Biography

[b]Antonio Banderas[/b] is a stylish leading man of stage and screen, best known for his roles in Zorro and Shrek movies. Before making his Hollywood debut in in 1992's The Mambo Kings, Banderas appeared in dozens of Spanish movies, including director Pedro Almodovar's Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990). He has then received critical praise for Philadelphia (1993, starring Tom Hanks), proved himself an able action hero in the Robert Rodriguez film Desperado (1995) and became a box office star with The Mask of Zorro (1998). One of the busiest actors in filmdom, his movies include Spy Kids and its sequels (2001-03), Shrek 2 (2004) and Shrek the Third (2007), The Legend of Zorro (2005, with Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Take the Lead (2006). In 1999 he directed his wife, actress Melanie Griffith, in the movie Crazy in Alabama, and in 2006 he took another turn behind the camera for Summer Rain.