Internationally known for his charisma and smoldering good looks, Antonio Banderas is the ultimate manifestation of the Latin heartthrob. Born in Malaga, Spain on October 10, 1960, Banderas wanted to become a professional soccer player until a broken foot sidelined his dreams at the age of fourteen. He went on to enroll in some drama classes, eventually joining a theatre troupe that toured all over Spain. His work in the theatre, and his performances on the streets, eventually landed him a spot with the National Theatre of Spain.

While performing with the theatre, Banderas caught the attention of director Pedro Almodóvar, who cast the young actor in his film debut, Laberinto de Pasione (Labyrinth of Passion) (1982). He went on to appear in the director's La Ley del Deseo (Law of Desire) (1984), 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 Matador (1986), the director cast him in his internationally acclaimed Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) (1988). The recognition Banderas gained for his role increased two years later when he starred in Almodóvar's controversial Atame! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!) as a mental patient who kidnaps a porn star (Victoria Abril) and keeps her tied up until she returns his love.

Banderas made his first stateside appearance as an unwitting object of Madonna's affections in Truth or Dare (1991). The following year, still speaking next to no English, he starred in his first American film, The Mambo Kings. It was a testament to his acting abilities that, despite having to learn all of his lines phonetically, Banderas still managed to turn in a critically praised performance as a struggling musician. He broke through to mainstream American audiences as the gay lover of AIDS-afflicted lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) in Philadelphia (1993). The film's success earned Banderas wide recognition, and the following year he was given a substantial role in Neil Jordan's high-profile adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, which allowed him to share the screen with the likes of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

Banderas subsequently appeared in a number of films of widely varying quality, doing particularly strong work in Desperado (1995), Evita (1998), and The Mask of Zorro (1998). In 1999, he made his first foray into directing with Crazy in Alabama, a black comedy starring Melanie Griffith, to whom he had been married since 1996. The following year he starred as an aspiring boxer opposite Woody Harrelson in Play It to the Bone, portrayed a Cuban tycoon with a bad seed bride (Angelina Jolie) in Dancing in the Dark, and starred alongside Bob Hoskins and Wes Bentley in The White River Kid

The Body (2001)
Original Sin (2001)
Spy Kids (2001)
Play It to the Bone (2000)
The 13th Warrior (1999)
Play It to the Bone (1999)
The White River Kid (1999)
El Mariachi/Desperado (1998)
The Mask of Zorro (1998)
Evita (1996)
Of Love and Shadows (1996)
Outrage! (1996)
Two Much (1996)
Assassins (1995)
Desperado (1995)
Four Rooms (1995)
Miami Rhapsody (1995)
Never Talk to Strangers (1995)
The House of the Spirits (1994)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Philadelphia (1993)
The Mambo Kings (1992)
Terranova (1991)
Against the Wind (1990)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990)
Baton Rouge (1988)
Law of Desire (1987)
Matador (1986)
The Stilts (1984)
Labyrinth of Passion (1982)