Why is antonio banderas important

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Language Resources. Spanish Culture. Actors P. Cruz J. Bardem F. Rey M. Verdu A. Email Sign up. Try for free. Is something missing from this page? Your feedback helps us. For example, one year after arriving in Madrid, I was surrendering. I was hungry. I remember that I used to go to a coffee shop that was under the National Theater.

I got a friend there that was a waiter, and he gave me a little beer and a sandwich with ham and cheese every night. So, I was leaving to go back to Malaga the next day. I was leaning on the stairs and I saw the daughter of a very famous actress who at the time was director of the National Theater. And I stop at the door and I turn around and I went down there. I will always remember her name. And I put it on the napkin and she took it and put it in her purse.

She called me. They did a test and two months later, another test. And they [cast me in] a play. One night that was very beautiful: Tom Hanks won the award for Philadelphia —the Oscar—and he dedicated it to me.

And I introduced Bruce Springsteen. Christian Slater, I remember too. I used to watch the TV show when I was a little kid. His kindness. He has been always, always the gentleman. It is what I am doing right now. I bought a theater in Malaga.

After going around the world, meeting people, having adventures—now you go back home with something in your hands. Question: Pedro Almodovar said making "Pain and Glory" was ultimately "therapeutic" for him.

Was it similarly cathartic for you? Antonio Banderas: Yes. I am less afraid to actually be me because you realize that you will die. Now, there is only space for truth and nothing else. So you start searching for it: What is my truth? What am I?