John Leguizamo

John Leguizamo Trivia and Quotes

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Trivia

  • His nickname is Johnny Legs. []
  • John did the voice of Globox in the videogame , Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. []
  • John is sponsored by Hennessey, coming out with the tagline "Puro Character" (Pure Character). []
  • John enrolled in Sylvia Leigh's Showcase Theater paying his tuition with a job at KFC. []
  • John divorced his wife Yelba Matamoros in 1996, claiming she abused his dog, cut off sex, and assaulted him. []
  • John immigrated from Colombia to the United States with his family when he was barely three years old. []
  • John made his tv debut, in a small part on Miami Vice in 1984. []
  • John is an an avid baseball fan, his favorite team is the New York Mets. []
  • John has two children, a daughter named Allegra Sky (born 1999) and son named Ryder Lee (born 2000). []
  • John enrolled at New York University where he ended up taking theater classes. []
  • John was voted "Most Talkative" by his fellow classmates in high school. []
  • John attended Murry Bergtraum High School, in Queens, New York. []
  • John is of Colombian-Puerto Rico descent. []
  • He played a soldier in the 1989 movie Casualties of War, which starred Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn. []
  • Has 2 tatoos: An Aztec design on his right bicep, and a spiderweb on the left side of his chest. []
  • Does the voice of Sid in the movie Ice Age (2002) []
  • He jokingly refers to his children as "Jew-O-Ricans." []
  • John Leguizamo was in Ice Age 2: The Meltdown as Sid. Ice Age 2 was released in March 2006. []
  • He once said, "People tell me because I'm light-skinned, 'Don't limit yourself by being Hispanic.' I'm like, 'Yo, I don't see it as a limitation.' " []
  • He said in a 1993 Vogue article that he had an overbite as a child. "People used to tell me, close your mouth, you'll scratch the floor." []
  • He played one of the Cartoonis who fell for Tiff (Sloth Child) in Kirby: Right Back at Ya. []
  • John had his own stand up special called Sexoholic. []
  • John says, "I'm pretty scrappy. I have a crazy-hard right that can knock people out!" []
  • His height is 5 foot 8 inches. []

Quotes

  • John: (On improvising in films) I always improvise, you know. That's my thing. Luckily, I'm a writer, so I always try...If there's great writing, improvising just adds a little bit more to it. Just takes it to another level. 'Cause an actor, believe it or not, really knows his character more than anybody else, even more than the original writer. Even more than the director. At some point, we know that character better than anybody else. Especially if you connect with it, and it's infinite possibilities that can come out of you. And I think the better directors know that they have final cut, and the more they let you go, the more choices they're gonna have in the editing room to create a performance or to change things. I mean, you just give them crazy choices and they can do whatever. A smart director, the more confident ones who have experience, know that in the editing room, it's all theirs. It's not a problem. It's the newer cats who haven't had experience who are sometimes a little too precious about their own words. []
  • John: I loved working on Carlito's Way, with Brian De Palma - it was so exciting and the first time I really understood what film acting was for me. []
  • John: 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. []
  • John Leguizamo: I love that toilet scene. That toilet scene really encapsulates my character. It was things you never seen [in a movie]. []
  • John: (On creating his character in "Assault on Precinct 13") I do that all the time, but it really came together nicely in this one because I understood this character and what I wanted to do [right]. Because he was written as a heroine addict and kind of non-descript, and I really wanted to show that you know, you can really… First of all, you can be from the streets and be really bright. Secondly, addicts all have a great past and a great story to them, and that’s what I tried to bring this guy. He was ghetto street, but really bright and ambitious. []
  • John: In entertainment we need more Latin people in the decision making process, and I want to see a Latin president with a cigar fetish. []
  • John: That's my philosophy, offend them all equally. You know we all have something wrong with us. []
  • John: (On Sid the Sloth) I feel so excited when I saw Sid married to the voice and you couldn't tell it was me. I mean it was divorced of me, it was just this one thing and that's all you saw. []
  • John: (On Sid the Sloth) I feel so excited when I saw Sid married to the voice and you couldn't tell it was me. I mean it was divorced of me, it was just this one thing and that's all you saw. []
  • John: (On his one man shows) They got harder, but I also enjoyed them more. I mean it became more taxing on my body because they're so physical and I'm not the spry young man I used to be. So no, I've had like a lot of knee trouble and I tore my hamstring right before the show, and then I had rotator cuff problems, because I'm just doing the same movement every day and I'm dealing with the adrenaline, with the audience laughing. All of a sudden I'm doing a lot more. I mean you start throwing yourself around in ways that you're not aware that you're hurting yourself. Doing that same thing every day just wrecked my body. []
  • John: (On his one man shows) You don't get any feedback, it's a lot of rehearsal and a lot of writing and that's really freakin' lonely and touring by yourself; the one-man show is such a lonely, lonely freakin' thing. []
  • John: (On Sid the Sloth) I did 30 voices for them and none of the voices were working. Sloths are hard because, first of all, they have no emotion [and they're] so slow, so I started to do all of the typical voices that suited him and that wasn't working. I tried high-pitched voices … And so I said send me some Discovery Channel sloth footage and I watched that, you know, I watched four hours of that. And then eventually … before I turned it off, the narrator said that they stored food in their cheeks. I was going stored food in their cheeks? Why would they store food in their cheeks? And I all of a sudden I started working on that, and that's how I got the voice finally. []
  • John: (On mostly playing supporting roles) Because you get to be free. Not that there's a problem with being the leading man, but the leading roles are always tough. It's hard. It's a really hard thing to do right, to get right, and it's not as fun to be the leading man. Being a supporting actor you have no responsibility. You just go there to play and have a really great time. And you have a really great time. You just go home and you enjoy everybody. When I'm the lead in a movie, you don't sleep, you focus on every aspect of the movie and it's a huge responsibility. And there aren't that many great leading parts, either. There are more, better written supporting parts than there are leading parts. []
  • John: I love independent films, it's the only place as an actor your totally allowed to breathe. Your not following the plot, or the next action beat, or promoting some big dumb movie. Independent film is for actors that love to act. There's more interesting storytelling. It's not about a paycheck, that's for damn sure []
  • John: 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. []
  • John: Comics are much smarter than actors. Most comedians come from a hard life, and have to struggle a lot. You have to have a lot of skills. When you can hone all of that, and act, you're going to blow the world away. []

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