Antonio Banderas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Antonio Banderas
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Banderas in 2019
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José Antonio Domínguez Bandera
10 August 1960 Málaga, Spain
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| Years active | 1982–present |
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Works
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Full list |
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| Partner(s) | Nicole Kimpel (2015–present) |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards | Full list |
José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), better known as Antonio Banderas (IPA: [anˈtonjo βanˈdeɾas]), is a Spanish actor and filmmaker. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received numerous accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Goya Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award.
Banderas made his acting debut at a small theater in Málaga, where he caught the attention of director Pedro Almodóvar, who gave the actor his film debut in the screwball comedy Labyrinth of Passion (1982). They have 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), The Skin I Live In (2011), and Pain and Glory (2019), the later of which earned him the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 1992, Banderas made his American film debut with the musical drama The Mambo Kings (1992), followed by roles in Philadelphia (1993), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Assassins (1995), and Evita (1996). He portrayed Zorro in The Mask of Zorro (1998), and The Legend of Zorro (2005). He made his directorial debut with the comedy film Crazy in Alabama (1999). He is a frequent collaborator with director Robert Rodriguez, having starred as El Mariachi in the Mexico Trilogy films Desperado (1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003). He has starred in the franchise films, including as the patriarch in the Spy Kids series (2001–2003) and as the voice of Puss in Boots in the Shrek films (2004–present).
On stage, Banderas made Broadway debut as Guido Contini in Nine (2003), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his roles as Pancho Villa in the HBO television film And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2004) and Pablo Picasso in the anthology series Genius: Picasso (2018).
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Early life
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.
Career
1982–1989: Early collaborations with Pedro Almodóvar
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.
..... Five years later, he went on to appear in the director's comedic thriller 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 director cast him in his internationally acclaimed 1988 film, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Rita Kemply of The Washington Post described Banderas' performance as "warm" and described the film as a "glossy delight". The film went on to receive a nomination for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. ..... The breakthrough role helped spur him on to Hollywood. Almodóvar is credited for helping launch Banderas's international career, as he became a regular feature in his films throughout the 1980s.
1990–1999: Hollywood stardom
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). Film critic Roger Ebert praised the film describing it as being "filled with energy, passion and heedless vitality".
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 is suffering with AIDS. Also in 1993 he acted in the Bille August directed The House of the Spirits an adaptation of the Isabel Allende novel of the same name. Banderas acted alongside Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, and Winona Ryder. The film's success earned Banderas 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 starred in several major Hollywood films including in Robert Rodriguez-directed neo-Western action film Desperado (1995) alongside Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi, and Quentin Tarantino. The film was a financial success. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "The movie’s greatest visual coup, is Banderas himself. The camera loves this velvet stud as much as it did the young Clint Eastwood".
That same year Banderas portrayed the antagonist in the Richard Donner directed action film Assassins, co-starring opposite Sylvester Stallone and Julianne Moore. In 1996, he starred alongside Madonna in the musical film Evita, an adaptation of the stage 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. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "Banderas does an unexpectedly splendid job as the film's conspiratorial singing narrator". For his performance he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. 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. Roger Ebert praised the onscreen chemistry between the two leads, writing, "The best scenes in the movie are between Banderas and Zeta-Jones, who share chemistry and, it turns out, a sense of justice". His performance earned him another Golden Globe Award nomination. In 1999, he starred in the historical action film The 13th Warrior, a movie about a Muslim caught up in a war between the Northman and human-eating beasts.
2000–2009: Broadway debut and franchise films
In 2001, Banderas collaborated with Robert Rodriguez who cast him in the first three movies of the Spy Kids franchise (2001-2003). He portrayed a Gregorio Cortez, retired OSS agent alongside Carla Gugino who played his wife Ingrid Cortez. Roger Ebert praised the first film describing it as being "giddy with the joy of its invention. It's an exuberant, colorful extravaganza, wall-to-wall with wildly original sets and visual gimmicks, and smart enough to escape the kids film category and play in the mainstream". He also starred in Michael Cristofer's Original Sin alongside Angelina Jolie the same year.
In 2002 he portrayed social realist painter David Alfaro Siqueiros in Julie Taymor's biographical drama Frida with Salma Hayek playing Frida Kahlo. ..... Banderas' debut as a director was the poorly received Crazy in Alabama (1999), starring his then wife Melanie Griffith. He starred in the Christopher Hampton directed historical drama Imagining Argentina (2003) alongside Emma Thompson.
Banderas made his Broadway debut playing Guido Contini in the 2003 revival of Maury Yeston's musical Nine, based on the film 8½, playing the prime role originated by Raul Julia. Ben Brantley, the chief theatre critic of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Banderas is a bona fide matinee idol for the 21st century -- a pocket Adonis who suggests a more sensitive, less menacing variation on the Latin lovers of yore" adding, "he has an appealingly easy stage presence and an agreeable singing voice that shifts, a bit abruptly, between pop whisperiness and Broadway belting". He won both the Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Musical, 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. Later that year, he received the Rita Moreno HOLA Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors.
Also in 2003 he starred as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in the HBO television film And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself. Banderas acted alongside Alan Arkin, Jim Broadbent, and Michael McKean. The film was directed by Bruce Beresford and was written by Larry Gelbart. Phil Gallo of Variety wrote, "Villa was larger than life, and Banderas vibrantly captures his bravado. Everything in the telepic, though, is designed to make Villa a likable force, which pushes and pulls Banderas in a number of directions, only some of which play well. Eventually, “Villa” exposes a dark side in the man, and Banderas forsakes crafting the image of a hero to allow the man’s ambiguity to shine." Banderas was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film for his performance.
The following year, Banderas portrayed Puss in Boots in the DreamWorks Animated film Shrek 2 (2004). Todd McCarthy of Variety praised his performance writing that he is "deliciously sending up his Zorro persona". The film was an immense box office and critical hit. It went on to receive a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Banderas reprised his role in Shrek the Third (2007), and the last film in the Shrek franchise, Shrek Forever After (2010), which helped make the character popular on the family film circuit. In 2005, he reprised his role as Zorro in The Legend of Zorro. 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 on 14 October. Banderas received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005, the 2,294th person to do so; his star is located on the north side of the 6800 block of Hollywood Boulevard.
2010–present: Reunion with Almodóvar
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Banderas acted in the Woody Allen directed comedy-drama You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) starring Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, and Naomi Watts. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and received mixed reviews. The following year he starred in the horror thriller The Skin I Live In (2011), which 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!). ..... According to the Associated Press Banderas' performance is among his strongest in recent memory. That same year he reprised his voice role of 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. The film received critical acclaim and was a box office hit.
Banderas took a small role in Almodóvar's comedy I'm So Excited! (2013), and also acted in Steven Soderbergh's action thriller Haywire (2011), Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' romance fantasy Ruby Sparks (2012), and Terrence Malick's experimental drama Knight of Cups (2015). Banderas starred in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water as Burger Beard, the film's main antagonist. 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 acted in Life Itself (2018) which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
In 2019, Banderas 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 has a 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 25 May 2019, Banderas won Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his role in the film. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times praised his performance writing, "Banderas’s melancholic presence and subtle, intricate performance add depth and intensities of feeling because he draws so flawlessly from Almodóvar". He was later nominated for his first ever Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Pain and Glory and lost to Joaquin Phoenix for his role in Joker (2019).
That same year Banderas starred in Steven Soderbergh's Netflix film The Laundromat alongside Meryl Streep, and Gary Oldman. During this time he starred in Spanish-language adaptations of the musicals A Chorus Line (2019) and Company (2021) at Teatro del Soho CaixaBank in Spain. In 2020, he co-starred with Robert Downey Jr. in the fantasy adventure film Dolittle. The following year he starred in the black comedy Official Competition alongside Penélope Cruz which had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. The film a meta-comedy and satire of on the film industry. .....
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 with Hayek again and new cast with Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone and Wagner Moura. 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. He also portrayed Herod in Christmas musical film Journey to Bethlehem.
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 Carla Tous. Other co-stars include Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Olivia Colman, and Jim Broadbent. .....
Filmography
Personal life
A longtime supporter of Málaga CF, Banderas is also an officer (mayordomo de trono) of a Roman Catholic religious brotherhood in his hometown of Málaga and travels during Holy Week to take part in the processions.
In May 2010, Banderas received an honorary doctorate from the University of Málaga. He received an honorary degree from Dickinson College in 2000.
In August 2015, Banderas enrolled in a fashion-design course at Central Saint Martins. As of 2016, Banderas resides in the United Kingdom in Cobham, Surrey.
Relationships
Banderas married Ana Leza in 1987 and divorced in 1996. He met and began a relationship with American actress Melanie Griffith in 1995 while shooting Two Much. They married on 14 May 1996 in London. They have a daughter, Stella del Carmen Banderas (born 24 September 1996), 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 had a tattoo of Banderas' name on her right arm that has since been removed.
In June 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 close friends. His former stepdaughter Dakota Johnson has stated she considers Banderas part of the family, calling him a "bonus dad". As of November 2015, Banderas is dating Nicole Kimpel, a Dutch investment banker.
Health
In 2009, Banderas underwent surgery for a benign tumor in his back. Speaking at the Málaga Film Festival in March 2017, Banderas revealed he had suffered a heart attack on 26 January 2017, but said it "wasn't serious and hasn't caused any damages". Following that incident, he underwent heart surgery to insert three stents into his arteries. In a Fresh Air interview in September 2019, he recalled it as being life changing. He said, "It just gave me a perspective of who I was, and it just made the important things [go to] the surface. When I say this, people may just think that I'm crazy, but it's one of the best things that ever happened in my life."
Business activities
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He has invested some of his film earnings in Andalusian products, which he promotes in Spain and the US. He owns 50% of a winery in Villalba de Duero, Burgos, Spain, called Anta Banderas, which produces red and rosé wines.
He performed a voice-over for an animated bee which can be seen in the United States in television commercials for Nasonex, an allergy medication, and was seen in the 2007 Christmas advertising campaign for Marks & Spencer, a British retailer.
He is a veteran of the perfume industry. The actor has been working with fragrance and beauty multinational company Puig for over ten years becoming one of the brand's most successful representatives. Banderas and Puig have successfully promoted a number of fragrances so far – Diavolo, Diavolo for Women, Mediterraneo, Spirit, and Spirit for Women. .....
Awards and honors
Banderas has received many award nominations throughout his career including an Academy Award nomination for Pain and Glory. He also received five Golden Globe Awards nominations for his work ranging from films to television. He has also received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on the television projects, And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2004), and Genius: Picasso (2018). He also received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his performance as Pablo Picasso in Genius: Picasso. In 2003, he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in the Broadway musical production of Nine. That year he did however win the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for his performance in Nine. In 2019, he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the European Film Award for Best Actor, the Goya Award for Best Actor, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his performance in Almodovar's Pain and Glory.
See also
In Spanish: Antonio Banderas para niños
- List of actors with Hollywood Walk of Fame motion picture stars
- List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
