A bullfighter is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. Torero or toureiro, both from Latin taurarius, are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activity of bullfighting as practised in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Peru, France, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and other countries influenced by Portuguese and Spanish culture. The main performer and leader of the entourage in a bullfight, and who finally kills the bull, is addressed as maestro (master), or with the formal title matador de toros. The other bullfighters in the entourage are called subalternos and their suits are embroidered in silver as opposed to the matador's gold. They include the picadores, rejoneadores, and banderilleros.
Islero was a Miura bull famed for killing the celebrated bullfighter Manolete on August 28, 1947. Bulls from the Miura ranch, located near Seville, Spain, are known for being large and ferocious.
Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez, known as Manolete, was a Spanish bullfighter.
Pedro Romero Martínez was a bullfighter from the Romero family in Ronda, Spain.
Francisco Romero (1700–1763) was a significant Spanish matador. He reputedly introduced the famous red cape (muleta) into bullfighting in around 1726.
José Carlos Frita Falcão, known as José Falcón was a Portuguese matador whose bullfighting career spanned just over a decade. As of 2011, he was the last matador to be killed in the ring.
The Spanish Fighting Bull is an Iberian heterogeneous cattle population. It is exclusively bred free-range on extensive estates in Spain, Portugal, France and Latin American countries where bullfighting is organized. Fighting bulls are selected primarily for a certain combination of aggression, energy, strength and stamina. In order to preserve their natural traits, during breeding the bulls rarely encounter humans, and if so, never encounter them on foot.
Concepción Cintrón Verrill, also known as Conchita Cintrón or La Diosa de Oro, was a Chile-born Peruvian torera, perhaps the most famous in the history of bullfighting. In the ring Cintrón was said to display particular grace, style and bravado, a combination known as duende.
Sidney Franklin was the first American to become a successful matador, the most senior level of bullfighter.
Blood and Sand is a 1941 American Technicolor film drama starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth and Nazimova. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, it was produced by 20th Century Fox and was based on the 1908 Spanish novel Blood and Sand by Vicente Blasco Ibanez. The supporting cast features Anthony Quinn, Lynn Bari, Laird Cregar, J. Carrol Naish, John Carradine and George Reeves. Rita Hayworth's singing voice was dubbed by Gracilla Pirraga.
El Fandi is statistically one of the most skilled matadors in the world. Currently, he is ranked number one among all bullfighters in Spain.
Spanish-style bullfighting is a type of bullfighting that is practiced in several Spanish-speaking countries: Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, as well as in parts of southern France and Portugal. In Colombia it has been outlawed but is being phased out with a full ban coming in effect in 2027. This style of bullfighting involves a physical contest with humans attempting to publicly subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull. The most common bull used is the Spanish Fighting Bull, a type of cattle native to the Iberian Peninsula. This style of bullfighting is seen to be both a sport and performance art. The red colour of the cape is a matter of tradition – bulls are color blind. They attack moving objects; the brightly-colored cape is used to mask blood stains.
Portuguese-style bullfighting differs in many aspects from Spanish-style bullfighting, most notably in the fact that the bull is not killed in front of an audience in the arena. The cavaleiros and the forcados are unique to the Portuguese variety of bullfighting, as well as the participation of horsewomen (cavaleiras) in the routines.
Diego Mazquiarán, often called simply Fortuna, was a Spanish matador.
Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations.
The traje de luces is the traditional clothing that Spanish bullfighters wear in the bullring. The term originates from the sequins and reflective threads of gold or silver. These trajes are based on the flamboyant costumes of the 18th-century dandies and showmen involved in bullfighting, which later became exclusive to the bullfighting ritual. Later adornments include the montera hat, more elaborate embroidery, and decorative accessories.
Julio Aparicio Díaz, also known as Julito Aparicio, is a Spanish bullfighter from Seville. Aparicio made his public début in bullfighting at the age of fourteen in 1984. He was confirmed as a torero, or matador, in 1994.
Mademoiselle V. in the Costume of an Espada is an 1862 oil-on-canvas painting by French artist Édouard Manet. The painting is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, having been acquired in 1929. Manet exhibited the painting at the 1863 Salon des Refusés alongside Jeune Homme en costume de majo and Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe. It is often cited as an example of Manet's work being influenced by Spanish art.
José Luis Vázquez Silva, better known as Pepe Luis Vázquez, the same name that his father had used professionally, was a Spanish bullfighter, the youngest in a bullfighting "dynasty" in Seville that stretches back to the nineteenth century.
Ángel Teruel Peñalver, professionally known as Ángel Teruel, was a Spanish bullfighter, the star of the escalafón taurino in the 1960s and early 1970s.
