Antonio Banderas got his taste of the big time after famous Spanish director Pedro Almodvar cast him in films like La ley del deseo (Law of Desire) and Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown). With the experience gained from such great appearances, Banderas moved to the United States to try his hand at Hollywood.

North American audiences first caught a glimpse of Banderas in Madonna's Truth or Dare, in 1991. The following year, he starred in The Mambo Kings, which was all the more impressive since he hadn't even learned English yet -- he memorized all his lines phonetically. Once his grasp of English improved, he was immediately a hot commodity, getting increasingly more onscreen time in 1993's Philadelphia, as Tom Hanks' lover, and 1994's Interview with the Vampire.

Banderas' breakthrough came with the role of El Mariachi in 1995's Desperado, the Robert Rodriguez-directed action film. Following this big role, Antonio commanded attention and received another leading spot in Assassins, and then impressed many with his dramatic (and musical) part in 1996's Evita, working with Madonna once again.

He scored a big hit in 1998 as Zorro in The Mask of Zorro, and was able to survive such subsequent busts as The 13th Warrior, Play It to the Bone and Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. Banderas got it on with Angelina Jolie in 2001's Original Sin and continued to make us jealous by sharing the screen with Rebecca Romijn-Stamos in 2003's Femme Fatale.

Banderas ventured into family films with the successful Spy Kids trilogy, and earned critical praise with noteworthy roles in Frida and the HBO movie And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. Keep your eye (and ears) open for Banderas, as he stars in Shrek 2 in the summer of 2004 and Zorro 2 in 2005. Of course, when not working, Antonio relaxes at his homes in Spain, Los Angeles and Aspen with wife Melanie Griffith, stepchildren Alexander and Dakota, and daughter Stella.

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