Antonio Banderas

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.[5]

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. 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. 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. 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.[4] His breakthrough role in Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! helped spur him on to Hollywood.[6] Almodóvar is credited for helping launch Banderas's international career, as he became a regular feature in his films throughout the 1980s.[7]

Banderas in 1997

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.)[8] 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).[9]

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.[4] 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 in 2000

In 2001, he 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, he starred in the last installment of the trilogy Once Upon a Time in Mexico (in which he appeared with Johnny Depp and Hayek). Banderas' debut as a director was the poorly received Crazy in Alabama (1999), starring his then wife Melanie Griffith.

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.[10] 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 (HOLA).[11]

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 2005, he reprised his role as Zorro in The Legend of Zorro, though this was not as successful as The Mask 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.[12]

He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005, the 2,294th person to do so;[13] his star is located on the north side of the 6800 block of Hollywood Boulevard.[14]

Banderas at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival

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.[7] 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.[15]

In 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 starred in the ensemble drama 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.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18] He was later nominated for his first ever Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Pain and Glory.[19][20] 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.[21] 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.[22]

Banderas with then-wife Melanie Griffith in 2010

Banderas married Ana Leza in 1986 or 1988 (sources differ) and divorced in 1996. He met and began a relationship with American actress Melanie Griffith in 1995 while shooting Two Much.[5][30] 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.[31]

In June 2014, Banderas and Griffith released a statement announcing their intention to divorce "in a loving and friendly manner".[32] According to the petition filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, the couple had "irreconcilable differences" that led to their separation.[33] The divorce became official in December 2015.[34] 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".[35][36]

Banderas is currently dating Nicole Kimpel, a Dutch investment banker.[37] They have made public appearances such as the 2015 AFI Fest, 2019 Cannes International Film Festival, and the 2020 Academy Awards.

In 2009, Banderas underwent surgery for a benign tumor in his back.[38]

Speaking at the Málaga Film Festival in March 2017, Banderas revealed he had suffered from 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.[39] 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."[40]