John Leguizamo Biography

John Alberto Leguizamo (born July 22, 1964) is a Colombian American actor, comedian, voice actor, producer and screenwriter.

Early life

John Leguizamo was born in Bogotá, Colombia, to Alberto and Luz Leguizamo. According to Leguizamo, his paternal grandfather was of Puerto Rican and Italian descent and his maternal grandfather was Lebanese. Leguizamo has also described himself as being of Amerindian and Mestizo heritage. Leguizamo's father was once an aspiring film director and studied at Cinecittà, but eventually dropped out due to lack of finances. When Leguizamo was four years old, his family emigrated to the United States and lived in various neighborhoods of Queens in New York City, including Jackson Heights.

He later credited growing up as one of the first Latino children in his Jackson Heights neighborhood as formative in his acting ability: "It was tough. There were lots of fights. I would walk through a park and be attacked, and I had to defend myself all the time. But this helped me to become funny so that I wouldn't get hit." Leguizamo attended the Joseph Pulitzer Middle School (I.S.145) and later the Murry Bergtraum High School. As a student at Murry Bergtraum, Leguizamo wrote comedy material and tested it out on his classmates. He was voted "Most Talkative" by his classmates. After graduating from high school, he began his theater career as an undergraduate at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts from which he eventually dropped out in favor of a career in stand-up comedy. Post NYU Leguizamo enrolled at Long Island University C.W. Post Campus where he took theater classes.

Career

Early career

Leguizamo started out as a stand-up comic doing the New York nightclub circuit. In 1984, he made his television debut with a small part in Miami Vice. His other early roles include: an extra in Madonna's Borderline video (1984) playing a friend of Madonna's boyfriend; Mixed Blood (1985); Casualties of War (1989); a terrorist in Die Hard 2 (1990); Hangin' with the Homeboys (1991); the robber in Regarding Henry (1991) and Night Owl (a.k.a. Nite Owl) (1993), which was filmed from 1989"1991.

Film

In 1992, he starred in "Whispers in the Dark" as John Castillo. In 1993 Leguizamo was offered the lead part as Luigi in the film Super Mario Bros., based on the Mario video game franchise. Despite being considered a critical and financial failure universally, the film started his acting career in Hollywood and became one of his memorable roles. It also provided a boost to his career, allowing him to appear in better comedic roles in the following years, which helped the film reached its cult film status among his fans. That same year, he had a prominent role in Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way as Carlito Brigante's (Al Pacino) nemesis, "Benny Blanco from the Bronx," which also boosted his career in serious roles.

Leguizamo also starred in [[Romeo + Juliet]] as Tybalt Capulet, as Violator in Spawn, Cholo in Land of the Dead and Pestario 'Pest' Vargas in The Pest. In 1995, he starred as drag queen Chi-Chi Rodriguez in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar and in the 1996 action film Executive Decision as Captain Rat. In 2002, he starred in the movie Empire.

In 2000, Leguizamo played two genies in the Emmy Award winning miniseries Arabian Nights.

To promote the 2001 movie Moulin Rouge!, he appeared on a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Kelly Ripa, Kevin Sorbo, Alfre Woodard, Martin Short and Chevy Chase. Appearing as the first celebrity to sit in the hot seat, he eventually tried for $125,000, but got the answer wrong. Later in 2002, on the syndicated version, a question about the movie featured his character and Meredith Vieira mentioned that Leguizamo had played Lautrec and had been on the show.

In 2002 he voiced Sid the Sloth for the film Ice Age, reprising the role for the sequels Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Ice Age 4: Continental Drift. The game versions of the films also used his voice. In 2003, he voice-acted Globox from Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. Leguizamo portrayed Paul in the Brad Anderson thriller film Vanishing on 7th Street.

Television

In 1995 Leguizamo created, produced, wrote, and starred in the 1995 Latino-oriented variety show called House of Buggin' on Fox Television. Some audiences saw this as the Latino version of In Living Color. The show showcased Leguizamo's well-known ability to assume a wide variety of colorful, energetic characters, but due to poor ratings the show ran less than one season.

During the 2005"06 television season, Leguizamo joined the cast of the show ER, playing the emotionally disturbed Dr. Victor Clemente, a new attending who is keen on introducing the staff of County General to better ways of treating patients and cutting-edge technology. Clemente, however, was plagued with personal problems and was fired from the hospital near the end of the season. Dr. Clemente's departure from the show was a blessing for Leguizamo. He revealed to CraveOnline that he was not happy working on the television program. "I was depressed doing ER," he admitted, "I started gaining weight, I was eating donuts, I started smoking again. I'm eating McDonald's, things that I know when I'm depressed I do. I tried to kill myself internally."

In 2005, he guest starred on Dora the Explorer as Captain Pirate Piggy. In 2006, Leguizamo starred in the television pilot for Edison, a 2006 CBS drama about an Los Angeles detective (played by Leguizamo) who relied on impersonations and disguises to solve crimes. Other cast members included Currie Graham and Deidrie Henry. Kevin Rodney Sullivan directed from a script by Ron Milbauer and Terri Hughes. Leguizamo and David Hoberman also served as executive producers.

In July 2007, Spike TV aired their drama series The Kill Point, starring Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg and Michael Hyatt. The show was an eight-part series revolving around ex-war veterans whose bank robbery went wrong, thus ending in a hostage situation. Despite high ratings, The Kill Point was not renewed for a second season.

In 2010, Leguizamo also guest starred on The Electric Company as himself, rhyming about commas and quotation marks.

In 2012, Leguizamo was cast as Derek Trotter in the American remake of the British BBC sitcom, Only Fools and Horses.

Broadway and theater

In 1991, he also wrote and took part in the Off-Broadway production Mambo Mouth, where he played seven different characters. Mambo Mouth won an Obie Award and an Outer Critics Award. He was listed as one of 12 "Promising New Actors of 1991" in "John Willis' Screen Worlds Vol. 43".

In 1993, Leguizamo wrote and participated in Spic-O-Rama, where he made fun of the stereotyping of Latinos in the United States. The production won a Drama Desk Award and four Cable ACE Awards. Both Mambo Mouth and Spic-O-Rama were later filmed for presentation on HBO.

In 1998, he debuted on Broadway in the production of Freak, a semi-autobiographical one-person play also recorded for release in the year 2000 on HBO, with Spike Lee sitting in as director. The show won him the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show.

In 2002, he wrote and performed in Sexaholix... A Love Story which explained his love life and how he started his own family.

In June 2010, Leguizamo opened his semi-autobiographical one-man theater show, Klass Klown (later renamed Ghetto Klown), based on his memoir Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends: My Life. After the show ran at various theaters in the United States and Leguizamo performed an 'unplugged' version of it under the title John Leguizamo Warms Up at a Chicago theater, it opened on Broadway in March 2011 at the Lyceum Theatre. The show, about Leguizamo's path from obscurity to stardrom, opened to many positive reviews and was extended through July 10, 2011. A CD of the show was released. In 2011, Leguizamo received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for his performance in the show. In September 2011, Leguizamo began an international tour of Ghetto Klown in Los Angeles. On July 13, 2012, PBS debuted Tales From a Ghetto Klown, a documentary about Leguizamo's life and the show's development.

On record

John Leguizamo LIVE (2001) on RCA Records. The live CD features the best of Leguizamo's stage routines at the time. Leguizamo gives his audience a primer on the history and culture of Latinos in America. The story starts with the dubious tale of the mating of an Inca princess with a Spanish conquistador, thus creating the original dysfunctional Latin family with Leguizamo providing all the voices.

The CD includes a musical intermission, with two salsa/hip-hop tunes, "The Night Before Christmas" and "Gotta Get Some". The Mac-and-PC compatible enhanced CD includes footage from John on tour at various US locations and two interactive games; "Spanish Fly Pick-Up Line", which lets the person at the keyboard click to choose an appropriate response to a number cheesy pickup lines, delivered by an animated version of Leguizamo, and "Six Degrees of Leguizamo", a drag-and-drop brain-teaser modeled on the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" phenomena. The number of correct answer sequences to this game attest to the Leguizamo's prolific career.

Personal life

Leguizamo married Justine Maurer on June 28, 2003, in a Catholic-Jewish ceremony. They have two children, daughter Allegra Sky (born in 1999) and son Lucas Ryder (born in 2000), and live in Manhattan. In 2008, Leguizamo received the Rita Moreno HOLA Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA). He was a recipient of the 2011 Made in NY Award from the City of New York.

Ethnicity

On June 10, 2011, Alberto Leguizamo, John's father, declared in an interview published in a New York Hispanic newspaper El Diario Newspaper, that he (the father) was not Puerto Rican, that he is Colombian and therefore his son (John) was not half Puerto Rican as he has always stated. John Leguizamo had always declared that he was Puerto Rican on his father's side which was one of the reasons that he was selected as the Puerto Rican Day Parade Global Ambassador of the Arts. In response to his father's allegations, Leguizamo stated that his grandfather was of Puerto Rican descent. A spokesman for the National Puerto Rican Day Parade has stated that Leguizamo would not be stripped of his ambassadorship. Leguizamo marched in the parade on June 12, 2011.

Memoirs

In October 2006, Leguizamo's memoir, Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends: My Life, was released. During an interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Leguizamo stated that his memoir was very frank about odd experiences involving other celebrities and co-stars he had worked with. He stated that working with Arnold Schwarzenegger on Collateral Damage was one of the most enjoyable experiences he had as an actor. He also said that Arnold's accent let him say things that others would think were sexist or homophobic if said by someone else, that Steven Seagal was an egotist with diva tendencies, Kurt Russell continuously called him a "faggot", and that Leonardo DiCaprio was a "patron of prostitutes."

As of 2009, Leguizamo has produced over 10 films (including the film Piñero), starred or co-starred in over 75 films, starred on Broadway in several productions winning several awards, made over a dozen TV guest appearances and has helped produce or star in many other similar television shows.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Mixed Blood	Macetero
1989	Casualties of War	PFC Antonio Diaz
1990	Street Hunter	Angel
1990	Gentille Alouette	Ortiz
1990	Revenge	Ignacio
1990	Die Hard 2	Burke
1991	Poison	Chanchi	Credited as Damien Garcia
1991	Hangin' with the Homeboys	Johnny
1991	Out for Justice	Boy in alley
1991	Regarding Henry	Liquor store gunman
1991	NYPD Mounted	Unknown
1992	Puerto Rican Mambo (Not A Musicial)	"Guess my nationality" guy
1992	Whispers in the Dark	John Castillo
1992	Time Expired	Ruby
1993	Night Owl	Angel
1993	Super Mario Bros.	Luigi Mario
1993	Carlito's Way	Benny Blanco
1995	A Pyromaniac's Love Story	Sergio
1995	To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar	Chi-Chi	Nominated " Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor " Motion Picture
1996	Executive Decision	Rat
1996	The Fan	Manny
1996	[[Romeo + Juliet]]	Tybalt Capulet
1997	The Pest	Pestario "Pest" Vargas
1997	A Brother's Kiss	Lefty
1997	Spawn	Violator
1998	Frogs for Snakes	Zip
1998	Body Count	Chino
1998	Freak	Himself	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program
1998	Dr. Dolittle	Rat	Voice
1999	Joe the King	Jorge
1999	Summer of Sam	Vinny
2000	Arabian Nights	Genie
2000	Titan A.E.	Gune	Voice
2000	King of the Jungle	Seymour
2001	Moulin Rouge!	Toulouse-Lautrec
2001	What's the Worst That Could Happen?	Berger
2002	Empire	Victor Rosa
2002	Sexaholix... A Love Story	Himself
2002	Collateral Damage	Felix Ramirez
2002	Zig Zag	Dean Singer
2002	Ice Age	Sid	Voice
2002	Point of Origin	Keith Lang
2002	Spun	Spider Mike
2003	Undefeated	Lex Vargas
2004	Crónicas	Manolo Bonilla
2005	Assault on Precinct 13	Beck
2005	The Honeymooners	Dodge
2005	Land of the Dead	Cholo DeMora
2005	Sueño	Antonio
2006	AKA	Sean Edison
2006	The Alibi	Hannibal
2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown	Sid	Voice
2006	The Groomsmen	T.C.
2007	Where God Left His Shoes	Frank Diaz
2007	The Babysitters	Michael Beltran
2007	The Take	Felix De La Pena
2007	Love in the Time of Cholera	Lorenzo Daza
2008	Paraiso Travel	Roger Pena
2008	The Happening	Julian
2008	Miracle at St. Anna	Enrico
2008	Righteous Kill	Det. Simon Perez
2008	Nothing Like the Holidays	Mauricio Rodriguez
2008	Surviving Sid	Sid
2009	The Ministers	Dante / Perfecto Mendoza
2009	Rage	Jed
2009	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	Sid	Voice
2009	Gamer	Freek
2010	Repo Men	Asbury	Uncredited
2010	Vanishing on 7th Street	Paul
2010	Big Balls	Unknown	Short film
2011	One for the Money	Jimmy Alpha
2011	Fugly!	Jesse
2011	The Lincoln Lawyer	Val Valenzuela
2012	Ice Age: Continental Drift	Sid	Voice
2012	El Paseo 2	Lucho Calvo
2013	Kick-Ass 2	Javier
2013	The Counselor
2013	Don't Break the School	John Isac 'Ezac' Pine Leguizamo, The Dog (voice)
2014	Ride Along		Post-production
2014	Chef		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986"1989	Miami Vice	Ivan Calderone	3 episodes
1991	Mambo Mouth	Various characters
1993	Spic-O-Rama	Various characters
2000"2003	The Brothers Garcia	Narrator	5 episodes
2002	Sesame Street	Himself	1 episode
2004	Dora the Explorer	Silly mail bird	Voice 1 episode
2005"2006	ER	Dr. Victor Clemente	12 episodes
2006	My Name Is Earl	Uncle Diego	2 episodes
2007	The Kill Point	Mr. Wolf	8 episodes
2008	American Buffalo	Walter Cole
2011	Ghetto Klown	Himself
2012	Kings Of Van Nuys	Del Boy	Unaired Pilot
2013	American Dad!	Luis Ramirez	(voice) "The Full Cognitive Redaction of Avery Bullock by the Coward Stan Smith"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc	Globox	Voice
2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown	Sid	Voice
2009	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	Sid	Voice

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	The Annoying Orange	Jumping Bean	Voice

See also

• Colombian American
• List of notable Colombians
• List of hispanophones