Originally a classical ballet student, Cruz first turned her attention toward acting as a teenager and soon found frequent work on TV shows and music videos. This exposure snowballed into movie roles, including the film All About My Mother (1999), her first film to receive sizable exposure in America. Films like Woman on Top (2000), All the Pretty Horses (2000), Blow (2001), and Vanilla Sky (2001) followed, as did a relationship with her Vanilla Sky costar, Tom Cruise.