Antonio Banderas will receive the Honorary Biznaga de Oro at the Malaga Festival

For this reason, the Municipal Archive will host an exhibition that recognizes the professional career of the actor and director from Malaga.

This year, the Malaga Festival fulfills its wish, previously expressed but never materialized until this 20th edition, to recognize the brilliant professional career of Antonio Banderas as well as the continuous support he has received from who, since the first edition, has been its Honorary President.

The presentation of this award will take place during the Closing Gala of the 20th edition of the Festival, which will be held on Saturday, March 25, starting at 8 pm, at the Cervantes Theater, a place of special significance for Antonio Banderas, since his training as an actor took place in Malaga, in the city's theaters and stage spaces, where he lived his first years and professional dreams.

The Closing Gala will thus have an accentuated Malaga value, since, in addition to Antonio Banderas, the event will feature the singer Diana Navarro, also born in Malaga. Both share friendship and mutual admiration, so their meeting on the Cervantes stage will reach an endearing complicity in moments that, without a doubt, will be of special significance for the actor and director from Malaga.

On the occasion of this distinction, the Municipal Archive of Malaga exhibits the Andrés Padrón photographic collection on Antonio Banderas with a series of images that take a tour of the career of the actor from Malaga, stages that are reflected through photographs of filming, promotional images and national premieres. Padrón is a renowned collector who has an archive that has thousands of images and a multitude of media, photographs on paper and film slides. The exhibition will close on Sunday, March 26 and admission is free until capacity is reached.

Banderas, a life dedicated to cinema

Since his arrival in American cinema, Antonio Banderas is undoubtedly one of the most important international actors of his generation. He has received excellent reviews for his performances in film, television and theater, as well as behind the camera as a film director. In 2005, he was honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He made his directorial debut with Crazy in Alabama, starring Melanie Griffith. His second feature film, The Way of the English, is a coming-of-age story that follows first loves and obsessions during a friends' vacation in the late 1970s.

In 2003, Banderas earned a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his Broadway debut in the production Nine from the Roundabout Theater Company, directed by David Leveaux, a musical inspired by the film 8 ½ by Fellini. He also received the Drama Desk Award, New York Critics Circle Award, Drama League Award, and Theater World Award for his performance in the musical.

Banderas has worked with some of the best directors and actors in Hollywood such as Desperado, by Robert Rodríguez, with Salma Hayek; The Mexican, con Johnny Depp; Original sin, con Angelina Jolie; Evita, by Alan Parker, with Madonna, for which he received his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor; The mask of Zorro, by Martin Campbell, with Catherine Zeta-Jones, for which he received his second Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, and its sequel, The legend of Zorro; Interview with the vampire, by Neil Jordan, with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt; Philadelphia, de Jonathan Demme, con Tom Hanks y Denzel Washington; The spirit house, by Bille August, with Meryl Streep and Glenn Close; y Femme Fatale, by Brian de Palma. He was nominated for the third time for the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his performance as the infamous Pancho Villa in the release of Introducing Pancho Villa the HBO and 2003.

Born in Malaga, Banderas studied at the School of Dramatic Arts in his hometown, and upon graduating he began his career as an actor working in a small theater company based in that city. He later moved to Madrid and became a member of the company of the prestigious National Theater of Spain.

In 1982, Pedro Almodóvar gave him a role in Labyrinth of passions. It was the first of the seven films he would make with the writer and director from La Mancha. Others were Matador, The law of desire, Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown y Adam!. The international success of these films led him to Hollywood. He is also the protagonist of The skin I live in y The passing lovers, also written and directed by Almodóvar.

His filmography also includes: Automata, Knight of Cups, The Expendables 3, SpongeBob SquarePants Out of Water, Machete Kills, Justin and the Sword of Courage, Ruby, the Girl of My Dreams, Indomitable, Black Gold, The Desert Prince, Puss in Boots, You'll Meet the Man of Your Dreams, The God Particle, The Other Man, Shrek 2: Back to a Fairy Tale, Shrek the Third, Shrek 4, Happily Ever After, the Spy Kids trilogy, Rhapsody in Miami, Four Rooms, Assassins, Never talk to strangers, Two Much, The 13th warrior, Until the last round y Enemies: Ecks vs. Sever.

Banderas also stars Los 33, directed by Patricia Riggen, alongside Juliette Binoche and Rodrigo Santoro. Banderas' upcoming projects include the Simon West action film, Salty, con Olga Kurylenko; Black Butterfly, with Piper Perabo and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Alan Derroche's action film, Security. He has recently participated in the production of Stoic, by Isaac Florentine, with Paz Vega, Karl Urban and Robert Forster.

He will soon be the protagonist of Beyond The Edge, by Aleksandr Boguslavskiy, and Andrea Bocelli's biopic, The Music of Silence, by Michael Radford.