Antonio Banderas

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Domnguez and the second or maternal
family name is Bandera.

Antonio Banderas

Banderas in 2014

Born

Jos Antonio Domnguez Bandera

10 August 1960 (age 56)
Mlaga, Spain

Occupation

Actor, director, producer, singer

Years active

1982present

Spouse(s)

Ana Leza (m. 1987; div. 1996)

Melanie Griffith (m. 1996; div. 2015)

Children

Jos Antonio Domnguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish
actor, director, singer, and producer.[1] He began his acting career with a series of films by director Pedro Almodvar and
then appeared in high-profile Hollywood movies, especially in the 1990s, including Assassins, Evita, Interview with the
Vampire, Philadelphia, Desperado, The Mask of Zorro and Spy Kids. Banderas also portrayed the voice of "Puss in
Boots" in the Shrek sequels and Puss in Boots as well as the bee in the US Nasonex commercials.

Early life
Banderas was born on 10 August 1960, in the Andalusian city of Mlaga, the son of Jos Domnguez, a police officer in
the Civil Guard, and Ana Bandera Gallego, a school teacher.[2][3] He has a younger brother, Juan. Although his father's

family name is Domnguez, he took his mother's last name as his stage name. [4] As a child, he wanted to become a
professional football player until a broken foot sidelined his dreams at the age of fourteen. He showed a strong interest in
the performing arts and formed part of the ARA Theatre-School run by ngeles Rubio-Argelles y Alessandri (wife of
diplomat, writer and film director Edgar Neville) and the College of Dramatic Art, both in Mlaga. His work in the theater,
and his performances on the streets, eventually landed him a spot with the Spanish National Theatre

Career

Early work, 198290

Banderas began working in small shops during Spain's post-dictatorial cultural movement known as the 'Movida'.[6] While
performing with the theatre, Banderas caught the attention of Spanish director Pedro Almodvar, who cast the young
actor in his 1982 movie debut Labyrinth of Passion. Five years later, he went on to appear in the director's Law of
Desire, 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 Almodvar'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 two years later when he starred in Almodvar's controversial Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! as a mental
patient who kidnaps a porn star (Victoria Abril) and keeps her tied up until she returns his love.[5]It was his breakthrough
role in Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, that helped spur him on to Hollywood.[7] Banderas' having become a regular feature of
Almodvar's movies all throughout the 1980s, Almodvar is credited for helping launch Banderas's international career.

Breakthrough, 199194
In 1991, Madonna introduced Banderas to Hollywood. 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 film, Philadelphia (1993), as the lover of AIDSafflicted lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks). 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, sharing the
screen with Brad Pitt.