63-Year-Old Antonio Banderas Embraces Aging As He Rocks Natural Curly Hair In New Photo

Antonio Banderas graced a Mediterraneo Club event at his Malaga hometown in Spain wearing a different look. The Mask Of Zorro star showed off his graying, natural long locks— a contrast from his short back and sides. He wore a cream-colored shirt over a pair of tan chinos and suede boots, completing the look with a silver crucifix necklace.

Antonio, who released his latest film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, early this year, also opened a restaurant in the same club’s Malaga headquarters in July. The outlet, La Pérgola del Mediterráneo, was privately launched with sixty diners to test the waters.

Antonio’s life-changing illness

In a discussion with Radio Times, Antonio shared how his heart attack from six years ago helped him “recognize what was important” and inspired his last Puss In Boots film. “It probably was one of the best things that happened in my life. It was like putting glasses on and seeing what was important,” he said. “I think it’s a beautiful message, and I think it was done properly.”

His experience also helped him enjoy his career and take acting more seriously. “I came back to Spain and started looking at my professional life from a different point of view… I don’t care about anything else. For me, life starts when somebody says, ‘Action!’– or when the curtain comes up,” he added.

CODE NAME BANSHEE, Antonio Banderas, 2022. © Screen Media Films / Courtesy Everett Collection

His girlfriend saved his life

On an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Antonio thanked his girlfriend, Nicole Kimpel, for saving his life with a maximum-strength aspirin during another health scare. “The next morning, when I started having the symptoms and I clearly knew what was going on, she put one of those aspirins inside of my tongue and that saved my life. So I had a second chance, and some stuff changed in my life, since then,” he recalled.

To live a better life, Antonio quit smoking— a vice he now considers “one of the most stupid things” he has ever done in life. “I was lucky after all because a heart attack can kill you just like this…In a way, it’s one of the best things to happen in my life, to have a heart attack,” he quipped.