In 1992, Banderas made his American film debut with the musical drama The Mambo Kings (1992), followed by roles in Philadelphia (1993), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Assassins (1995), and Evita (1996).

He began working in small shops during Spain's post-dictatorial cultural movement known as La Movida Madrileña.

[6] While performing with the theater, Banderas caught the attention of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, who gave the young actor his film debut in the screwball sex comedy Labyrinth of Passion (1982).

Five years later, he went on to appear in the director's comedic thriller Law of Desire (1987), making headlines with his performance as a gay man, which required him to engage in his first male-to-male onscreen kiss.

Banderas appeared in Almodóvar's surrealist sex comedy Matador, with Vincent Canby of The New York Times writing, "The movie looks terrific and is acted with absolute, straight-faced conviction by the excellent cast headed by Miss Serna, Mr. Martinez and Mr.

Despite having to learn all his lines phonetically, Banderas still managed to turn in a critically praised performance as a struggling musician in his first American drama film, The Mambo Kings (1992).

[13] David Nansen of Newsweek declared, "Banderas had to learn English to play this role, but you wouldn't know it: he plumbs all the nuances of charm and self-pity in Nestor's melancholic soul".

[15] Banderas then broke through to mainstream American audiences in the 1993 Jonathan Demme film Philadelphia as the life partner of lawyer Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.

[16] The film's success earned Banderas wide recognition, and the following year, he was given a role in Neil Jordan's high-profile adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire (1994), sharing the screen with Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Kirsten Dunst.

"[18] That same year, Banderas portrayed the antagonist in the Richard Donner-directed action film Assassins, co-starring opposite Sylvester Stallone and Julianne Moore.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that "Banderas ... does an unexpectedly splendid job as the film's conspiratorial singing narrator.

[23] In 1999, he starred in the historical action film The 13th Warrior, a movie about a Muslim caught up in a war between the Northman and human-eating beasts.

It's an exuberant, colorful extravaganza, wall-to-wall with wildly original sets and visual gimmicks, and smart enough to escape the kids film category and play in the mainstream.

Ben Brantley, the chief theater critic of The New York Times, wrote that Banderas was "a bona fide matinee idol for the 21st century -- a pocket Adonis who suggests a more sensitive, less menacing variation on the Latin lovers of yore," adding that "he has an appealingly easy stage presence and an agreeable singing voice that shifts, a bit abruptly, between pop whisperiness and Broadway belting.

Everything in the telepic, though, is designed to make Villa a likable force, which pushes and pulls Banderas in a number of directions, only some of which play well.

[41] Banderas acted in the Woody Allen-directed comedy-drama You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), starring Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, and Naomi Watts.

[42] The following year, he starred in the horror thriller The Skin I Live In (2011), which marked the return of Banderas to Pedro Almodóvar, the Spanish director who launched his international career.

In The Skin I Live In, he breaks out of the "Latin Lover" mold from his Hollywood work and stars as a calculating revenge-seeking plastic surgeon following the rape of his daughter.

(2013) and also acted in Steven Soderbergh's action thriller Haywire (2011), Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' romance fantasy Ruby Sparks (2012), and Terrence Malick's experimental drama Knight of Cups (2015).

[51][52] That same year, Banderas starred in Steven Soderbergh's Netflix film The Laundromat alongside Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman.

During this time, he starred in Spanish-language adaptations of the musicals A Chorus Line (2019) and Company (2021) at the Teatro del Soho CaixaBank in Spain.

The following year, he starred in the black comedy Official Competition alongside Penélope Cruz, which had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival.

He is reportedly playing Hunter Cabot, a dashing and intrepid riverboat captain who offers to help the Brown family on their Peruvian adventure.

It is a creation center dedicated to the production, exhibition and distribution of shows, and training in the different areas of the performing arts.

[69] Banderas is an officer (mayordomo de trono) of a Catholic religious brotherhood in his hometown of Málaga and travels during Holy Week to take part in the processions.

"In 2021, he described his religious beliefs and Holy Week to El País:[74] "I live comfortably in the mystery, I'm very doubting, I don't know if agnostic is exactly the word.

He owns 50% of a winery in Villalba de Duero, Burgos, Spain, called Anta Banderas, which produces red and rosé wines.

[86] He performed a voice-over for an animated bee, which can be seen in the United States in television commercials for Nasonex,[87] an allergy medication, and was seen in the 2007 Christmas advertising campaign for Marks & Spencer, a British retailer.

The actor has been working with fragrance and beauty multinational company Puig for over ten years, becoming one of the brand's most successful representatives.

He has also received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work, on the television projects And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2004) and Genius: Picasso (2018).