Actress Penélope Cruz on looking her worst

There are two beautiful actresses in director John Duigan's sprawling period romance, Head in the Clouds, but only one of them receives the glamour treatment. Charlize Theron enjoys a gorgeous wardrobe as Gilda Bessé, the free-loving aristocrat, but her co-star Penélope Cruz, as Gilda's intimate friend Mia, sports a bum leg and a drab uniform helping freedom fighters in the Spanish Civil War.

Cruz's beauty has helped make her a celebrity since she hosted a popular Spanish TV show at age 17. Speaking before Head in the Clouds' premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Cruz insists she is not self-conscious about her on-screen appearance. In fact, she enjoys the challenge of playing someone offbeat.

"I look for things that I haven't done before in movies," Cruz says, looking every bit the glamorous actress. "I am not afraid to do something different. This woman, Mia, my character, is gay, but I don't even think about it. But I've done things like this character before. I was a pregnant, HIV-positive nun in All About My Mother. It's funny -- when he (director Pedro Almodóvar) read me the script at home, I looked at him like he was a Martian. But then I thought, no, it's Pedro Almodóvar, and he is going to make this beautiful."