as a potential partner. After filming, she had highly publicized love stories with other big movie stars, namely Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey and Orlando Bloom. Intense and passionate, these idylls only last for a while.

For his part, Javier Bardem made a name for himself in Hollywood thanks to his role in Before the night by Julian Schnabel, released in 2001. We don’t know much about his private life, which he does everything to preserve. In 2004, he appeared on red carpets with his new partner, Spanish actress Belen Rueda.

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The turning point Vicky Cristina Barcelona

He doesn’t know it yet, but destiny and, once again, cinema will put him back on the path of Penélope Cruz. This time, the two Spanish actors find themselves on the set of Vicky Cristina BarcelonaWoody Allen’s comedy-drama in which they play a divorced couple. We are in 2007: Javier and Penélope have passed their thirties, and have both achieved their goals. They have (almost) nothing left to prove in cinema, their talent is recognized throughout the world. And it is undoubtedly because they have both experienced what they had to experience each on their own that they finally meet in reality or rather romantically. Javier Bardem falls under the spell of his partner, inhabited by her role. “She was passionate, that’s what attracted me to her,” he confided in 2017 in an interview with GQ Â in 2017. In a woman there is beauty on one side and being sexy on the other. Penélope has both.” For her role as Maria Elena in Vicky Cristina Barcelonathe actress surpasses herself, searching deep within herself for an anger that she never suspected. Her particularly intense performance also allowed her to win the Oscar for best supporting actress on February 22, 2009.

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“At the time of Vicky, Cristina, Barcelonait was a fury. For certain scenes, we had to argue and I saw her throwing plates in my face,” recalls Javier Bardem, still in GQbefore joking: “I said to myself: “I’m not sure I really want that†. And yet, he finally embarks on the adventure with Penélope. After filming, the two lovers never left each other’s side but remained extremely discreet to preserve their romance. In 2009, the actress posed alone on the Oscars red carpet, proudly brandishing her statuette.

A wedding in the Bahamas and two children

A year later, the actress made her first official public appearance with Javier Bardem at the 2010 Goyas, the Spanish Césars. The couple no longer wants to hide their happiness at being together. The same year, they married in the greatest intimacy on the private island of their friend Johnny Depp, in the Bahamas. Penélope wears a sublime Dior haute couture dress, designed by her friend John Galliano. Javier has never found her so beautiful. On January 22, 2011, the actress gave birth to their first child, a little boy named Leo Encinas Cruz. Two years later, their little Luna also shows up.

“Having children with Penelope was an act of love and a way of creating something beautiful together,” confides Javier Bardem toNew York TimesJune 18, 2025. It is also during this interview that the actor speaks for the first time about the postpartum depression from which his wife suffered after the birth of Leonardo. “The pregnancy was not so terrible. It was the depression that followed. She wasn’t able to express it, and it was so new to her,” he explains. At the time, the actor did not understand Penélope’s discomfort, who had withdrawn into herself. The actress ended up getting out of it. “She is an incredible woman, courageous, strong and beautiful,” underlines her husband.

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Family life in Madrid

After years of juggling between Los Angeles and Spain, Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz chose to return to live at home in Madrid with their two children. They now live in a chic neighborhood of the capital, where Leonardo and Luna grew up away from prying eyes, far from the paparazzi. It is here that they found a balance between filming and their family life. At home, we hardly talk about cinema. “We have no photos, no posters, nothing that reminds us of our job. We love what we do, but we try to separate life and fiction,” the actor recently confided in an interview with Variety.

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After more than thirty years of career and nine films together, the couple loves each other like the first day, and Javier Bardem continues to marvel at the magnetic beauty of his wife: “When I see her photographed in certain magazines, I say to myself “Is this my wife? My God, is that her?…