Other articles by Melissa Renteria:

Sexy content is too mature for teen girls' magazines

Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President

Antonio Banderas has co-starred with Oscar winners, belted out tunes on Broadway and stepped behind the camera to direct.

But it's a smooth-talking, sword-carrying feline that has his fans crazy for more.

"They would stop me in the streets to tell me, 'Oh, we love you in 'Zorro,' " Banderas said, referring to his starring role in 1998's "The Mask of Zorro." (He reprised the role in 2005's "The Legend of Zorro.")

"And now they stop me and tell me, 'Hey, that little thing — do you have him around so we can take him home with us?' " he said in his native Spanish during a telephone interview from Houston, where he was promoting his latest movie, "Shrek the Third," which opened nationwide Friday.

Banderas, 46, first brought the character of Puss in Boots to life in 2004's "Shrek 2" when he was hired to kill Shrek but instead befriended him after a hairball incident in the woods.

The Spanish-born actor, who had never worked in animation, said he was initially reluctant to accept the role of an animated cat because he wasn't sure whether he could act without being seen.

"I got to this country without speaking the language, and, all of a sudden, they (the producers of 'Shrek 2') called me to only use my voice," Banderas recalled.

"At first, it generated some doubts," added Banderas, who made his American movie debut in 1992's "The Mambo Kings," for which he learned his lines phonetically.

When "Shrek 2" filmmakers told him that Puss in Boots would be small enough to sit on Shrek's shoulder, Banderas decided to take the voice in the opposite direction.

Instead of a small voice, Banderas wanted to "make it a voice more arrogant, very Spanish, very seductive."

The contrast of a larger-than-life voice with a tiny body "makes for a lot of humor," he said.

Banderas, who also stars in two other films to be released later this year — "Bordertown," with Jennifer Lopez; and "Homeland Security," with Meg Ryan — has used his distinctive voice to pitch products, including allergy medicine.

The doe-eyed bee in those Nasonex commercials is voiced by Banderas, who wants to put an end to the ongoing debate among bloggers questioning whether it was Banderas or someone impersonating him.

"I'm not only a cat, but I'm also a bee," he said.