Oct 14, 2011 By Chris Tinkham

As Spanish actress Elena Anaya discusses her craft, she speaks with wonderment in her voice. She credits her passion for acting to her mother, who encouraged her as a child to play rather than subverting her daughter's curiosity with the word "no" or discouraging her from touching objects. Anaya unconsciously demonstrates this by picking up the digital recorder in front of her and banging it on the table, before realizing that she might be damaging it and apologizing. In director Pedro Almodóvar's latest film, The Skin I Live In, Anaya appears in a flesh-colored body suit that stretches from her neck to her feet and wraps around her fingers and toes like gloves. Her character, Vera, is both a prisoner and passion project of Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas), a plastic surgeon intent on creating a skin immune to cuts, insect bites and fire.

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