Antonio Banderas and his connection to Semana Santa in Malaga
If you visit Malaga during Semana Santa you might see a familiar figure among the rows of penitents.
Each Palm Sunday, actor Antonio Banderas takes part in one of Malaga’s longest‑standing traditions. He does so not as a tourist but as an active member of a local brotherhood.
Semana Santa in Malaga combines deep local devotion with elaborate processions of floats that wind throughout the city.
The week begins on Palm Sunday and culminates on Easter Sunday, drawing thousands of residents and visitors alike.
The origin of Antonio Banderas’s love for Holy Week traditions
Banderas, who was born in Malaga, is widely known to have a deep connection with the city’s Holy Week celebrations.
For Banderas, participating in Semana Santa is rooted in identity, community and continuity. Speaking to El Mundo, he said: “Holy Week connects me to my homeland, my roots, and my identity.”
Though known worldwide for his film career, he returns each year to Malaga not as a celebrity but as a brother in his cofradía, reaffirming a lifelong connection to his hometown’s heritage.
This sense of belonging has shaped how he engages with the festivities, stressing that the rituals, music and shared work are essential elements of Malaga’s cultural fabric — not mere spectacle.
Antonio Banderas and the Reales Cofradías Fusionadas
The Hollywood actor is deeply involved with the Reales Cofradías Fusionadas, one of the city’s oldest and most storied confraternities.
It arose from the historical mergers of several older brotherhoods, including the Cofradía de la Santa Vera+Cruz and others dating back to the 16th century. Their collective procession on Palm Sunday is one of the most visually striking moments of Malaga’s Holy Week.
This brotherhood participates in multiple processions during Semana Santa, including those on Palm Sunday, Holy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday.
Within this fraternity, Banderas serves as mayordomo del trono (float steward) for the float dedicated to María Santísima de Lágrimas y Favores (Our Lady of Tears and Favours). The image of the Virgin was sculpted in 1982 by Antonio Dubé de Luque to replace an 18th‑century statue lost to fire, and is carried with great reverence each year.
In that role, Banderas helps coordinate the bearers and ensures the float moves safely along its route through Malaga’s narrow streets on Palm Sunday.
Fundación Lágrimas y Favores: a year‑round mission
Banderas’s commitment to Semana Santa extends beyond the processions. In 2010, he founded the Fundación Lágrimas y Favores to bring social purpose to the values of the brotherhood year‑round.
According to the foundation’s official mission, it supports initiatives in education, community care and social justice. This includes scholarship programmes with the University of Malaga, partnerships with health and palliative care organisations, and aid for deprived families.
The foundation’s work has been recognised within religious and cultural contexts, underscoring its role in shaping what Banderas calls a “Semana Santa of the 21st century” that embraces solidarity as much as tradition.
Where can you see Antonio Banderas in procession?
If you’re in Malaga on Palm Sunday, the procession of the Reales Cofradías Fusionadas begins from the Church of San Juan Bautista (pictured below) in the mid‑afternoon and continues into the evening.
Before any procession begins, members of the brotherhood gather inside the church to sing hymns dedicated to their sacred images. Banderas himself has composed music for his brotherhood, contributing personally to its devotional life.
Once the procession is under way, it’s virtually impossible to pick out any one person, including Banderas. That’s because all nazarenos wear identical robes and pointed hoods (capirotes) as an expression of penitence and a symbol of equality before God.
Your best chance of seeing him unmasked is before the procession starts, near the church entrance, or after it ends, when participants remove their hoods.
He is often accompanied by his partner, Nicole Kimpel, and his brother, who also takes part in the procession. That said, it’s far from a tourist spectacle.
What makes Semana Santa in Malaga unique
Malaga’s Holy Week stands out nationally for its dramatic scale, artistic heritage and the number of participating brotherhoods. In fact, there are nine separate confraternities on Palm Sunday alone.
Processions can last for hours, and the city’s historic centre becomes a tapestry of sound, incense and slow‑moving tradition that reflects centuries of religious and cultural evolution.
For visitors, understanding figures like Antonio Banderas in this context adds depth to the experience, revealing that beneath the elaborate floats and costumes lies a deeply lived expression of community identity and devotion.
Daryl is the co-founder of Malaga Guru. He is a copywriter, editor and translator who moved to Malaga over a decade ago, having first fallen in love with the city on his Erasmus year. After working for many years at local expat newspaper SUR in English, Daryl gained expert knowledge in life from the perspective of foreign residents and decided to co-found this site in 2016.