Antonio Banderas (full name: Jose Antonio Dominguez Banderas) was born in Malaga, Spain on August 10. 1960, the son of a police commissioner and a teacher. Little Antonio’s professional dream was to become not an actor but a football player, until a broken foot prompted him to pursue other interests as a teenager, he began attending a performing arts theater school and took part in several theatrical productions. are beginning to be noticed on the Spanish theater scene.
Start on the big screen and the birth of a collaboration with Pedro Almodóvar
Thanks to his theatrical productions, Antonio Banderas spotted by director Pedro Almodovarwho in 1982 entrusted him with the role of Sadeq in his second feature film. Passion Labyrinthwhich was the actor’s film debut. This was the beginning of a very long and successful professional collaboration between Almodóvar and Banderas, who became one of the most famous and recognized fetish actors of the Spanish director in the world: after this first film, they also worked together on Matadorthriller in which he plays an aspiring bullfighter, then Law of Desiresentimental comedy-thriller revolving around a love triangle, Women on the verge of a nervous breakdownthe film that made Almodóvar famous in the international arena, nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Filmand then Link me!in which Banderas is a former psychiatric patient in love with a porn star; after a break of more than twenty years, cooperation between the two resumes with The skin that I live ina thriller with horror echoes in which Banderas plays a plastic surgeon, then the actor makes a cameo (as well as colleagues Penelope Cruz and Paz Vega) in a comedy Passenger Loversto then return to the main character in the last pain and glorya largely autobiographical story in which he plays the director’s alter ego, for which he received an award Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and received first Oscar nomination.
Antonio has recently returned to acting in Spanish. Surprise Final – Official Competitionagain with Penélope Cruz, a comedy set in the world of cinema.
Arrival in the USA and the beginning of a career in Hollywood
Taking part, in addition to those that starred with Almodóvar, in a series of Spanish films throughout the eighties, in the nineties the actor landed in America: mambo kings his first film in English, a musical drama that tells the story of two brothers who flee Cuba for New York; Antonio is director Arne Glimcher’s first choice for the role of Nestor, and he learns all his lines phonetically without being able to speak English well yet.
A little later, the actor plays Ben two adaptations of novels by Chilean writer Isabelle Allende: This is about House of Spiritschronicle of the events of an upper-class Chilean family, starring Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep and Glenn Close, and later About love and shadowwith Jennifer Connelly and Stefania Sandrelli, in which he plays a photographer during the Pinochet dictatorship.
Then Banderas plays. some of the most iconic American films of the 90s: Philadelphia (he is the companion of the protagonist Tom Hanks), followed by Interview with a Vampire.in which he is Armand, the head of the troupe of the vampire theater, and then the musical Avoidwith Madonna as the famous first lady of Argentina: Antonio Banderas – Che, the narrator of the film, for the soundtrack of which he also performs various songs, who represents the ordinary man, the conscience of the Argentine people, the role for which candidate for the first time golden globe.
Also in the same period, Banderas is also the main character of a romantic comedy. Two too many, one too manya remake of a French film that doesn’t do well, but allows him to meet his wife of many years, actress Melanie Griffith, on the set.
Films with Robert Rodriguez and success in action films
An important director in his career is Texan Robert Rodriguezwho chooses Banderas for several of his projects, starting with his Tex-Mex adventure westerns: the Spanish actor plays the same character, El Mariachi, first in Desperate and then in Once upon a time in Mexico, which was joined by, among others, Salma Hayek; always for Rodriguez, interprets Four roomsfilm episode also signed by Quentin Tarantino, then a family saga Spy Kidsand fighter Machete Killsthe second in a series starring Danny Trejo.
Rodriguez himself was supposed to make a film about Zorro performed by Antonio Banderas, then the direction passed to Martin Campbell, but the Spanish actor remained the main character: Zorro maskwhich also starred Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones, was a great success with both audiences and critics, so much so that a sequel was released seven years later, Legend of Zorrothough not so lucky.
As such, Banderas also established himself as an actor in action films, a genre he would continue to make frequent use of throughout his career, appearing both in commercial films and in smaller productions by obscure authors, often released directly to home video: among his early American films, for example, we remember him in the killerswith Sylvester Stallone and Julianne Moore, then in a historical adventure film 13th warriorinspired by the epic poem Beowulfexecute Ballisticaction movie starring Lucy Liu, Code with Morgan Freeman Knockout showdown Steven Soderbergh Mercenaries 3the third chapter of the saga created by Sylvester Stallone, Gun Shy Hero Accidentally with Olga Kurylenko, Safety with Ben Kingsley Black Butterfly with Jonathan Rhys Meyers (also filmed in Subiaco, Italy), Last revenge with Pas Vega, bullets head with Adrien Brody and John Malkovich, How I Kill a Bodyguard 2 – The Assassin’s Wifesequel to the action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek. enforcer with Kate Bosworth and recent unknownbased on the video game of the same name starring Tom Holland, and the role of Renaldo, an old friend of the protagonist, in the latter Indiana Jones and the Dial of Doom.
Biographical and dramatic roles
Not only action, because in the career of Antonio Banderas there is a place for i biographical filmmaker: he plays the Mexican painter and muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros in Fridawith Salma Hayek as the famous artist Frida Kahlo; then he was one of the main characters of the film 33which reconstructs the real story of Chilean miners who were trapped in 2010 after the collapse of the mine where they worked while in Altamira gave face to the archaeologist responsible for the discovery of the famous cave paintings in the Spanish Cave. Silence music it is a film inspired by the life of Andrea Bocelli, an Italian production but with an international cast, in which Banderas plays the role of the maestro; for director Steven Soderbergh, however, the actor played Panama Papersreconstructing the scandal of the same name, in which he plays the role of the real lawyer Ramon Fonseca, one of the architects of the story.
famous feline
Thus, Antonio Banderas is a world famous and recognized actor, but if his face is known, then his voice is also known: in the saga of shrekhe is actually chosen as cat’s voice boots, a cat that walks branding its initial with a sword, inspired by the character Zorro; The cat, as we know, was such a success all over the world that a spin-off saga was dedicated to it. In addition to dubbing the English and Spanish versions, Banderas voiced Puss in Boots also in italian edition some films of the franchise.
Biographical roles on the small screen
Antonio Banderas has not yet visited television very often compared to other colleagues, but he has interpreted some biographical projects for the small screen: At the beginning of his career, he was a young Mussolini in an Italian mini-series. Benitowith an international cast that also included Ivano Marescotti, Claudia Call and Luca Zingaretti; then he was the famous leading general of the Mexican Revolution Pancho Villa in the HBO production, Pancho Villa – Legendwhich earned him a Golden Globe nomination and finally gave Pablo Picasso’s face and body geniusNational Geographic anthology series focusing on celebrities who have influenced history.
Films directed by
Throughout his career Banderas also tried himself as a director: Debuted behind the camera with film Madness in Alabamataken from the novel Summer of Madness Mark Childress, choosing as the protagonist his then wife Melanie Griffith (by the way, the future protagonist of the saga of 50 shades Dakota Johnson, actually the daughter of Melanie and her first husband Don Johnson), which, however, does not receive good reviews from critics and the public. Banderas enters an encore as director with another literary adaptation, Camino de los Inglesesfrom the novel by Antonio Soler, also known by its international title Summer raina story that takes place in the 70s right in his own Malaga.
Where will we see him again
Antonio Banderas will be among the translators Paddington in Peruthe third installment in the teddy bear franchise, this time on a journey through the Amazon rainforest while another crime thriller awaits. Cleanup Brigadeset between crime bosses, corrupt agents, and gangsters, which will also feature Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Melissa Leo, and then the remaining thrillers will also star in last girlalong with Alice Eve and will play Herod in the musical Journey to Bethlehem; then he will be the main character as the journalist Mario Spezi in the drama Monster of Florencewhich reconstructs the history of murders committed between the 60s and 80s.