Spanish Hollywood star, great family man and entrepreneur Antonio Banderas celebrates his 60th birthday on August 10th.
A week ago, Antonio Banderas celebrated the birthday of his partner (since the end of 2014), the native of Stuttgart Nicole Kimpel (39) – and her twin sister Barbara. On a roof terrace in his hometown and current adopted home of Málaga in southern Spain there was chocolate cake with candles for the German-Dutch birthday child. Two photos on his Instagram page are evidence of this. Now it is Banderas's turn himself. The actor was born on August 10, 1960 and is celebrating his 60th birthday today, Monday.
La familia – the family – the family
In addition to partner Nicole, there are other particularly important women in his life. As there are his ex-wife, Hollywood star Melanie Griffith, who celebrated her 63rd birthday yesterday, Sunday (August 9th), and their daughter, Stella del Carmen Banderas Griffith (23), who was born in Marbella in 1996 . Banderas never tires of emphasizing how well he and Griffith get along today. "I'm no longer married to Melanie, but she is my family. She is probably one of my best friends, if not the best friend I have," he said in the Vulture interview.
How close the relationship is with stepdaughter Dakota Johnson (30, "Fifty Shades of Gray"), who Griffith brought into the marriage, was shown at two events last year. At the end of October 2019, Griffith and Johnson welcomed the guests to a reception in honor of Antonio Banderas and director Pedro Almodóvar (70) in Los Angeles. Banderas posted a video clip of it on his Instagram account and commented on it with the loving words: "I thank my American family with all my heart !!!"
At the beginning of November 2019, the next public appointment with loved ones was already due. "Family photo op!" He commented on a picture taken from the red carpet at the Hollywood Film Awards. He can be seen arm in arm with his girlfriend Nicole and daughter Stella.
The real surprise then followed on stage, because the laudation for him and his award for “Sorrow and Glory” (2019) was presented by stepdaughter Dakota – with touching words about her “bonus father”: “As an adult woman in the same industry is active, I now understand that Antonio is one of our best artists in film, television and on stage. And in several languages. " He taught her what "passion and discipline" really meant and was one of the people who had the most influence on her life.
Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith met and fell in love with each other on the set of "Two Much" (1995) in the mid-1990s. In 1996 they said yes. The marriage lasted 18 years, and in 2014 the couple filed for divorce. The divorce has been final since 2015. It was his second marriage. From 1987 to 1996 he was married to Ana Leza.
The U-turn
The family apparently stuck together because of a stroke of fate for Antonio Banderas. At the beginning of 2017 he suffered a heart attack while exercising, as he later said publicly.
In an interview with spot on news in the summer of 2019, he said: In most people's lives there are moments of "suffering" and "glory". How to balance them, he said: "I think that comes with getting older. Nothing is perfect in life except death. Everything else is relative. When you look death in the eye, it hits you like lightning. It shows you the fragility of life. "
An international career
His last major cinematic success in 2019 was the Almodóvar drama "Sorrow and Glory", for which the lead actor and director received countless nominations and awards. Joint professional success has accompanied this relationship for a long time. In a acceptance speech a year ago, Banderas told of the first meeting with his discoverer Almodóvar in 1980 at a meeting with artist friends, he himself was still working at the theater at the time.
Almodóvar was remarkably "funny and interesting". When he left the group, he said goodbye to Banderas with the words: "You have a very romantic face, you should make films." Then he left – and a friend at the time had prophesied: "He (Almodóvar) will never make a film …" But it turned out differently: "Suffering and Glory" is the eighth joint film and Almodóvar's 22nd film.
Between the two Spaniards' joint strips, Banderas made films such as "Das Geisterhaus" (1993), "Philadelphia" (1993), "Interview with a Vampire (1994)," Evita "(1996)," The Mask of the Zorro "(1998) or" Frida "(2002) a Hollywood name.
Entrepreneurs in Málaga
Since the hype about "suffering and glory" has subsided, Antonio Banderas has devoted himself more and more to three project areas in his hometown of Malaga: He is a partner in several restaurants, runs an acting school and founded a theater at the end of 2019, like the Spanish newspaper "El Pais "reports. In the Teatro del Soho the musical "A Chorus Line" was performed, in which he danced. "What an unbelievable night. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this great premiere," he wrote enthusiastically and relieved on Instagram in mid-November.