Cruz made her acting debut on television at 16, and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón Jamón (1992).
Her subsequent roles included Belle Époque (1992), Open Your Eyes (1997), Don Juan (1998), The Hi-Lo Country (1999)
The Girl of Your Dreams (2000), and Woman on Top (2000). She is known for her frequent collaborations with Spanish 
director Pedro Almodóvar in Live Flesh (1997), All About My Mother (1999), Volver (2006), Broken Embraces (2009)
 I'm So Excited! (2013), Pain and Glory (2019), and Parallel Mothers (2021).