Antonio Banderas Gossip

Antonio Banderas is an actor who has starred in many Spanish films as well as a number of large scale Hollywood productions, making him very well recognized in the United States and internationally.
He was born in the Andalusia region of Spain on August 10, 1960. While originally he wanted to be a professional soccer player, he had to change his plans when as a 14 year old he broke his leg. He appeared first in movies produced by the Spanish film industry based in Madrid. After a successful role in the film ??ame! he moved to the United States to work in American film. Following a number of minor roles in Hollywood films including a supporting character in the Oscar winner Philadelphia, Antonio Banderas came to be widely known as an attractive leading man.
The first role he became well known for in America was as the star of the Mexican themed shoot-em-up action movie "Desperado" in 1995, directed by Robert Rodriguez. In this movie, the second film of the Mariachi Trilogy, Antonio Banderas plays the character El Mariachi, a vigilante who wanders along the Mexican border tracking down gangsters and fights using an arsenal of guns stored in a fake Mariachi guitar case. Following this success, he would later appear in the "Desperado" sequel "Once Upon a Time in Mexico", as well as the "Spy Kids" movies, also directed by Robert Rodriguez.
Antonio Banderas' next highly popular leading role was as the titular heroic swordsman Zorro in the hit movie the "Mask of Zorro", released in 1998, which greatly broadened his appeal in America. Banderas was the first Spanish actor to play the part of Zorro. Since then, in addition to various film roles (including the 2005 Zorro sequel "The Legend of Zorro"), Antonio Banderas has been in the Broadway musical "Nine" (adapted from the film "8?"), for which he was nominated for a Tony award, and has performed several voice acting roles such as the character of Puss in Boots in the extremely popular family movie Shrek 2, and the 3-D animated Nasonex bee.
Films now in production in which Antonio Banderas plays a major character include the movie Conquistador, where Banderas will star as the historical Spanish explorer Cort鳠who cemented Spanish claims in South America, and the 2007 release of Shrek 3 in which he will reprise his voice acting role as Puss in Boots.