Pedro Almodóvar Caballero was born in Calzada de Calatrava, a rural town in the Province of Ciudad Real, Spain. He has two older sisters and one brother. His father was a winemaker, and his mother was a letter reader and transcriber for illiterate neighbors.

At the age of eight, Almodóvar was sent to study at a religious boarding school in Cáceres, Extremadura, with the hope that he might someday become a priest. His family eventually joined him in Cáceres, where his father opened a gas station and his mother opened a bodega.

Against his parents' wishes, Almodóvar moved to Madrid to become a filmmaker. Due to Francisco Franco's closure of the National School of Cinema, Almodóvar became self-taught. He supported himself with various jobs, including selling used items and working as an administrative assistant with Telefónica for 12 years.

Almodóvar bought his first camera, a Super-8, with his first paycheck from Telefónica and began to make hand-held short films. Around this time, he made his first short film.

Almodóvar made his first short film, Dos putas, o, Historia de amor que termina en boda (Two Whores, or, A Love Story that Ends in Marriage). By the end of the 1970s his short films were shown in Madrid's night circuit and in Barcelona.

Almodóvar made his first feature film Pepi, Luci, Bom with a very low budget, shooting it in 16 mm and later blowing it up into 35 mm. The film was based on a comic strip titled General Erections that he had written.

Pepi, Luci, Bom premiered at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Despite negative reviews from conservative critics, the film amassed a cult following in Spain.

Almodóvar's second feature Labyrinth of Passion premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival. The film received better reviews than its predecessor.

Dark Habits premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was surrounded in controversy due its subject matter. Despite religious critics being offended by the film, it went on to become a modest critical and commercial success.

Almodóvar's growing success caught the attention of emerging Spanish film producer Andrés Vicente Gómez, who wanted to join forces to make his next film Matador.

Matador premiered and drew some controversy due to its subject matter. Almodóvar justified his use of violence, explaining "The moral of all my films is to get to a stage of greater freedom".

Almodóvar solidified his creative independence by starting his own production company, El Deseo, together with his brother Agustín Almodóvar.

El Deseo's first major release was Law of Desire, a film about the complicated love triangle between a gay filmmaker, his transsexual sister, and a repressed murderously obsessive stalker.

Law of Desire made its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the festival's first ever Teddy Award, which recognises achievement in LGBT cinema.

Almodóvar's first major critical and commercial success internationally came with the release of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. The film debuted at the 45th Venice film festival.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown won five Goya Awards, Spain's top film honors, for Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress. It also gave Almodóvar his first Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown was released in Spain and became a hit in the US, bringing Almodóvar to the attention of American audiences.

Almodóvar's film Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! made its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival to a polarized critical reaction. In the United States, the film received an X rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Production for High Heels took place this year; Almodóvar enlisted Alfredo Mayo to shoot the film as Jose Luis Alcaine was unavailable.

In September, the MPAA replaced the X rating with the NC-17 rating. This was helpful to films of explicit nature, like Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, that were previously categorized with pornography because of the X rating.

High Heels was a box office success in Spain, but received poor reviews from Spanish film critics. The film got a better critical reception in Italy and France and won France's César Award for Best Foreign Film. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

Kika made its premiere and received very negative reviews from film critics worldwide; not just for its rape scene which was perceived as both misogynistic and exploitative, but also for its overall sloppiness.

The Flower of My Secret premiered in Spain where, despite receiving 7 Goya Award nominations, was not initially well received by critics.

Live Flesh premiered at the New York Film Festival. The film did modestly well at the international box office and also earned Almodóvar his second BAFTA nomination for Best Film Not in the English Language.

All About My Mother opened at the Cannes Film Festival, where Almodóvar won both the Best Director and the Ecumenical Jury prizes.

All About My Mother received more awards and honors than any other film in the Spanish motion picture industry, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the Golden Globe in the same category, the BAFTA Awards for Best Direction and Best Film Not in the English Language as well as 6 Goyas in his native Spain.

The unanimous praise for Talk to Her resulted in Almodóvar winning his first Academy Award, this time for Best Original Screenplay, as well as being nominated in the Best Director category.

Talk to Her was released in Spain, followed by its international premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in September of that year. It was hailed by critics and embraced by arthouse audiences, particularly in America.

Bad Education premiered in Spain before opening in the Cannes Film Festival, the first Spanish film to do so, two months later.

Volver received a rapturous reception when it played at the Cannes Film Festival, where Almodóvar won the Best Screenplay prize while the entire female ensemble won the Best Actress prize.

Broken Embraces was accepted into the main selection at the Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d'Or, his third film to do so and fourth to screen at the festival.

After making its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, The Skin I Live In grossed $30 million worldwide.

I'm So Excited premiered in Spain and had its international release during the summer of that year. Despite mixed reviews from critics, the film did fairly well at the international box office.

Almodóvar endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the U.S. presidential election.

Julieta was released in Spain to positive reviews and received its international debut at the Cannes Film Festival. It was Almodóvar's fifth film to compete for the Palme d'Or.

In April, Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar were listed in the leak of the Panama Papers from the database of the offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca; their names showed up on the incorporation documents of a company based in the British Virgin Islands between 1991 and 1994.

Almodóvar received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

Pain and Glory was released in Spain. It first was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Starring Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers began shooting in February and opened the 78th Venice International Film Festival where Cruz won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress.

Almodóvar published his first collection of short stories, The Last Dream, which contains 12 stories that his assistant Lola García had archived – some of which are over 50 years old and were written when Almodóvar was a teenager.

Work on Almodóvar's film The Room Next Door began in March. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, becoming the first Spanish film to win the prize.