Antonio Banderas

Jose Antonio Dominguez Banderas was born on August 10, 1960 in Malaga, Spain. He was named after his father, Jose, and his mother’s beloved brother, Antonio. His mother, Ana, was a school teacher. The name of his brother is Francisco Javier, better known as Chico.
Antonio knew what he want to do in his life. He wanted to be an actor. Antonio went to the drama classes - against his parents’ wishes - and put together a group of other young pupils to form his own troupe . The crew traveled to little towns all over Spain performing on the streets. In 1981 he moved to Madrid and won a place as a member of the respected National Theater of Spain. Being a struggling young actor he also worked as a waiter and took some small jobs to have some money for himself. One day after a performance at the theater, Antonio was introduced to Pedro Almod-var, a young film director. Pedro was one of the most outrageous and talented cinematic pioneers and wanted Antonio to help him create a new film industry. They joined forces and made several respectable and controversial movies. It was the 1988 hit “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” that brought Banderas international attention.

American director, Arne Glimcher, cast Antonio in “The Mambo Kings” even though Banderas couldn’t speak English. Antonio was determined to conquer the language barrier and learned all his lines phonetically . He also took intensive English lessons at a Berlitz school. His next film was “Philadelphia”, that was a very remarkably creditable performance as Tom Hanks. He went on to play in a string of movies that brought out even more of his incredible talent such as “The House of the Spirits” (1993), “Interview With the Vampire” (1994), “Desperado” (1995), and “Assassins” (1995). He also showed his incredible talent for dance and singing in the musical “Evita” with Madonna. In 1995 Antonio and Melanie Griffith stared in the flick “Two Much” and became romantically linked. After a whirl wind romance, and to the surprise of many, they have married in May of 1996. The couple their first child birth, Stella del Carmen, were at the following September