Antonio Banderas

Happy Birthday to Antonio Banderas! He was born José Antonio Domínguez Banderas on August 10, 1960, in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain. His father, Jose Dominguez, was a policeman in the Spanish civil guards. His mother, Doña Ana Banderas Gallego, was a school teacher. Young Banderas was brought up a Roman Catholic. He wanted to play soccer professionally and made much success playing for his school team until the age of 14, albeit his dream ended when he broke his foot. At that time he developed a passion for theatre after seeing the stage production of 'Hair'. Banderas began his acting studies at the School of Dramatic Art in Málaga, and made his acting debut at a small theatre in Málaga. He was arrested by the Spanish police for performance in a play by Bertolt Brecht, because of political censorship under the rule of General Francisco Franco. Banderas spent a whole night at the police station, he had three or four such arrests while he was working with a small theatre troupe that toured all over Spain and was giving performances in small town theatres and on the street. In 1979, at the age of 19, he moved to Madrid in pursuit of an acting career. Being a struggling young actor, he also worked as a waiter and took small modeling jobs. At that time he joined the troupe at the National Theatre of Spain, becoming the youngest member of the company.


Banderas's stage performances caught the attention of film director Pedro Almodóvar, who cast the young actor in his film debut Labyrinth of Passion (1982). Banderas and Almodovar joined forces in making innovative and sexually provocative movies during the 1980s. In 1984 Banderas made headlines in Spain with his performance as a gay man, making his first male-to-male on-screen kiss in Almodovar's Law of Desire (1987). Banderas's long and fruitful collaboration with Pedro Almodóvar eventually prepared him for international recognition that came with his work in the Academy Award-nominated film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988). The recognition Banderas gained for his role increased, years later, when he starred in Almodóvar's controversial Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) as a mental patient who kidnaps a porn star (Victoria Abril) and keeps her tied up until she returns his love. In 1991 he appeared as an object of Madonna's affection in Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991). In 1992 Banderas made his Hollywood debut with The Mambo Kings (1992). Because he did not speak English at that time, his dialogue for the film was taught to him phonetically. Banderas shot to international fame with his sensitive performance as a lover of Tom Hanks' AIDS-infected lawyer in Philadelphia (1993), then played opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire (1994). He appeared in several major Hollywood releases in 1995, including a starring role in the Robert Rodriguez-directed film Desperado the antagonist on the action film Assassins, co-starred with Sylvester Stallone, the romantic comedy Miami Rhapsody with Sarah Jessica Parker and Mia Farrow and the anthology Four Rooms. Banderas further established himself as one of Hollywood's leading men after co-starring in Evita (1996) opposite Madonna in the title role. In 1998 he won acclaim for his portrayal of Zorro, opposite Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones, in The Mask of Zorro (1998). For the role as Zorro Banderas took training with the Olympic national fencing team in Spain, and practiced his moves with real steel swords, then he used the lighter aluminum swords in the movie. He also took a month-long course of horse-riding before the filming. He later returned to the role in The Legend of Zorro (2005). In 1999 he starred in The 13th Warrior, a movie about a Muslim caught up in a war between the Northman and human eating beasts and Ron Shelton's Play It to the Bone alongside Woody Harrelson.,


Banderas made his directorial debut in Crazy in Alabama (1999), starring his then wife, Melanie Griffith. In 2001, he collaborated with Robert Rodriguez who cast him in the Spy Kids film trilogy. He also starred in Michael Cristofer's Original Sin alongside Angelina Jolie the same year. He received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros opposite Salma Hayek in Frida (2002). He also starred in Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale (2002) opposite Rebecca Romijn. In 2003, he starred in the last installment of the trilogy Once Upon a Time in Mexico (in which he appeared with Johnny Depp and Hayek). In 2003, he returned to the musical genre, appearing to great acclaim in the Broadway revival of Maury Yeston's musical Nine, based on the film 8½, playing the prime role originated by Raul Julia. Banderas won both the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards and was nominated for the Tony Award for best actor in a musical. Banderas' voice role as Puss in Boots in Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, and the last film in the Shrek franchise, Shrek Forever After, helped make the character popular on the family film circuit. In 2006, he starred in Take the Lead, a high-set movie in which he played a ballroom dancing teacher.


That year, he directed his second film El camino de los ingleses, based on the novel by Antonio Soler and also received the L.A. Latino International Film Festival's "Gabi" Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2011, the horror thriller The Skin I Live In marked the return of Banderas to Pedro Almodóvar, the Spanish director who launched his international career. The two had not worked together since 1990 (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!). In The Skin I Live In he breaks out of the "Latin Lover" mold from his Hollywood work and stars as a calculating revenge-seeking plastic surgeon following the rape of his daughter. According to the Associated Press Banderas' performance is among his strongest in recent memory. He again lent his voice to Puss in Boots, this time as the protagonist of the Shrek spin-off prequel, Puss in Boots. This film reunited Banderas with Salma Hayek for the sixth time. In 2018, Banderas starred in the National Geographic limited series Genius: Picasso, as the noted sculptor and painter Pablo Picasso. For his performance he received a Primetime Emmy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globe Award nomination. He also starred in the ensemble drama Life Itself (2018) which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.


In 2019 starred in the Spanish film Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria), directed by Pedro Almodóvar. The film centers around an aging film director, played by Banderas who is suffering from chronic illness and writer's block as he reflects on his life in flashbacks to his childhood. The film has been described as semi-autobiographical, according to Almodóvar. The film premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim. On May 25, 2019, Banderas won Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his role in the film. He was later nominated for his first ever Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Pain and Glory. Also in 2019, Banderas starred in Steven Soderbergh's Netflix film, The Laundromat alongside Meryl Streep, and Gary Oldman. In 2020, he co-starred with Robert Downey Jr. in the fantasy adventure film Dolittle. In 2022, Banderas appeared as Santiago Moncada, the antagonist of the film Uncharted with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. He also returned to work for DreamWorks Animation reprising his voice as Puss in Boots in the sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. He also appeared in The Enforcer which filmed in Greece in 2022. In 2023, he appeared in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny with Harrison Ford, Mads Mikkelsen, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Toby Jones and John Rhys-Davies. In June 2023, it was announced that Banderas was cast in Paddington in Peru. He is reportedly playing Hunter Cabot, a dashing and intrepid riverboat captain who offers to help the Brown family on their Peruvian adventure. His daughter will be played by Rachel Zegler. Other co-stars include Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Olivia Colman, and Jim Broadbent.


Banderas has always struggled with the pronunciation of certain English words, as he mentioned in a 2011 article with GQ magazine: "The word that really gets me is 'animals', I just can never say it properly, whenever it is in a film, I have to get it changed for a synonym. In Zorro, I had a line changed from 'you look like a bunch of animals' to 'you look like a collection of beasts'. It worked much better, so I don't care." Banderas married Ana Leza in 1986 or 1988 and divorced in 1996. He met and began a relationship with American actress Melanie Griffith in 1995 while shooting Two Much. They married on May 14, 1996, in London. They have a daughter, Stella del Carmen Banderas who appeared onscreen with Griffith in Banderas' directorial debut Crazy in Alabama (1999). In 2002, the couple received the Stella Adler Angel Award for their extensive philanthropy. Griffith has a tattoo of Banderas' name on her right arm. In June of 2014, Banderas and Griffith released a statement announcing their intention to divorce "in a loving and friendly manner". According to the petition filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, the couple had "irreconcilable differences" that led to their separation. The divorce became official in December 2015. Despite being divorced Banderas and Griffith remain on strong terms, remaining friends. His former stepdaughter Dakota Johnson has stated she considers Banderas part of the family calling him a "bonus dad"