Antonio Banderas (65) Opens Up About the Turning Point That Changed His Life Forever
Antonio Banderas is feeling happier than ever, and he says it is all because of a huge health scare he had years ago.
In a new interview with the U.K. publication The Times, the actor talked about how having a serious heart attack in 2017 completely changed his perspective on what matters. He told the publication that the event was a really serious warning and it changed the way he looks at life.
Before the heart attack happened, Banderas spent most of his time traveling between the United States and the United Kingdom to work on movies. After he got sick, he decided to simplify everything. He quit smoking, sold his private jet, and moved back to his hometown of Malaga in Spain.
He now lives there with his girlfriend, Nicole Kimpel, and runs his own theater called the Teatro del Soho CaixaBank. He previously told the New York Post’s Page Six that facing death made him realize that he is actually a theater actor at heart. He said, I knew always [that I was going to die], but now I know. I’ve seen it right here. Doctors even had to put three stents into his arteries to help him recover.
His long career actually started in a small theater in Malaga where he was discovered by director Pedro Almodovar. They worked together on many famous movies like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Pain and Glory, which even got him an Oscar nomination. After moving to the U.S. in the early nineties, he made his American debut in The Mambo Kings and went on to star in huge hits like Philadelphia, Interview with the Vampire, and Evita.
Banderas also looked back on his early days in Hollywood when things were much harder for Spanish actors. He told The Times that people used to tell him he could only play bad guys because he was from Spain. He eventually proved them wrong by playing heroes like Zorro and voicing the famous Puss in Boots. He also starred in the Spy Kids movies and directed his own films like Crazy in Alabama. He thinks it is very important that kids see a character with a Spanish accent who is a good guy.
Even though he spends most of his time directing and producing plays now, he still takes on some movie roles. He recently appeared in the movie Babygirl with Nicole Kidman and is set to play a mentor in a movie about Anthony Bourdain.
His theater is also getting ready to host a big international dance festival this April. Whether he is on Broadway in the musical Nine or playing Pablo Picasso on television, he stays busy. Looking back at his life, he said, Faced with death, it made me look back and realize that I am, in fact, a theater actor.
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