1. Penelope Cruz
A cameo in Sex and the City 2? A generic 'feisty' love interest in Pirates of the Caribbean 4? Is this really the best Hollywood has to offer one of the finest actresses working today? A two-time Oscar nominee and one-time winner, Cruz's only credits for last year include a cameo in Pedro Almodovar's I'm So Excited, which constitutes more a favour to the director that made her famous than anything else, and a 'fiancée to Michael Fassbender' role in The Counsellor so underwritten it probably had the same amount of character that it did at the treatment stage. Arguably the last movie that really tested Cruz's ability came with Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona six years ago, for which she rightly won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Since then, not even her reunion with Allen for 2012's To Rome with Love has brought Cruz much acting notice, though she nobly managed to prop up tedious musical Nine better than even Daniel Day-Lewis could, her miniscule part earning her yet another Oscar nomination. But where are all the lead dramatic roles for an actress with as much fire and range as Penelope Cruz?
