Quote

Well I was about to be expelled from school, I had been arrested and a teacher said: Why don't you try acting, instead of distracting the class? Why don't you use your comic talent for something more productive? My maths teacher suggested I do comedy and I decided to have a go. I pursued it after that. I was about 17.

John Leguizamo

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John Leguizamo
Age: 60
Born: 1964
Born: July 22
Actor
Comedian
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Painter
Playwright
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Voice Actor
Bogota
Colombia
John Alberto Leguizamo
Use
Comic
Maths
School
Decided
Expelled
Wells
Instead
Distracting
Well
Talent
Suggested
Trying
Teacher
Arrested
Something
Comedy
Pursued
Class
Productive
Acting
Math

More quotes by John Leguizamo

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Sid [the character from 'Ice Age'] is a prehistoric sloth. Sloths move really slowly and they store food in the cheek pouches. That's where I got the voice that you hear. He had to sound as though he was storing food.
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Latins for Republicans. It's like roaches for Raid.
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I gotta tell, that's one of the things in Hollywood that has not been a barrier. I've gotten lots of offers, and I did try my hand at it, I directed two commercials. I won best commercial of ad week [laughs] on my first try.
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I don't know if tennis players feel like that but when you have a great opponent - although I didn't feel like he [ Ben Mendelsohn ] was an opponent - you just know your game is going to jack up and it's just going to raise the bar. I couldn't wait for that elevation.
John Leguizamo
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The New York Times made you or broke you.
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I would be jokesmithing. I had files with tons of disses that I would try to write as I was on the train going to school.
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My parents were incredibly strict, almost military style.
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I grew up with a lot of cats like that and they always were so surprising, magnetic, and electrifying. You can't be with them too long because they burn you out but the energy, the impulsivity, and the freedom connecting them to their animal energy is just so powerful to watch. It's dangerous to live like that but it's riveting to watch.
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I knew Linda Cardellini from when we did ER together - she was always great, such a cool spirit.
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I've been hurt so many times I don't have the balls for it anymore.
John Leguizamo
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With kids, the days are long, but the years are short.
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I like helping people achieve their dreams just like people helped me.
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I love his [Brad Furman] ferocious desire for perfection and his love of vitality, it feeds me, man. It feeds him and it feeds the whole crew. And he's got huge respect for talent. And that's why talent goes in and gives it 300% percent.
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I'd be terrified even now for a Latin kid wanting to be an actor, but back then? Forget it. They must have thought I was going to be working in restaurants and driving cabs for the rest of my life.
John Leguizamo
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People can be anonymous when they go on blogs and say crazy things that they would never have the courage to say to your face.
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I was just school class clown and that was it. Someday I'll get a job as a cab driver or whatever.
John Leguizamo
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I read that 36% of Latin kids drop out of high school, and we're the most bullied minority in schools right now. And my son had troubles in elementary school. So that made me really question being Latin in the United States.
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It's a product of being an actor, you know? A lot of your work doesn't end up on camera and some of the best things aren't always in the final product. But yeah, a lot of my stuff got cut and it was painful, but I know it was for the better of the movie.
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I had a whole new respect for directors.
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Bryan Cranston is generous, he's funny. When we did a wedding scene [in The Infiltrator ], at the end of the movie with a big set piece, he put the veil off the bride, he put it on, he pretended like we were getting married, he's just a goof.
John Leguizamo