Quotes by Antonio Banderas

A couple of years after I arrived in Hollywood, everything that was Latino was fashionable, and years after, my thought is that we're not fashionable anymore. We're here to stay. Not just because of us, but because the entire Spanish-speaking community is occupying all types of social positions-from congressmen all the way down to the people who take out the garbage cans.
– Antonio Banderas
For me it is beautiful that because there is a character in the film that speaks with a Spanish accent, the Spanish-speakers answer to that. The studios know that there is an audience there that shouldn't be misused. They are part of the American melting pot.
– Antonio Banderas
I admired Melanie before I loved her.
– Antonio Banderas
I like going everywhere. And I love starting new things.
– Antonio Banderas
I love the diversity of America. I love the plain, normal sense of humor Americans have. It is not wicked, like in some countries. And I also love how new America is.
– Antonio Banderas
I mean, the Constitution of this country was written 200 years ago. The house I was living in in Madrid is 350 years old! America is still a project, and you guys are working on it and bringing new things to it every day. That is beautiful to watch.
– Antonio Banderas
I think Shrek makes an effect in older people. And there are many things in the movie that you saw that are not for kids. Kids would not understand certain things.
– Antonio Banderas
I was playing with a soccer team in Spain until I broke my foot-badly. That's when I started seriously getting into acting.
– Antonio Banderas
I'm now projecting my career in a totally different direction. I am going to work less-way less. And I want to work better. I want to direct again, I want to do more theatre, and I want to do exactly those movies that I want to do.
– Antonio Banderas
I've never worried about what audiences would accept or had a game plan regarding the career. I never had an idea of how I should look to my fans or anybody else.
– Antonio Banderas
If you call a cat, he may not come. Which doesn't happen with dogs. They're different types of animals. Cats are very sexy I think too in the way they move.
– Antonio Banderas
It's lovely to go out with your kids to watch a movie you're a part of and see them enjoy it. I suppose Stella, who is 7 1/2 now, will remember in 20 years time that she went to the opening of Shrek 2 in Los Angeles with her pappy.
– Antonio Banderas
It's not the same to read Gabrielle Garcia Marcus in Spanish than to read it in English in a translation. You lose a tremendous amount of subtleness.
– Antonio Banderas
Melanie is more of a disciplinarian with the little girl than me, probably because it's my first baby. She gets everything easy from Papa. I am more weak. She takes advantage of me.
– Antonio Banderas
Melanie's Spanish is very good actually, but it was very good by the time we did Crazy in Alabama for example. At that time, she went to Spain and she did the press conferences in Spanish. She received quite good ovations from the journalists there because she did a great job.
– Antonio Banderas
My Spanish is getting a little bit loose. Sometimes I go to Spain and after I've been talking with my folks for a while... you start changing the verb for the adjective, for example, which is a common thing between Spanish and English. I change that sometimes but after a couple days there, boom, I'm back.
– Antonio Banderas
No, obviously, the time goes by, the English gets better. Ever since I met Melanie, that was almost nine years ago now, you have to just speak the language continuously, hone every word. So, and the proof for me of that, was actually in theater. It has to be two hours and 45 minutes on the stage speaking a language that is not your language, and singing.
– Antonio Banderas
Swordfighting is about self-control. Eventually, I got some, but I still got nicks on my hands during filming.
– Antonio Banderas
There are some movies that I would like to forget, for the rest of my life. But even those movies teach me things.
– Antonio Banderas
To be married in our profession is not an easy thing. There's too many beautiful people around, very interesting people. It's just a matter of really having-being patient and probably having the capacity and the faith of falling in love with your own wife again. That happens to me.
– Antonio Banderas
We are now integrated into American society and I don't like the word fashionable, because fashionable means that it's going to pass. It's not like that anymore.
– Antonio Banderas
Sometimes I have wrinkles, in the morning. It depends on what kind of night that I had. I accept myself and the way that I am growing older. I have eye bags and some people have proposed to me to take them out but I said no.
– Antonio Banderas
Picasso is a character that has pursued me for a long time and I always rejected. He deserves a lot of respect because I am from Malaga, and I was born four blocks from where he was born.
– Antonio Banderas
One thing I have clear is that I don't want to work for money anymore.
– Antonio Banderas
Making movies is difficult and you get disorientated sometimes - even when you're working with fantastic talent.
– Antonio Banderas
Listen, I think movies serve many different purposes, from those movies that are frivolous and just an entertainment, to movies that just go to exploring the complexities of the human soul. Everything is valid if it's done with honesty and dignity, and I actually do both of those types of movies in my career.
– Antonio Banderas
It was an honor and privilege to arrive to this country 16 years ago with almost no money in my pocket. A lot has happened since then.
– Antonio Banderas
If bad things are going to be said about me, I have to bear that. If I don't understand that it's part of being in show business, then I'd better go work in a bank.
– Antonio Banderas
I've done many different movies in many different contexts.
– Antonio Banderas
I wouldn't want my daughters to date a guy like me. I was dangerous around women in my twenties. I'm terrified that they might end up with someone like me.
– Antonio Banderas
I wake up every morning, look in the mirror and ask, 'Am I a sex symbol?' Then I go back to bed again. It's stupid to think that way.
– Antonio Banderas
I used to be scared of women. When I was very young they terrified me, but discovering the female universe was incredible and still is to this day, as you never stop learning about them.
– Antonio Banderas
I think I'm a romantic person, yeah.
– Antonio Banderas
I often feel very guilty because of the time that I spend outside of my home and the little time that sometimes I have for my kids.
– Antonio Banderas
I have a fantastic studio in my home, and it's my biggest toy. I have about a half a million dollars worth of musical equipment in my house.
– Antonio Banderas
I get caught up in my bubble of reading, writing, or music.
– Antonio Banderas
I drink a bucket of white tea in the morning. I read about this tea of the Emperor of China, which is supposedly the tea of eternal youth. It's called Silver Needle. It's unbelievably expensive, but I get it on the Web.
– Antonio Banderas
I do yoga every morning, then I run for half an hour and take a sauna.
– Antonio Banderas
I cry a lot, you know. Which is very difficult for a man to recognise, but I do. I cry in movies, you know, just watching movies.
– Antonio Banderas
Cats are very independent animals. They're very sexy, if you want. Dogs are different. They're familiar. They're obedient. You call a cat, you go, 'Cat, come here.' He doesn't come to you unless you have something in your hand that he thinks might be food. They're very free animals, and I like that.
– Antonio Banderas