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 wake up every morning, look in the mirror and ask, 'Am I a sex symbol?' Then I go back to bed again. It's stupid to think that way.
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.
I do yoga every morning, then I run for half an hour and take a sauna.
I drink a bucket of white tea in the morning. I read about this tea of the Emperor of China, which is supposedly the tea of eternal youth. It's called Silver Needle. It's unbelievably expensive, but I get it on the Web.
I was playing with a soccer team in Spain until I broke my foot-badly. That's when I started seriously getting into acting.
Melanie was on the payroll for the whole summer but the horse handlers wouldn't pay her more than 25 dollars a day for working out the horses, ... But she loves horses.
But at the same time he's more elegant, ... You've got a sly thing going with him that I like. He's imperfect, a little bit clumsy, and jealous and drunk. All of that humanizes the character and makes him very approachable. Everybody in the audience can recognize a little bit of themselves in him; and then everybody roots for you to be the guy he's supposed to be. That's the part of the movie I enjoy the most, all the comedy.
There is something about his persona that I love - his mystery. He doesn't really like to talk about his personal life. I thought that was an interesting concept, and so we put that into the movie.
We were very keen on not showing any blood in the movie or showing Zorro stabbing anybody -- which happens in the first one. This time, Steven and Martin Campbell and everybody around the movie were very careful with that type of thing.
This may sound a little harsh, but I don't care about my career. Really, I don't like actors who are always planning what they're going to do next or always worrying about doing something that will go against the image they've created. To me, that's almost like an attack of narcissism.
The man who doesn't want anything is invincible.
It was a satisfaction for my own community and to represent a character that says a lot about our community.
You see a woman, 22 years old, going out with a guy over 60 - and it's kind of natural. But if it happens in the opposite direction everyone says, 'What is going on there?
I think Shrek makes an effect in older people. And there are many things in the movie that you saw that are not for kids. Kids would not understand certain things.