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The consummate Hispanic actor has played every type of role imaginable, from the Shakespearean thug to a prehistoric sloth to a fetish- loving New Yorker, in his newest project.

This isn't the first time John Leguizamo has graced the Hispanic magazine cover. In 1992 a twenty- something Leguizamo glared at readers from beside a story that questioned, "Can Hispanics Make it in Hollywood?" It's difficult to remember a time when being a Hispanic in Hollywood was a serious detriment, a time when that question was still relevant. And considering the length, breadth and dimension of Leguizamo's career, it's also difficult to remember a time when the actor, producer, director and animated character was just a blossoming performer. But there was such a time for both. In the early 1990s Leguizamo was blowing people away with his hilarious, if brutally honest, portrayals of his family life in his one-man theater shows Mambo Mouth and Freak. Some of the sketches were autobiographical and others were vignettes of Latino characters, but none were self-indulgent. The shows were created and acted for peers who, it seems, would understand.

Up until Leguizamo, few dared tell Latino-centered stories about when papi cheated on mami or when the belt was the ultimate punitive measure, or even about when there was little money to spread around. These were things best kept private. No one talked about such subjects in public, let alone make jokes about family matters and put them on stage. But what landed Leguizamo in hot water with his family also landed him on HBO, Broadway and ultimately in film. "It was a self-exposé. It was an autobiographical one-man show," he says of his early comedy. And he just didn't know how to be anything other than completely honest. "When I'm creating ... I feel like I am on crusade of truth. I realize I'm doing something really deep. I gotta say, it's not easy. Its kind of tough and it has its consequences. In terms of American comedy history, no one was doing one-man shows like these."

He took inspiration from comedians in the mainstream. "I came in a time when you saw comedians like Lily Tomlin and Spalding Gray and Whoopi Goldberg. These people opened the path for me." And just like those comics, who made the transition from stage to film, he also traveled that path successfully.

Leguizamo spoke with Hispanic via phone from the set of his upcoming film, Humboldt Park, named after a Hispanic area of Chicago. The film, which also stars Alfred Molina, Freddy Rodriguez, and a cast of other Hispanic characters, is a highly anticipated project as bloggers and members of the Chicago Hispanic community eagerly await the film's production.

"It's about three brothers and sisters during Christmas time, when [the character played by] Freddy is coming back from the Iraq," he says. "It's a funky family Christmas movie, but its kind of real. We get together and with that we get all of our family problems out, all the neuroses, the bickering and all that." In the film Leguizamo plays the eldest son, a lawyer, who is in search of his father's approval. It's something many people can relate to and in this case, the story didn't venture far from Leguizamo's own personal family experience, which he has used as fodder for his performances since the beginning. "I understand that," he says.

But there can be a price to be paid for such honesty. After Leguizamo became famous doing his one-man shows incorporating his experiences growing up, holidays and family gatherings became a little edgy.

"It was tense, man. At first it was mad quiet, then people would have a few drinks, and then it would all come out. I have become the whipping boy at family gatherings. Holiday parties are always racked with a lot of emotions, but you love the family ... for a day and a half," he jokes. Even over the phone Leguizamo is quick to make jokes and quick to laugh. He speaks warmly and animatedly. For all the guff he's given his family over the years, Leguizamo himself has become a family man as well. "I love the dad role. It's my favorite role now," he says. A father of two, he is allowing his children to follow in their father's footsteps a bit. When Leguizamo reprises his role as Sid, the talkative sloth, in the third installment of the animated Ice Age, his children will have parts is the short that precedes the film.

"My kids play characters in a kids' camp, and I can say they are naturally gifted." However Leguizamo is quick to point out that he is far from a stage father. "I would rather have them be legit. Actors are like carny folk."

One of the trademarks of Leguizamo's career is the great range of characters he has played. It seems one minute he's the voice of a cartoon character, and the next he's a shady, unseemly character who's into bondage.

His latest film, slated for an April release in the United States, is Paraiso Travel, a dark love story set against the backdrop of illegal immigration. The film is based on the book by Jorge Franco Ramos in which a couple, Reina and Marlon, leaves their native Colombia to travel to New York. The trip is long and bizarre and at times horrific, as they travel the length of Central America into Mexico and then Texas. Once in New York, they get separated, leaving each other with no sense of where they are. Marlon becomes determined to find her and sets out on a voyage to reunite them. Leguizamo is Roger Peña, one in a series of mysterious characters they encounter on their journey.

Leguizamo thinks the political and social climate make it the perfect time for a film like this. "[Immigrant] is a code word for Latinos. They are not talking about the Irish; it's like this racist code. Look at where are they building this wall, its not between the U.S. and Canada." Still, he adds, "This country needs us. It's a fact." Leguizamo is very much a political animal and is not afraid to show it. With a proclivity toward the Democrats, he at first was a supporter of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, but has since moved over to the Obama camp.

"I am for whoever can take America away from the corporations," he says. "At first I thought it would be [Hillary] who could undo what Bush did, then I thought it's Obama who can unify America. I think this is even more important and can change the way other people think."

He'd like to see people change the way they think about immigrants, which is one reason he undertook Paraiso Travel. The film shows the incredible risks some immigrants take to get to the United States, evading authorities and rogue types, putting themselves in harm's way and pitting themselves against nature.

Leguizamo was impressed by the script's rawness and candor. "That's why I think this movie is so incredible," he says. "It's about all these people who came to America and had to hide in logs and take risks."

The character of Roger has a lot to do with Leguizamo's own interpretation. It was he and the film's director Simon Brand who decided to give Roger a darker, richer persona. "I had a great time with Simon Brand ... He is full of ideas," Leguizamo says. "When you are like-minded with the director and really understood each other, you have such a good time. [You have] a chance to have some fun with a movie full of sad moments."

It's not the first time Leguizamo has taken on such a tense movie. In 2004, Leguizamo starred as an ambitious reporter trying to track down an Ecuadorian serial killer of children in Crónicas. His dialogue was in Spanish and English, which proved tricky at the time. Leguizamo, a Colombian native who emigrated with his family to the U.S. when he was 4 years old, is of course a native speaker; but acting in two languages can take its toll. It's one of the reasons his performance in Paraiso Travel is so remarkable. Not only did he transform the character into someone deeper, but he had to do it in Spanish. "I love Spanish- only movies now that my Spanish is catching up to my stepmother tongue English," he says.

Crónicas and Paraiso Travel are part of what Leguizamo has called the New Latin Cinema, a new wave of filmmaking that includes such movies as Pan's Labyrinth, Amores Perros, Y Tu Mamá También, City of God and others. It's fueling Hollywood to rethink its stories and to consider things it hasn't focused on before, he says. But it's Latinos in this country who advance that goal by demanding more of those movies.

"It's our struggle and our advancement in America that has created this hunger and this market," he says. "So we Latins in America should pat ourselves on the back."

But ever the actor, Leguizamo doesn't limit himself solely to Latino films. Two of his other projects might not fit within the realm of New Latin Cinema, but they do seem to meld right in with Leguizamo's quest for deeper works with meaning. The first is The Happening, Leguizamo's first picture with famed thriller director M. Night Shyamalan. Leguizamo plays a math teacher who is best friends with co-star Mark Wahlberg, a science teacher at the same school. The film is scheduled for theatrical release on Friday, June 13. In true mystery movie fashion, the director has kept a close reign of the scripts in hope of preventing leaks. The wish is to present a movie that stuns right from the premise.

"When they tell you that M. Night gives you a script with a watermark, its all true," he says. "Working with him was one of the greatest experiences in my short life. The man is so precise and generous in the way he treats his crew. And he wrote a beautiful piece and it's going to bring him back."

His second project is the independent film Where God Left His Shoes, scheduled for release in September, according to Leguizamo. "It's the true story of the writer/director," he says. "His father lost everything, and this is the story of this family keeping together. It was raw and real and we spent a lot of time together. The cast was like a family."

It's a film close to Leguizamo's heart. He plays the patriarch of a family that finds itself homeless after being evicted. Together the family spends several months in shelters in the hopes of finding something better. When news that an available apartment reaches them, on Christmas Eve, no less, they can see hope within reach. However, the family must show proof of employment by the end of the day in order to claim the apartment. A moving film, it was as hard on the emotions as it was to create.

"We had to film under difficult conditions: a low, low budget and we had an insurmountable amount of locations," he says. "We spent time in a van, we were supposed to be homeless and we had to be in the streets."

Making movies that have an impact is crucial when Leguizamo chooses his roles now. At times he prefers roles that mirror aspects of his own life. At others he searches to explore the unknown. But he always remains cognizant of the audience response, and what watchers may take away with them. "It's definitely about creating high art. At least that's my main goal," he says. "I want to do work the reveals the human condition either, socially, politically or philosophically. I think you can entertain and still enlighten. I think the best movies have always done that."

Source: Hispanic magazine

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