Antonio Banderas' daughter, Stella Banderas, is probably the most important person to the
actor. While not too much is known about her, what we do know is she has grown up to be
gorgeous. With Hollywood icons for parents and grandparents, it's clear that she inherited
her family's good looks.
Stella Banderas' parents, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, met on the set of Two
Much, a 1995 romantic comedy that followed Banderas' character as he tries to date two
sisters at once. However, according to an interview with ABC News, Banderas first saw
the future mother of his child at the 1989 Academy Awards. He told the outlet that he
saw, quote, "[a] beautiful woman with a cream dress [and] pearls."
The Spy Kids star told ABC News:
"It was very, very fast and very compulsive, but we were tied at the time. We just thought
this may be one of those infatuation moments that we have when we shoot movies because
we got to play together [as] a couple."
Back then, Stella's father was married to Ana Leza and her mother was married to Don
Johnson.
While Antonio and Melanie ended their marriage in 2014, the family is still close, and their
daughter Stella is trying to make her own mark on the world.
There's a good reason Antonio Banderas' daughter was named Stella. Banderas and Melanie Griffith
named their daughter together after the actress' beloved acting teacher Stella Adler.
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.
We totally see why Griffith wanted to name her daughter after such a powerhouse. It's
also fitting 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, her studio has produced some of the greatest actors of
all time, including Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty, and Robert De Niro.
Even though Stella is the only daughter of Banderas and Griffith, she isn't the only
kid in the family. Stella 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 even posed together with their famous mother in an ad
in 1998. 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.
While she has a famous family, Stella does a pretty good job of keeping her personal
life private. She doesn't post frequently on Instagram. And, while she appeared on the
red carpet somewhat frequently with her parents as a child, she's pulled out of the spotlight
as she's matured. In general, more is known about her half-sister, Dakota Johnson, especially
since Johnson is often seen with their mother Melanie Griffith in photoshoots.
Banderas did note, however, that she would be attending the 2020 Academy Awards with
her dad, to show support for the actor. In 2019, Stella Banderas also appeared on the
red carpet to honor her famous father as Spanish Vanity Fair's Personality of the Year.
It's rare that you'll find a family quite like Stella Banderas'. 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.
Banderas told the magazine:
"[Melanie] is probably one of my best friends, if not the best friend that I have."
Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas 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."
In 1999, Stella 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. Stella was
3 years old at the time, and Johnson was 9; they played young girls Marilyn and Sondra,
respectively. The film marked Stella's acting debut.
Scoring just 30 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, critics like Roger Ebert said Crazy in Alabama
was, quote, "[an] ungainly fit of three stories that have no business being shoehorned into
the same movie."
It looks like Stella 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. She's going to New York this
summer. She's studying at an acting academy, a prestigious one."
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. And she will have my support in any field that
she decided to go."
Although Stella keeps most of her personal life out of the spotlight, her Instagram account
does seem to reveal one thing: She really likes being outdoors!
She's posted several photos with some amazing views, like one 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.
Stella Banderas also just likes to chill and enjoy the 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.
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.
Madhappy is a fashion brand with a mission to, quote, "make the world a more optimistic
place [by bringing] "impactful products and experiences." All of which help kickstart
conversations about mental wellness.
It seems like Stella has something important in common with her famous grandmother: They
both adore animals!
Stella Banderas' grandmother, Tippi Hedren, originally rose to fame in the 1960s as a
leading actress in some of Alfred Hitchcock's films. 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, Tippi 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. And it looks like loving animals is a family affair!
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."
Stella has modeled for the popular beauty brand Violet Grey. She posted a clip of the
ad on Instagram in 2018, tagging only the brand and using the campaign's hashtag in
her caption. A full video of the ad was made available on YouTube and on the Violet Grey
website.
The ad features Stella in a car lip-syncing to the song, "If You Were Mine" by the band
Ocean Park Standoff featuring Lil Yachty.
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. The brand stated:
"With her apparent beauty and Hollywood lineage, it was only a matter of time before this fresh
face made her debut. We're delighted she chose our new series for the occasion."
Stella continues to follow in her famous father's footsteps. The Mask of Zorro star has released
several popular fragrances over the years, and now Stella Banderas is making her mark
on the perfume industry too.
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."
Beyond being encouraged by her father, Stella has been immersed in perfumes because, as
she says:
"My love for fragrances, the ritual they represent, the power it has to bring you back to earth,
inspired me to create my own."
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