He is a versatile artist but, above all, a passionate defender of culture in all its forms. Antonio Banderas is a man deeply proud of his roots, one of Spain's greatest cultural ambassadors, and a tireless advocate for the country's talent. As he told ¡HOLA! when he turned 65, he still feels “the same curiosity and energy I had as a young dreamer in Malaga,” a mindset that may explain his relentless pace. Always eager to push the creative scene further, he continues to do so with projects such as the musical he is currently working on. He shared every detail of this acclaimed production while also reflecting on his beginnings, the encounter that changed his life, and his daughter’s wedding, which ¡HOLA! revealed as a world exclusive.
After two and a half months captivating audiences at the Teatro del Soho Caixabank Málaga, the musical Godspell, directed by Antonio Banderas, arrives on January 21 at Madrid’s Gran Teatro Pavón. Few could have imagined that he would return as an international star to the very city where he once lived in modest boarding houses while fighting to make his dream a reality. “I bought a book about how to cook words a thousand ways. I didn’t have a penny. I walked the streets looking between the cars and the curb in case someone had dropped a coin. I lived in nine boarding houses my first year. They kept throwing me out because I couldn’t pay,” he recalled on El Hormiguero, one of Spain’s most popular and long-running talk shows. He was close to giving up, but a stroke of luck rewrote his story.
From Struggle to Opportunity in Madrid
“I became friends with a guy who worked in the cafeteria at the Teatro María Guerrero, and every night he gave me a ham and cheese sandwich and a small beer. For a while, that was all I ate,” he said. One night, already considering a return to Málaga after failing to land any opportunities, he ran into Alicia Moreno as he was leaving the theater. The daughter of Núria Espert, she was working in the theater’s administration at the time. He turned back, introduced himself, and asked her how he could work there.
The two-time Goya Award winner later wrote down on a napkin the phone number of some friends who were letting him sleep on their couch. “The next morning, the intercom started ringing, and my friend told me the National Drama Center had called so I could come in to read,” he recalled. He auditioned with Núria Espert, Ramón Tamayo, and Luis Pascual, but the response took time, and he was staying in a boarding house he could no longer afford. To make matters worse, the coup attempt occurred during that waiting period. Eventually, they called him back, asked him to audition again, and offered him the role. “During the play La hija del aire, a man named Pedro Almodóvar came to see me. ” If I hadn’t stopped on the stairs of the María Guerrero that night and turned back, you and I wouldn’t be talking today. That’s life,” he told Pablo Motos, the host of El Hormiguero.
A Career Fulfilled at Home and a Father’s Proudest Moment
That moment marked only the beginning of a remarkable career that would later conquer Hollywood. Still, Banderas admits that the most fulfilling chapter of his professional life is unfolding now at the Teatro del Soho in his hometown of Málaga. His dedication to the company he founded is such that during the five days he was away for his daughter’s wedding, he continued working by phone, staying in constant contact with his team.
He remembers his daughter’s wedding to Alex Gruszynski, which ¡HOLA! covered in a world exclusive, as “nontraditional and gorgeous.” He also explained that Stella discovered Abadía Retuerta, the Valladolid setting for the celebration, because he had visited before, and she was certain she wanted to get married in Spain. “It was very important to her because she was born in Spain and feels Spanish.”
For José Antonio Domínguez Bandera, known affectionately at home as Nonito, walking the apple of his eye down the aisle was deeply emotional. “It was a storm of emotions. I attempted to maintain my composure, yet my daughter's happiness was irresistible. It was hard not to shed a tear when I saw her,” he told us, describing the celebration as an expression of love for authenticity. The actor delivered a heartfelt speech that moved everyone present, followed by another unforgettable moment: the dance he shared with the bride to Moonlight Serenade. The surprises did not end there. He took the microphone once more to perform a rendition of Minnie the Moocher by Cab Calloway, accompanied by the orchestra of his theater company, El Teatro del Soho.