Banderas' fortunes rose with Almodovar's, and the self-deprecating actor showed little concern for his image when he courageously portrayed his first gay character in the director's "Law of Desire" (1987), accepting the passionate kiss of another man as just another day at the office. As a heterosexual who discovers homosexual love for the first time, he was a madman whose maniacal possessiveness leads first to murder, then suicide. Almodovar's next two pictures introduced the charming, heartthrob to American audiences. His Clark Kentish nerd took a back seat to star Carmen Maura in the director's breakthrough "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" (1988), but Banderas was front and center in "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" (1990) as Ricky, the charismatic mental patient who kidnaps, binds and woos a drug-addicted porn star. Though it still possessed Almodovar's unpredictable black humor, this change-of-pace film replaced the director's campy, boisterous hilarity with an anguished—albeit offbeat—romantic heterosexual yearning and provided a stunning showcase for the actors' vulnerable masculinity.

Despite knowing only a handful of English words, Banderas pulled out of Almodovar's "High Heels" (1991) to make his Hollywood debut in "The Mambo Kings" (1992), portraying a soulful Cuban trumpeter who comes to America in the 1950s. When an intensive, crash Berlitz course proved insufficient, the actor had to learn his dialogue phonetically, and audiences came away sensing he had no idea what he was saying. Still, his screen presence was undeniable, and the commercial failure served as a springboard to supporting roles in major productions. In "Philadelphia" (1993), he was cast him Tom Hanks' understanding boyfriend, but in obvious contrast to the highly-charged gay love scenes he'd shot with Almodovar, scenes of non-sexual intimacy did not make the final cut, prompting Hanks to explain weakly: "These guys have been together nine years. They're probably just once-a-weekers." (Neon, January 1999) That year's "The House of the Spirits,” directed by Billie August, featured him as a revolutionary romancing both Glenn Close and Winona Ryder, but "Interview with the Vampire" (1994) gave him better scene-stealing opportunities opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as Old World vampire Armand, a former flame of Cruise and the sexiest vampire of the highly publicized production.

Banderas compromised his rising star by making six movies in 1995, including his first starring turn in an American feature, Robert Rodriguez's "Desperado.” Though he came off well as the shimmering gunslinger in the director's reworking of the low budget success, "El Mariachi" (1992), the physical attraction between the actor and femme lead Selma Hayek could not provide enough juice to make up for the lack of story. He also appeared Rodriguez's segment of the embarrassing "Four Rooms,” played Mia Farrow's lover in "Miami Rhapsody,” busied himself alongside Sylvester Stallone as one of the titular "Assassins,” portrayed the mysterious stranger who sweeps into Rebecca De Mornay's life in "Never Talk to Strangers" and starred opposite future wife Melanie Griffith in "Two Much.” Ridiculously overexposed, Banderas realized he could ill afford to take every role offered, and his relationship with Griffith gave him his first experience of the paparazzi, while the media painted him as a home wrecker (who had left his first wife broken-hearted) and his new amour as a bubblehead.

Banderas got his career back on track as the ubiquitous narrator Che in Alan Parker's long-awaited film version of the stage musical "Evita" (1996). Teamed with Madonna (as Eva Peron), whose public panting after him in "Truth or Dare" (1991) had proved a boon to the then-unknown Spanish actor's career, he displayed an easy charm and a surprisingly supple singing voice, catapulting to the front of the ranks considered for "The Phantom of the Opera" (still in development at Warner Bros.). Opting for quality over quantity, he returned to the multiplexes after a two-year absence as a thief hand-picked to succeed Anthony Hopkins as the masked avenger in "The Mask of Zorro" (1998), joining the august likes of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Tyrone Power as the first Latino to ever play the 19th-century Mexican swashbuckler.

Banderas acquitted himself admirably in his producing and directorial debut, "Crazy in Alabama" (starring Griffith), though its darkly comedic subject matter appealed more to art-house tastes and he cut a fine figure as the Arab lead amidst Vikings in John McTiernan's "The Thirteenth Warrior" (both 1999), which, though appropriately gory, fell short of true epic stature. He then starred with Woody Harrelson as rival boxers in Ron Shelton's "Play It to the Bone" (2000). He was on surer ground as a retired secret agent who must rely on his children to rescue him when he is caught by villains in the appealing "Spy Kids" (2001), directed by old pal Robert Rodriguez. On the other hand, his prodigious talent was virtually wasted in "Original Sin" (also 2001), a would-be steamy adaptation of the novel "Waltz into Darkness" about a man who orders a mail-order bride and then becomes erotically obsessed with her.

In 2002, Banderas reunited with the cast and crew of "Spy Kids" to film "Spy Kids 2: The Island Of Lost Dreams". In "Spy Kids 2,” the Cortez children (Vega and Sabara) set out to save the world from a genetic scientist and rival spy kid, and as expected it was a strong performer at the box office. He was then seen in director Brian de Palma visually arresting noir thriller "Femme Fatale" (2002), which also co-starred Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, a film that drew more than its fair share of negative reviews but was also touted as brilliant cinema in some circles. After a well-received stint on Broadway in "Nine," a musical inspired by Fellini's film "8 1/2" Banderas as a film director in the Fellini mold, the actor next returned to familiar territory for "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" (2003) and reprised his role as El Maiachi for Rodriguez's successful threequel "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" (2003). Tweaking his image as a sexy, macho swashbuckler, Banderas next provided the pitch-perfect voice of the rapier-wielding Puss-in-Boots for the CGI sequel "Shrek 2" (2004). More serious was his turn in "Imagining Argentina" (2004), as an Argentine playwright in Peron-era Buenos Aires who has a preternatural ability to see what will happen to people's loved ones—many of whom are missing, or soon will be—when he looks into their faces and must turn this power inward when his activist journalist wife (Emma Thompson) disappears.

Banderas reprised his role as the titular masked avenger in "The Legend of Zorro" (2005), who becomes pressed to give up his swashbuckling ways and lead a responsible life or lose his wife and child. The long-delayed sequel—released seven years after the original—was a mere shadow of its predecessor, both in terms of thrills and box office dollars. In “Take the Lead” (2006), Banderas tackled the true-life story of ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine, who volunteered his time to teach a group of inner-city hard cases how to dance. Ridiculed at first, Dulaine eventually wins them over with unwavering commitment and dedication, inspiring the class to fuse classic ballroom dancing with hip-hop and participate in a prestigious city dance competition. Meanwhile, Banderas revived Puss-in-Boots for the continuing adventures of the massive green ogre (Mike Myers) and his motley band of friends in “Shrek the Third” (2007).