John Leguizamo

“I always wanted my kids to be proud of their heritage.”

“I'd love to do some period pieces and some historic work; I just feel like no one's tapped into Latin history and Latin contributions to the making of America, and we've been there over 500 years.”

“I feel American comedy is a little too light. World cinema, and Latin cinema, is much more comfortable with darker emotions.”

“He wanted to be a lawyer, couldn't afford it, so he started dealing to go to college - good intention.”

“At Murry Bergtraum High I wanted to be as different from my father as possible. So I acted out in school, I was very anti-authority.”

“I like drama. I love being in a drama where I get to be the funny guy. That's what I really love the most.”

“Marriage is wild. I thought it was this perfect land of happiness and joy. Wrong! After you say you do, you don't for a long time.”

“To be a comedian, you gotta jokesmith, there's no way around it.”

“I see the new Latin artist as a pioneer, opening up doors for others to follow. And when they don't open, we crowbar our way in.”

“Why is the world that I see around me mixed, and why is the world I see in movies filled with all white people? Why does it have to be like that?”

“Work for work's sake doesn't thrill me, but when I'm in the zone, I'm creative, and the expression is free.”

“I've never really thought of myself as just an actor; I always thought of myself as aspiring to be an artist, and an artist has to take risks and put himself on the line.”

“Every dad who loves his daughter is not going to want her to go with the penniless slacker loser poet bum, when she could go out with someone who's successful.”

“My parents were incredibly strict, almost military style.”

“You think you've done it all, and then you realize, 'No, there's so much more to do.'”

“Chopin or Billy Eckstine or Miles Davis - that stuff helps me, more when I've already written and I need a little energy to keep editing.”

“I was always writing. I was writing in high school because it was a really competitive school for class clowns; I used to have to write all of my snaps and my disses the night before and then act like I was making it up the next day.”

“We need to stand up and become a united front against a common enemy. It's important for us to not be divided.”

“Facebook I would've liked, but I made a huge mistake, and I made it a public page, and it didn't work out for me. I just put my name on it, and I didn't know how Facebook worked.”

“I have huge respect for whistle-blowers, people who stand up against their bosses and losing their careers, just for truth and justice.”