Although Antonio Banderas has led a versatile onscreen career, he experienced ethnic stereotyping and typecasting early in his career.
The Oscar nominee recently recalled being told he could only play “bad guys” due to Hispanic ethnicity, which is why he’s proud of breaking out of that box with his roles in the Zorro and Shrek franchises.
“They said, you are here, like the blacks and the Hispanics, to play the bad guys,” Banderas recalled to The Times. “The problem was a few years later I had a mask, hat, sword and cape and the bad guy was Captain Love, who was blond and had blue eyes. 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.”
After Banderas originated the voice role of the swashbuckling feline in
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