Penelope Cruz, the sexy Spanish-born actress, touted by some critics as the new Sophia Loren, has made a name for herself as an international star in several films directed by Almodovar. This year, she has received her first Best Actress Oscar nomination for Almodovar's women-dominated melodrama, “Volver,” as a strong-willed wife-mother in the tradition of such screen heroines played by Anna Magnani and Sophia Loren in the past.

Nominated for the largest number (12) of Oscar nominations in 1993, Schindler's List won 7, including Picture, Director (Spielberg)
Adapted Screenplay (Steven Zallian),
Cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), Art Direction (Allan Starski and Ewa Braun), Film Editing (Michael Kahn), and Original Score (John Williams).

Born in Cambodia and trained as a doctor, Haing S. Ngor was captured and tortured by the Khmer Rouge after their takeover of the country. Ngor escaped to Thailand and finally settled in the United States, where he worked at various jobs, before making his debut in “The Killing Fields” (1984), for which he won the Supporting Actor, for playing a role similar to his own real-life experience.

At Oscar time, “Silence of the Lambs” swept all the major awards: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Adapted Screenplay. In only three times in the entire Academy's history, a single film has been recognized in all top categories: “It Happened One Night” in 1934, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” in 1975, and “Silence of the Lambs.”