Antonio Banderas

José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and director.

Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received various accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a European Film Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards.

José Antonio Domínguez Bandera was born on 10 August 1960 in Málaga, to Civil Guard gendarme officer José Domínguez Prieto (1920–2008) and schoolteacher Ana Bandera Gallego (1933–2017).

He has a younger brother named Francisco.

As a little boy, Banderas wanted to become a professional football player until a broken foot sidelined his dreams at the age of 15.

He showed a strong interest in the performing arts and formed part of the ARA Theatre-School run by Ángeles Rubio-Argüelles y Alessandri (wife of diplomat and filmmaker Edgar Neville) and the College of Dramatic Art, both in Málaga.

His work in the theater and his performances on the streets eventually landed him a spot with the Spanish National Theatre.

Banderas began his acting studies at the School of Dramatic Art in Málaga, and made his acting debut at a small theater in Málaga.

He began working in small shops during Spain's post-dictatorial cultural movement known as the La Movida Madrileña.

While performing with the theater, Banderas caught the attention of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, who gave the young actor his film debut in Labyrinth of Passion.

Almodóvar is credited for helping launch Banderas's international career, as he became a regular feature in his films throughout the 1980s.

Banderas made his film debut in Pedro Almodóvar's screwball comedy Labyrinth of Passion (1982).

They've since collaborated on many films including Matador (1986), Law of Desire (1987), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989), and The Skin I Live In (2011).

After Banderas appeared in Almodóvar's 1986 Matador, the director cast him in his internationally acclaimed 1988 film, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

Five years later, he went on to appear in the director's Law of Desire (1987), making headlines with his performance as a gay man, which required him to engage in his first male-to-male onscreen kiss.

The recognition Banderas gained for his role increased, years later, when he starred in Almodóvar's controversial Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989) as a mental patient who kidnaps a porn star (Victoria Abril) and keeps her tied up until she returns his love.

His breakthrough role in ''Tie Me Up!

Tie Me Down!'' helped spur him on to Hollywood.

In 1991, Madonna introduced Banderas to Hollywood.

(He was an object of her desires in her pseudodocumentary film of one of her concert tours, Madonna: Truth or Dare.) The following year, still speaking minimal English, he began acting in U.S. films.

Despite having to learn all his lines phonetically, Banderas still managed to turn in a critically praised performance as a struggling musician in his first American drama film, The Mambo Kings (1992).

Banderas is also known for films such as Philadelphia (1993), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Desperado (1995), Assassins (1995), Evita (1996), and The Mask of Zorro (1998).

Banderas then broke through to mainstream American audiences in the Jonathan Demme film Philadelphia (1993), as the life-long partner of lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks), who has AIDS.

The film's success earned Bandera's wide recognition, and the following year, he was given a role in Neil Jordan's high-profile adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire (1994), sharing the screen with Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Kirsten Dunst.

He appeared in several major Hollywood releases in 1995, including a starring role in the Robert Rodriguez-directed film Desperado and the antagonist on the action film Assassins, co-starred with Sylvester Stallone.

In 1996, he starred alongside Madonna in Evita, an adaptation of the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice in which he played the narrator, Che, a role played by David Essex in the original 1978 West End production.

He also had success with his role as the masked swordsman Zorro in the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro starring Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

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.

Banderas' debut as a director was the poorly received Crazy in Alabama (1999), starring his then wife Melanie Griffith.

He also appeared in the first three films of the Spy Kids series (2001–2003) and provided the voice of Puss in Boots in the Shrek franchise (2004–present) starting with Shrek 2 (2004) and most recently Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022).

In 2001, Banderas collaborated with Robert Rodriguez who cast him in the first three movies of the Spy Kids franchise.

He also starred in Michael Cristofer's Original Sin alongside Angelina Jolie the same year.

In 2002, he starred in Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale opposite Rebecca Romijn and in Julie Taymor's Frida with Salma Hayek.

In 2003, Banderas made his US theater debut as Guido Contini in Nine, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award.

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, Banderas 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.

His performance is preserved on the Broadway cast recording released by PS Classics.

He received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his roles in the television film And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2004) and the second season of Genius (2018); his portrayal of Pablo Picasso in the latter garnered him critical praise.

For Almodóvar's 2019 film Pain and Glory, Banderas earned various accolades in the Best Actor category including the Cannes Film Festival Award, Goya Award, and nominations from the Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.