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José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and singer. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received various accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a European Film Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards.

Banderas began his acting career with a series of films by director Pedro Almodóvar in the 1980s; he then appeared in several Hollywood films, such as Philadelphia (1993), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Desperado (1995), Assassins (1995), Evita (1996), and The Mask of Zorro (1998). He also appeared in the Spy Kids series and provided the voice of Puss in Boots in the Shrek franchise and its spin-off film Puss in Boots in 2011.

In 2003, Banderas made his US theatre debut as Guido Contini in Nine, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award. He received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his roles in the television film And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2004) and the second season of Genius (2018); his portrayal of Pablo Picasso in the latter garnered him critical praise.

For the 2019 film Pain and Glory, Banderas earned the Cannes Film Festival Award, European Film Award and Goya Award for Best Actor, and received nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

José Antonio Domínguez Bandera[1] was born on 10 August 1960 in Málaga,[2] to Civil Guard gendarme officer José Domínguez Prieto (1920–2008) and schoolteacher Ana Bandera Gallego (1933–2017).[3][4] He has a younger brother named Francisco.[4] As a little boy, Banderas wanted to become a professional football player until a broken foot sidelined his dreams at the age of 15. He showed a strong interest in the performing arts and formed part of the ARA Theatre-School run by Ángeles Rubio-Argüelles y Alessandri (wife of diplomat and filmmaker Edgar Neville) and the College of Dramatic Art, both in Málaga. His work in the theater and his performances on the streets eventually landed him a spot with the Spanish National Theatre.

Banderas began his acting studies at the School of Dramatic Art in Málaga, and made his acting debut at a small theatre in Málaga. He was arrested by the Spanish police for performance in a play by Bertolt Brecht, because of political censorship under the rule of General Francisco Franco. Banderas spent a whole night at the police station; he had three or four such arrests while he was working with a small theatre troupe that toured all over Spain and was giving performances in small town theatres and on the street.[6][unreliable source] Banderas began working in small shops during Spain's post-dictatorial cultural movement known as the La Movida Madrileña.[7]

While performing with the theatre, Banderas caught the attention of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, who cast the young actor in his 1982 film debut Labyrinth of Passion. Five years later, he went on to appear in the director's Law of Desire (1987), 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 Almodóvar'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, years later, when he starred in Almodóvar's controversial Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989) as a mental patient who kidnaps a porn star (Victoria Abril) and keeps her tied up until she returns his love.[5] His breakthrough role in Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! helped spur him on to Hollywood.[8] Almodóvar is credited for helping launch Banderas's international career, as he became a regular feature in his films throughout the 1980s.

In 1991, Madonna introduced Banderas to Hollywood. (He was an object of her desires in her pseudodocumentary film of one of her concert tours, Madonna: Truth or Dare.)[10] 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).[11]

Banderas then broke through to mainstream American audiences in the Jonathan Demme film Philadelphia (1993), as the life-long partner of lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks), who has AIDS