Tony Winner Mandy Patinkin to Join Penelope Cruz in THE QUEEN OF SPAIN

According to The Hollywood Reporter, stage and screen star Mandy Patinkin has signed on to join Penelope Cruz in the upcoming Spanish-language film THE QUEEN OF SPAIN.

Fernando Trueba will direct the project, which "centers on a famous movie star who flees the glitz and glamour of 1950s Hollywood to return to her roots in Madrid."

The Tony-winning actor will play "fictitious American screenwriter who works on the film starring Cruz's character," while Cruz is set to portray "Macarena Granada, an imaginary Spanish actress of the 1930s who first appeared in Trueba and Cruz's previous collaboration, The Girl of Your Dreams."

In his 1980 Broadway debut, Mandy Patinkin won a Tony Award for his role as Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita and was nominated in 1984 for his starring role as George in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George. In 1991, he returned to Broadway in the Tony Award-winning musical The Secret Garden and, in 1997, played a sold-out engagement of his one-man show, Mandy Patinkin in Concert, with all profits benefiting five charitable organizations.

Patinkin's other solo concerts - Dress Casual, Celebrating Sondheim and Mamaloshen - have been presented both on- and off-Broadway. In 2009, he celebrated the 20th anniversary of performing his solo concerts with a two-week run of all of his concerts in rep at New York's Public Theater, the very space he began his concert career. Patinkin continued the celebration with a critically acclaimed two-week run ofMandy Patinkin in Concert in London's West End at the Duke of York's Theatre.

His feature film credits include "Wish I Was Here" (upcoming), "The Wind Rises" (upcoming), "Everybody's Hero," "The Choking Man," "Pinero," "The Adventures of Elmo In Grouchland," "Lulu on the Bridge," "Men with Guns," "ThePrincess Bride," "Yentl" (1984 Golden Globe nomination), "The Music of Chance," "Daniel," "Ragtime," "Impromptu," "The Doctor," "Alien Nation," "Dick Tracy," "The House on Carroll Street," "True Colors," "Maxie" and "Squanto: Indian Warrior."

Patinkin won a 1995 Emmy Award (as well as a Golden Globe nomination) for his performance in the CBS seriesChicago Hope and starred in the CBS series Criminal Minds as FBI profiler Jason Gideon and in theShowtimeOriginal Series Dead Like Me as the reaper Rube Sofer. Patinkin returned to TV in the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning Showtime Original Series Homeland as CIA Division Chief Saul Berenson.

Photo by Walter McBride