Penelope Cruz is sleeping with her Oscar award.

The Spanish star picked up the Best Supporting Actress prize for her role in "Vicky Christina Barcelona" on Feb. 22 and was so thrilled she took the famous golden statue to bed.

She told US TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey: "When they gave it to me I could not stop crying for 20 minutes. I could not look at it - is it for real, or one of those things my friends gave me or something?

"This morning I woke up with the same feeling. But I had put the Oscar in my bed, on the other pillow, I looked - and it was there!"

Penelope's friends and family all painted the letter "P" on their foreheads to show their support for the actress at the awards.

In her acceptance speech, Penelope said: "I grew up in a place called Alcobendas, where this wasn't a very realistic dream."

The mayor of her hometown, a suburb of Madrid, has since said he may name a street after her.

Penelope - who is her country's first ever female Oscar winner - celebrated her win by partying until 5.30am after the ceremony.

In collecting an Academy Award, Penelope follows in the footsteps of her boyfriend Javier Bardem, who became the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar last year.

Javier didn't attend the awards on Sunday because he was filming his latest movie "Beautiful".

(China Daily/Agencies February 26, 2009)