As Maria Elena in Vicky Cristina Barcelona Credit: The Weinstein Company

She's sultry, slinky, feisty and takes no prisoners. Hot tamale Penelope Cruz has conquered many a leading man. Tom Cruise and hot Matt McConaughey come to mind. She's rumored to be dating Vicky Cristina Barcelona co-star Javier Bardem but won't confirm this. She keeps her private life as private as possible. If true, what a hot, talented Latin duo!

We got to chat with the actress recently in Beverly Hills. Like on her new Glamour magazine cover, Penelope was dressed in red; a sleeveless, empire-waisted frock accessorized with high wedge heels and gold hoop earrings; all fired-up class! We talked about everything from her process in creating a character, working with Javier and the legendary Woody Allen to filming in her beloved Barcelona.

In the film, Penelope plays Maria Elena, an emotionally imbalanced artist who has a volatile love/hate relationship with her ex, played by Javier.

TeenHollywood: We hear that you and Javier just launched your characters into some wild arguments in Spanish and even Woody, your director, had no idea what you were saying. Is that true?

Penelope: He was trusting us. He was trusting all the actors to improvise sometimes in English, sometimes in Spanish. He'd say 'do what you think Maria Elena would do going back from the English to the Spanish, whenever you feel it's natural. I did a lot of swearing [she laughs] and sometimes too much and I was a little bit worried about what he was going to think when he discovered some of the things that were said but I think he was happy.