Antonio Banderas

I think we are realising that governments can't govern us any more.

Hollywood is a very strong machine that needs, and in... especially with female actors, fresh flesh ...
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I've never worried about what audiences would accept or had a game plan regarding the career ...
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I cry a lot, you know. Which is very difficult for a man to recognise, but ...
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Sometimes I have wrinkles, in the morning. It depends on what kind of night that I ...
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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.

As an actor, when you encounter a psychopathic personality, you naturally want to make him 'bigger than life,' as the Americans say.

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.

Always when you go to a new country and they teach you bad words, you just say them without knowing the value and people look at you because you didn't know that value of them.

Cinema has opened a world of possibilities up for me.

Characters don't belong to anyone, not even the person who plays them.

Everything changes as you get older - your mind, your body, the way you view the world.

Films should be for everybody.

Expectation is the mother of all frustration.

I am lucky, that is all. Lucky because there are a lot of people - producers, directors, people who buy tickets - who put confidence in me.

I always feel that art in general and acting in particular should make the audience a little uncomfortable, to slap them and wake them up.

Hollywood is a very strong machine that needs, and in... especially with female actors, fresh flesh. It's that cruel. But that's the way it is.

I couldn't be with someone who is depressed all the time.

I completely take on the risk, the poker game, which being an artist means, and I'm going to try to make a film which honestly reflects what I have in my head.

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.

I did my first movie, 'The Mambo Kings,' in America without speaking the language. I learned the lines phonetically. I had an interpreter actually just to understand directions from my director.

I divide my time badly.

I don't believe in any kind of fundamentalism.

I do yoga every morning, then I run for half an hour and take a sauna.

I don't like to over-intellectualize scenes that are working. I tend to think when you do that you may lose it.

I don't think there is a guy that played more gay characters than I have done in my life.

I get caught up in my bubble of reading, writing, or music.

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.

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.

I like flesh. I do! Something to hold.

I like going everywhere. And I love starting new things.

I have to recognize that I am agnostic.

I love my country. And I would have to renounce my Spanish citizenship to become a U.S. Citizen.

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.

I long to get back into theater.

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.

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.

I remember in 'Law of Desire,' where I played a homosexual, that people were more upset that I kissed a man on the mouth than I killed a man. It's interesting to see how people can pardon you for murdering a man, but they can't pardon you for kissing one.

I think I'm a romantic person, yeah.

I think the problems with being older come when your body cannot do what your mind wants. Then, Houston, we have a problem.

I think that comedy is one of the more serious things that you can do in our day, especially in the world that we're living in.

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.

I try to teach my kids to be open.

I think we are realising that governments can't govern us any more.

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.

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.

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.

I'm a complete hypochondriac. If my heart starts beating a little faster than normal, I think I'm having an attack.

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.

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.

I'm still a promising actor. It's better to be climbing even if you have a lot of falls than to be descending. Maybe that's kept me young. I haven't gotten to any peak yet.

I'm not such a big star. I am just a little planet. In Spain, people don't put so much attention on the star system. But here in America, I can feel it. Mostly, people are very, very nice. But there are also a bunch of fanatics behind the stars.

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.

In my personal life, I am very contemplative.

It's a character that I always found really likable. I'm fond of Zorro because he was a popular figure who worked for the people.

I've always been an optimistic guy, to tell you the truth.

I've done many different movies in many different contexts.

I've never liked watching real-life couples play couples onscreen or onstage. It takes me out of the story.

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.

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.

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.

Making movies is difficult and you get disorientated sometimes - even when you're working with fantastic talent.

One thing I have clear is that I don't want to work for money anymore.

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.

People are not patient anymore.

The man who doesn't want anything is invincible.

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.

The recycling in my house was imposed by my kids.

The only time you actually are a spectator of your own work is the day you read the script.

There are some movies that I would like to forget, for the rest of my life - really! But even those movies that I'd like to forget teach me things.

There's something happening in the world that didn't happen before. We are acting like one big brain.

Up until the time I was 31 years old, in Spain, I still didn't know how I was going to pay the rent.

This may sound a little harsh, but I don't care about my career. Really, I don't like actors who are always planning what they're going to do next or always worrying about doing something that will go against the image they've created. To me, that's almost like an attack of narcissism.

We're living in hard times.

Whatever happens in my life from now on, I know the day I finally die - the final act of my script - people will always make references to the work I've done with Almodovar.

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.

When I do a political movie, I do a political movie.

When you go to the movie theater and the opening of this movie and you see the kids just cracking up with a character you are giving your voice to, you get goose bumps. It's so beautiful.

When you work in a different language you are not so attached to the words.

When you're feeling very comfortable with an actor, you are doing nothing.

You have to work with people you really love.

You see a woman, 22 years old, going out with a guy over 60 - and it's kind of natural. But if it happens in the opposite direction everyone says, 'What is going on there?'