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
I have to recognize that I am agnostic.
I did my first movie, 'The Mambo Kings,' in America without speaking the language. I learned the lines phonetically. I had an interpreter actually just to understand directions from my director.
You have to be in good shape, basically. And then, you have to have a certain craziness, if you're going to do some of the action things.
We're living in hard times.
I think we are realising that governments can't govern us any more.
When you go to a movie with so many stars [like The Expendables 3], you don't know what you're going to find, exactly. You don't know if it's going to be an ego trip, ego on the set, who is taking this position, where the camera is, I want to be in front of this guy - that's true... It's worse, actually, when you have people around you that are very hungry to obtain something that they never had. Success.
I try to teach my kids to be open.
There were many generations of Latino people coming to this country, coming from difficult political or social situations in their own countries, and they worked very hard to have their kids go to universities. Well, those kids came out and they are now doctors and architects, or they are on the Supreme Court. That has a reflection in Hollywood. So, we are actually very proud that our characters are Latinos, and I think it's good for diversity and cultural interaction.
I like flesh. I do! Something to hold.
Always when you go to a new country and they teach you bad words, you just say them without knowing the value and people look at you because you didn't know that value of them.
When I do a political movie, I do a political movie.
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.
When you go to the movie theater and the opening of this movie and you see the kids just cracking up with a character you are giving your voice to, you get goose bumps. It's so beautiful.
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.