Antonio Banderas explains why he has no regrets after leaving Hollywood
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Health
Greg Harris
Featured Image Credit: Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Health
Antonia Banderas stepped away from Hollywood almost 10 years ago and he’s now reflecting on the decision.
The actor, 65, relocated to his home town, Málaga, Spain, in 2017 after an alarming moment in his life.
Banderas had been living between the US and the UK prior to moving back to his hometown. He once had a mansion in Cobham, Surrey.
However, the Evita actor’s career shifted focus after he survived a heart attack in 2017 which changed his outlook.
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“Mine was a really serious warning,” he said in a new interview published in The Times. “It changed the way I look at life.”
He immediately quit smoking, sold his private jet, and returned to Málaga. He now lives in a flat with his longtime girlfriend, Nicole Kimpel, and owns a number of restaurants. He also owns a not-for-profit theater, Teatro del Soho, which has become his passion project.
“Faced with death, it made me look back and realize that I am, in fact, a theater actor,” he reflected.
“I have never been so happy.”
The Puss in Boots star also reflected on building a career by making Hollywood blockbusters. He said he was originally told that as a Spaniard, he could only play ‘the bad guys’ in films, but he proved the naysayers wrong when he starred in the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro.
“The problem was a few years later I had a mask, a hat, sword and cape and the bad guy was Captain Love, who was blond and had blue eyes,” he recalled.
“Even more important is Puss in Boots because it’s for young kids. They see a cat that has a Spanish, even an Andalusian accent and he’s a good guy.”
Banderas has a number of classics including Evita alongside Madonna, Spy Kids and the Shrek films.
He hasn’t completely stepped away from filmmaking, he has two upcoming movies - Rose’s Baby and Tony in post-production and in 2023 he starred in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Banderas previously said that his heart attack was probably the best thing that ever happened to him.
"It probably was one of the best things that happened in my life. It was like putting glasses on and seeing what was important," the Spanish-native told Radio Times.
"Since my heart attack, I’m looking only for the pleasure of acting. That’s it. I don’t care about anything else.
"For me, life starts when somebody says, 'Action!' – or when the curtain comes up."
Antonio credits his survival to his girlfriend Nicole Kimpel, 40, who saved his life by giving him asprin.
According to the NHS, chewing on and swallowing a tablet of aspirin (ideally 300mg) can be a life-saving treatment while waiting for an ambulance, as it helps to thin the blood and improves the blood flow to the heart.