Antonio Banderas' Daughter Has Grown Up To Be Gorgeous
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Antonio Banderas' daughter is probably the most important person to the actor. In 2017, Antonio Banderas survived a heart attack, and he said that the experience made him realize that he needed to prioritize the real things in his life. And at the top of his list? "The real things? Well, my daughter is the real thing," he said on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Antonio Banderas' daughter is Stella Banderas, a young actress and model who's known for being a fairly private person. Not much is known about her, but what we do know is she has definitely grown up to be gorgeous! With her having Hollywood icons for parents and grandparents, it's clear that she's definitely inherited some of her family's good looks.
Stella Banderas definitely has huge shoes to fill when it comes to living up to her family's achievements, but it looks like Stella Banderas is making her own way in the world. So, what has she been doing over the past few years?
Antonio Banderas' daughter is the only child of the actor and this Hollywood star
Stella Banderas' parents, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, met on the set of Two Much, a 1995 romantic comedy that followed Antonio Banderas' character as he tries to date two sisters at once. However, that wasn't the first time they had seen each other. According to an interview with ABC News, Antonio Banderas first saw the future mother of his child at the 1989 Academy Awards. He told the outlet that he saw a "beautiful woman with a cream dress [and] pearls," and asked about her. Six years later, they starred together on Two Much.
"It was very, very fast and very compulsive, but... we were tied at the time," the Spy Kids star said. Back then, Stella Banderas' father was married to Ana Leza and her mother was married to Don Johnson. Antonio noted, "We just thought this may be one of those...infatuation moments that we have when we shoot movies because we got to play together a couple."
What ended up being an on-set fling turned into a nearly 20-year marriage that resulted in the birth of Antonio Banderas' daughter Stella. Yet, their relationship sadly ended in 2014, as noted by TMZ. However, it doesn't seem like there are any hard feelings between the two, as they still hang out as a family, as seen in Stella Banderas' Instagram posts.
This is how Antonio Banderas' daughter got her name
There's a good reason Antonio Banderas' daughter was named Stella. Banderas and Melanie Griffith reportedly named their daughter together after the actress' beloved acting teacher Stella Adler, according to Stella Banderas' IMDb page. Stella's namesake got her start as a young actress and spent time traveling across the world studying acting techniques from other acting icons such as Konstantin Stanislavski and Lee Strasberg before becoming a producer at MGM, according to the studio's website. We totally see why Griffith wanted to name her daughter after such a powerhouse. It's also fitting now to know that Stella Banderas is following in her mother's footsteps by attending the acting school herself, according to InStyle!
Although Adler passed away in 1992, according to the Los Angeles Times, her studio has produced some of the greatest actors of all time, including Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty, and Robert De Niro. Maybe Stella Banderas will follow their examples!
Antonio Banderas' daughter Stella grew up with two older half-siblings
Even though Antonio Banderas' daughter Stella is the only daughter of the actor and Melanie Griffith, she isn't the only kid in the family. According to E! News, she has two older half-siblings from her mother's previous marriages: Alexander Bauer, who was born from Griffith's marriage to Steven Bauer, and Dakota Johnson, who was born from Griffith's marriage to Don Johnson. Dakota is arguably the most well-known out of the three siblings, as she's had mainstream success as an actress in the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, as well as in How to Be Single, Suspiria, and The Peanut Butter Falcon.
It seems that Griffith exposed Stella and her siblings to the entertainment industry from an early age, as all three siblings even posed together with their famous mother in an ad in 1998, as shown in one of Griffith's Instagram posts. In the advertisement, Griffith poses while holding Stella, her youngest child, in her arms while Johnson and Bauer sit next to her. While her mom and siblings have milk mustaches, baby Stella drinks milk from a bottle. Maybe this photoshoot gave her the modeling bug!
Antonio Banderas' daughter keeps her personal life under wraps
While she has a pretty famous family, Antonio Banderas' daughter Stella does a pretty good job of keeping her personal life private. She doesn't post very frequently on Instagram, and, when she does, she usually adds fairly non-specific captions. And, while she appeared on the red carpet somewhat frequently with her parents as a child, she's seemed to have pulled back out of the spotlight as she's gotten older. In general, more is known about her half-sister, Dakota Johnson, especially since Johnson is often seen with their mother Melanie Griffith in photoshoots (via Vanity Fair).
Stella's father, Antonio Banderas, did note, however, that she would be attending the 2020 Academy Awards with him, along with her boyfriend (who, as of this writing, hasn't been featured on her personal Instagram page), to show support for the actor, as reported by Hola. In 2019, Stella Banderas also appeared on the red carpet to honor her famous father as Spanish Vanity Fair's Personality of the Year, as noted by Hola.
Maybe we'll be seeing more of Stella on the red carpet in the future!
Antonio Banderas' daughter maintains a close relationship with both of her parents
It's rare that you'll find a family quite like Stella Banderas' one. For starters, even though her parents are divorced, they still consider each other family. In an interview with Vulture, the Puss in Boots actor said that it doesn't matter what their relationship status is or who is whose kid, they're still a family. "[Melanie] is probably one of my best friends, if not the best friend that I have," he said. He even considers Dakota Johnson and Alexander Bauer to be just as much his children as Stella is.
Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas even regularly show love for each other and their daughter on social media, like when Griffith celebrated Banderas' Oscar nomination in January 2020. Antonio Banderas' daughter Stella has also posted at least one photo of them hanging out together at home, which she captioned, "Fam."
Antonio Banderas' daughter had a part in this 1999 film
In 1999, Antonio Banderas' daughter had a minor role in Crazy in Alabama, a film that starred her mother, was directed by her father, and also featured her half-sibling Dakota Johnson. The film follows, in part, Melanie Griffith's character as she moves to California to become a movie star after poisoning her abusive husband. Stella Banderas, who was 3 years old at the time, and Johnson, who was 9 years old, played young girls Marilyn and Sondra, respectively. The film is the first acting credit Stella ever received, which is to be expected since she was so young at the time.
The film itself didn't get the greatest of reviews, though. Scoring just 30 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, critics like Roger Ebert said that the film was an "ungainly fit of three stories that have no business being shoehorned into the same movie." However, Ebert said that Antonio Banderas did a "competent" job as a director, but noted it was just that the film's intertwined stories that made for a confusing program to watch. Still, we'd bet Stella — and her family — is proud of her work on the movie given her age!
In 2018, Antonio Banderas' daughter began her acting career the right way
It looks like Antonio Banderas' daughter might be following in her famous parents' footsteps!
In an interview with Access Live's Natalie Morales and Kit Hoover in June 2018, the budding actress' dad chatted about the surprisingly traditional route that Stella Banderas took with her acting education. "I think she's initiating it ... in the right way, you know," he told the hosts. "[Stella is] going to New York this summer. She's studying at an acting academy, a prestigious one — at Stella Adler. She wanted to explore that territory, and she's doing it in the way I think you should do it." He went on to say that attending an acting school like Stella Adler's meant that Stella Banderas would be putting in a lot of hard work and engaging in a lot of self-reflection. "She's a very conscious, serious girl," he added.
When asked whether or not he and his ex-wife, Melanie Griffith, wanted their daughter to go into the acting business, Antonio Banderas replied with what might be the best parenting line ever. "I want her to do what she really feels," he said. "And she will have my support in any field that she decided to go [into]. ... I want my daughter to be a free, independent woman." Clearly Stella Banderas has the best dad ever!
Antonio Banderas' daughter enjoys spending time in the great outdoors
Although Antonio Banderas' daughter keeps most of her personal life out of the spotlight, her Instagram account does seem to reveal one thing: Stella Banderas really likes being outdoors! She's posted several photos of her outside with some seriously amazing views, like one photo she took at Woody Creek Canyon in Colorado. It seems she enjoys traveling a lot. She's posted quite a few photos of her home country of Spain, and we especially love one cute post of her father posing in front of La Sagrada Familia, a huge church that's been under construction for decades, according to Time.
On top of traveling, though, it seems like Stella Banderas also just likes to chill and enjoy the great outdoors. We're definitely loving the calm vibes given off by one particular Instagram post in which she filmed the sky and trees and you can hear the faint sounds of a wind chime in the background.
After seeing all of these artsy posts, we can't help but wonder if a future in photography or cinematography is in the cards for Stella Banderas...
Antonio Banderas' daughter modeled for a brand that advocates for mental health
While she doesn't post a ton on Instagram about her personal life, Antonio Banderas' daughter shared quite a bit about her professional life as a model and an actress. In October 2018, Stella Banderas posed for the brand Madhappy. Staying true to her minimalistic social media style, she posted the photo without a caption and with only the tags for the image's photographer and the brand.
Even though Stella didn't say anything about the brand in the post, just posing for a forward-thinking label like Madhappy leads us to believe that she's also an advocate for mental health. After all, Madhappy, according to its website, is a fashion brand with a mission to "make the world a more optimistic place" by bringing "impactful products and experiences" that help kickstart conversations about mental wellness. No matter why she signed on to work with Madhappy, it's clear Stella is making moves in the modeling world.
Is Antonio Banderas' daughter a younger version of her grandmother, Tippi Hedren?
It seems like Antonio Banderas' daughter has something important in common with her famous grandmother: They both adore animals! Stella Banderas' grandmother originally rose to fame in the 1960s as a leading actress in some of Alfred Hitchcock's films, as noted by Biography. In the first decade of her career, she established herself as an advocate for animal welfare and wildlife conservation with the founding of the Shambala Preserve in Southern California in the 1970s. In the 1980s, she continued her work with animals — exotic cats in particular — by expanding the Shambala Preserve into the Roar Foundation. Hedren was also famous for having a 400-pound lion live in her home, according to Time. And it looks like loving animals is a family affair!
While we're speculating from Stella Banderas' Instagram, it seems like she is specifically devoted to one particular little animal — her dog. We don't know the dog's name or what kind of dog it is, but it's definitely super cute and seems to have Banderas wrapped around its finger. In one Instagram post, she captioned a photo of her sleeping pup, "The light of my life." In another Instagram post, she called her dog her "little love."
Antonio Banderas' daughter has modeled for this popular beauty brand
Antonio Banderas' daughter has modeled for the popular beauty brand Violet Grey. Stella Banderas posted a clip of the ad on Instagram in 2018, tagging only the brand and using the campaign's hashtag in her caption. And a full video of the ad was made available on YouTube and on the Violet Grey website. The ad is of Stella Banderas in a car lip-syncing to the song "If You Were Mine" by the band Ocean Park Standoff featuring Lil Yachty. Stella definitely looks to be living her best life while posing for the camera and mouthing the words to this super fun song, giving off young Hollywood vibes. And Stella Banderas looks like a natural in front of the camera.
Violet Grey also nodded to Stella's family history in the description of the ad on its website, and noted that this is one of her first campaigns ever. "With her apparent beauty and Hollywood lineage, it was only a matter of time before this fresh face made her debut," the brand stated. "We're delighted she chose our new series for the occasion." And, of course, Banderas looked amazing!
Antonio Banderas' daughter entered the fragrance industry
Antonio Banderas' daughter continues to follow in her famous father's footsteps. The Mask of Zorro star has released several popular fragrances over the years, as per Fragrantica, and now Stella Banderas is making her mark on the perfume industry too. Hola! reports that Lightbound is a collection of natural, hand-crafted scents. The first release, The Soul, is described as being inspired by Easter, from burning incense to making desserts with vanilla overtones. Stella chose Easter as the focus because of how popular the holiday is in Spain, a country with which she feels a profound connection.
She noted, "As a writer, perfumer, naturalist and practitioner of yoga and reiki I wanted to create a space where I could combine all these interests and offer ways to find the balance of the soul, body and earth." The daughter of the Malaga-born actor advised she's been collecting perfumes forever. She noted, "My love for fragrances, the ritual they represent, the power it has to bring you back to earth, inspired me to create my own." The budding artist can be proud of the two years she spent crafting the fragrance.