Spanish Actress Penelope Cruz Hot Bikini Pictures

Penelope Cruz is set to win an even bigger army of fans with a raunchy dance routine in the new movie Nine. Penelope stars alongside Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day Lewis, Judi Dench and Sophia Loren.

Penélope Cruz has been awarded the best supporting actress of the year award for her role in ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ by the National Critics Association in the United States.

The statement increases her chances of an Oscar for the role and comes in addition to her nomination for the same category in the Independent Spirit 2009 awards. Cruz won ahead of other nominees and perhaps the favourite Kate Winslet for her work in ‘Revolutionary Road’ and ‘The Reader’.

This time the nomination comes from the United States Actors’ Union and is being seen as yet another step closer to an Oscar nomination for the role following her Golden Globe nomination.

Cruz’s work on the Allen comedy, filmed in Spain, has garnered her near unanimous acclaim in the United States, with critics' associations in Boston, New York and Los Angeles, as well as the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, having named her best supporting actress for 2008.

The Hollywood actress's support came after a chance meeting with a volunteer delivering some of the life saving cells from Spain to London. The encounter on a flight from Madrid led to her meeting Joe Cawse, an eight-year-old leukaemia patient who has been searching for a bone marrow match for three years. Although 400,000 people have registered to give bone marrow in Britain, many patients still have not found a donor. Around a third of transplants are carried out using bone marrow from abroad but thousands more patients are still waiting for a transplant, sometimes years after diagnosis.

The actress is backing a campaign by The Anthony Nolan Trust to encourage people to join the charity's bone marrow register this Christmas.

Monica Cruz: she prefers lip-gloss to lipstick, trousers to skirts, and likes her fashion chic and affordable. Her closet features more vintage items than anything else. And she designs a budget-friendly collection along with her sister, actress Penélope Cruz,

In "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Cruz plays the ex-wife of the character portrayed by Javier Bardem, her boyfriend in real life. The critical recognition she has received for the role follows similar acclaim for her performance in Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's 2006 film "Volver" (Return), for which she garnered both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations in the best actress category. Cruz, who did not win either of those two awards, was the first Spanish actress ever to be nominated for that prestigious Oscar prize. The Screen Actors' Guild Awards ceremony will be held on Jan. 25 in Los Angeles.