Has lived in France since 1982
Has two sons with director Gérard de Battista, Martin (born in 1990) and Felix (born in 1992).
Her powerful performance in Pedro Almodóvar's Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) ("Tie me up, tie me down!") inspired Penélope Cruz to become an actress.
In addition to her native Spanish, she is perfectly fluent in French and Italian. Her English is not quite as good as the other three languages, but good enough for some English-speaking roles (as in 101 Reykjavík (2000)).