Penelope Cruz Vanity Fair November 2009

Penelope Cruz takes the cover of November's Vanity Fair - on newsstands October 6. With her two new movies -Nine and Broken Embraces coming out this month, here's what the 35-year-old actress opened up about:

On growing up in Alcobendas, Spain and hanging out at a salon: "It was my first acting school. I would pretend to be doing my homework, but I was really observing the women. I found their behavior mesmerizing - what they were hiding, how they left feeling a little different after they'd been helped to become a little more like whom they wanted to look like. They treated the place a little bit like a psychologist's office. They would share all their secrets."

On who the better kisser is between Charlize and Scarlett: "No matter how I answer that I will be in trouble. Both were pretty beautiful partners."

Why 'Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!' influenced her to become an actress: "That was the day I decided to be an actress. I fell in love. I'd found what I wanted to do. I really didn't want to have to be in an office. I was a good student, but not happy. I thought, I have nobody in my family and no friends who can make a living out of anything related to an artistic profession, but I want to try. I decided to look for an agent."

Check out the full interview at VanityFair.com