Antonio Banderas

José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born August 10, 1960) in Malaga,Spain, better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor. He is usually cited as the most prominent Spanish actor in America.

Biography

Early life

Banderas was born in Málaga, Andalucía, Spain to José Domínguez, a policeman in the civil guard, and Doña Ana Bandera, a teacher. He has a brother, Francisco. Banderas was raised a Roman Catholic, but no longer follows the religion.

Banderas initially wanted to play soccer professionally, but his dream ended when he broke his foot at age 14. As a young man, he travelled penniless to Madrid, in order to make a career in the Spanish film industry.

Career

Banderas first gained wide attention through a series of films by director Pedro Almodóvar, between 1982 and 1990, in which his characters often engaged in sex scenes considered extremely explicit by American standards. His breakthrough role was as the character "Ricky" in ¡Átame! (English-language title: Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!), which was a minor success in the United States. He subsequently moved to the U.S. and began appearing in American films; some of his earlier roles there included the 1992 film, The Mambo Kings, as well as a supporting role in the Oscar-winning 1993 film, Philadelphia. He appeared in several major Hollywood releases in 1995, including a starring role in the Robert Rodriguez-directed film, Desperado.

For the majority of the 1990s and 2000s, Banderas remained in the United States and has starred in several notable box office successes, including playing the narrator, Che, based on the controversial Argentine physician and politician Che Guevara in the hit 1996 film Evita, opposite Madonna, also playing the title role in the The Mask of Zorro (1998) and The Legend of Zorro (2005). Banderas has also frequently collaborated with his Desperado director, Rodriguez, who cast Banderas in the Spy Kids film trilogy and the final installment in the "Mariachi" trilogy, Once Upon A Time In Mexico. Banderas' sole credit as a director was the poorly-received Crazy in Alabama (1999), starring his wife Melanie Griffith. Melanie played Lucille Vinson in the movie.

In 2003, Banderas appeared, to great acclaim, in the Broadway revival of Maury Yeston's musical Nine, based on the film 8 1/2, playing the prime role originated by the late 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.

Banderas' voice role as Puss in Boots in Shrek 2 made the character popular on the family film circuit, and a spin-off movie starring his character is scheduled for release in 2008. His latest film, Take the Lead, a high-school movie in which he plays a real-life ballroom dancing teacher, opened on April 7, 2006.

Banderas' upcoming projects include starring as the title character in a new Broadway production of the 1995 film, Don Juan DeMarco, as well as in the films Conquistador, a historical epic in which he will play Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes (filming will begin in September 2006 in Spain, Mexico and South America), and Shrek 3 (currently scheduled for a 2007 release), in which he will once again voice Puss In Boots.

Personal life

Banderas divorced his first wife, Ana Leza, and in 1996 married actress Melanie Griffith, whom he had met during the shooting of Two Much. They have a daughter, Stella del Carmen Banderas Griffith (also simply Stella Banderas), who appeared in the film Crazy in Alabama, in which Griffith starred and which Banderas directed.

Banderas has invested his movie earnings in businesses marketing Andalusian products, which he promotes in Spain and the USA. He is a long time supporter of the Real Madrid soccer club. While he talks his native Andalusian Spanish with his family and Spanish press, he switches to the Castilian pronunciation when playing non-Andalusian roles or when dubbing his Hollywood performances.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2010	Shrek 4	Puss In Boots and evil brother
2007	Shrek the Third	Puss In Boots
2006	Take the Lead	Pierre Dulaine
2005	The Legend of Zorro	Zorro/Alejandro
2004	Shrek 2	Puss In Boots	(voice-over)
2004	Imagining Argentina	Carlos	limited release
2003	And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself	Pancho Villa
	Once Upon a Time in Mexico	El Mariachi
	Game Over	Gregorio Cortez
2002	Femme Fatale	Nicolas Bardo
	Frida	David Alfaro Siqueiros
	Ecks vs. Sever	Agent Jeremiah Ecks
	Island of Lost Dreams	Gregorio Cortez
2001	Original Sin	Luis Antonio Vargas
	The Body	Father Matt Gutierrez	limited release
	Spy Kids	Gregorio Cortez
1999	Play It to the Bone	Cesar Dominguez
1999	The 13th Warrior	Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan Ibn Al Abbas Ibn Rashid Ibn Hamad
1998	The Mask of Zorro	Alejandro Murrieta/Zorro
1996	Evita	Che
1996	Two Much	Art Dodge
1995	Four Rooms	Man
	Never Talk to Strangers	Tony Ramirez
	Assassins	Miguel Bain
	Desperado	El Mariachi
	Miami Rhapsody	Antonio
1994	Interview with the Vampire	Armand
1993	Philadelphia	Miguel Alvarez
1993	The House of the Spirits	Pedro Tercero García
1992	The Mambo Kings	Nestor Castillo
1990	Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!	Ricky
1988	Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown	Carlos
1987	La ley del deseo (Law of Desire)

References

Footnotes

Interviews

External links

Biography.

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