Antonio Banderas

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

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

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

I try to teach my kids to be open.

I don't believe in any kind of fundamentalism.

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

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

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

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

I like flesh. I do! Something to hold.

We're living in hard times.

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

Cinema has opened a world of possibilities up for me.

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

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 think I'm a romantic person, yeah.

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.

In my personal life, I am very contemplative.

I suppose that I am ambitious.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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?'

I divide my time badly.

The recycling in my house was imposed by my kids.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

You have to work with people you really love.

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

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.

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 like going everywhere. And I love starting new things.

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.

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 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.