Academy Award-winning actress Penélope Cruz has been cast to play Donatella Versace, the sister of murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace, in Versace: American Crime Story. Versace: American Crime Story is the third installment of the universally acclaimed, award-winning limited series from Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson.
Production of Versace: American Crime Story is scheduled to begin in April and air in 2018.
Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson serve as Executive Producers on Versace: American Crime Story, which is produced by Fox 21 Television Studios and FX Productions.
Cruz has proven herself to be one of the most versatile actresses by playing a variety of compelling characters, and becoming the first actress from Spain to be nominated for and win for an Academy Award. First introduced to American audiences in the Spanish films Jamon, Jamon and Belle Epoque, she starred in her first English language film Hi-Lo Country in 1998, followed the next year by The Girl of Your Dreams. She followed that with appearances in All the Pretty Horses, Woman on Top, Open Your Eyes, Twice Upon a Yesterday, Talk of Angels, Live Flesh and All About My Mother, which was awarded the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
Next up for Penélope was Blow, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Vanilla Sky, Masked & Anonymous, Fan Fan la Tulipe” Don’t Tempt Me and Don’t Move, for which she won a David Di Donatello Award (Italian Oscar) and European Film Award for Best Actress. She then starred in Gothika, Head in the Clouds, Noel, Chromophobia and Sahara. In 2006, Penélope starred in Volver, for which she won the “Best Actress” awards at the European Film Awards, the Spanish Goya Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, and received both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, and Elegy.
In 2009, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, along with a BAFTA, an NYFCC and an NBR Award. That year she also starred in Broken Embraces and Nine, for which she garnered SAG, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. In 2011, Penélope starred in the international blockbuster hit Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, followed by To Rome with Love, The Counselor and Twice Born. In 2016 Penélope starred in Zoolander 2, The Brothers Grimsby and went on to produce and star in Ma Ma and appear in The Queen of Spain. In 2016, she finished production on Escobar and Murder on the Orient Express.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
