Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Bandera, known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor, director, and producer. He began his acting career with a series of films by director Pedro Almodóvar 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...
NationalitySpanish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth10 August 1960
CityMalaga, Spain
CountrySpain
As an actor, when you encounter a psychopathic personality, you naturally want to make him 'bigger than life,' as the Americans say.
There are some movies that I would like to forget, for the rest of my life. But even those movies teach me things.
I have a fantastic studio in my home, and it's my biggest toy. I have about a half a million dollars worth of musical equipment in my house.
It is just a very freaky experience when you go to the movie theater and you see it for the first time. In close-up you see those eyes. There are little touches here and there that I recognize as myself. The process is fun.
Sometimes I have wrinkles, in the morning. It depends on what kind of night that I had. I accept myself and the way that I am growing older. I have eye bags and some people have proposed to me to take them out but I said no.
Cinema has opened a world of possibilities up for me.
Characters don't belong to anyone, not even the person who plays them.
I always feel that art in general and acting in particular should make the audience a little uncomfortable, to slap them and wake them up.
I am lucky, that is all. Lucky because there are a lot of people - producers, directors, people who buy tickets - who put confidence in me.
I cry a lot, you know. Which is very difficult for a man to recognise, but I do. I cry in movies, you know, just watching movies.
I do yoga every morning, then I run for half an hour and take a sauna.
Films should be for everybody.
Sometimes I am just playing the character. I will move out of the way of the microphone, and they will have to tell me. Because I am moving around a lot. I am performing the cat. The animators look for that material, to see if they can put it back into the movie.
Up until the time I was 31 years old, in Spain, I still didn't know how I was going to pay the rent.