I have no tattoos at all - it was a huge undertaking for me in the '80s to let my parents know I was piercing my ear when I did 'L.A. Law.'
Jimmy Smits
I am a firm believer in education and have worked very hard to tell young Latinos that they must go to college and that, if possible, they should pursue an advanced degree. I am convinced that education is the great equalizer.
You have to find what makes you stable in the storm. Then, no matter what's happening round you, no matter what the hype or the publicity, you can still manage to make leaps in your work as an artist.
My career aspirations as an actor have always been driven foremost by the creative desire to be versatile.
It's less about the physical training, in the end, than it is about the mental preparation: boxing is a chess game. You have to be skilled enough and have trained hard enough to know how many different ways you can counterattack in any situation, at any moment.
I was in Puerto Rico going to school, and it was very jarring for me. 'Traumatic' is the only way that I can say it. Kids were making fun of me: 'Oh, you're a Yankee.' And I acted out a lot. A lot. But looking back, and through a little bit of therapy, everything I am has to do with that time.
It's great to be able to play the 'bad guy' role, because you always get a lot to do, but I'm always looking at the why - how does a person get to that particular point.
Nude scenes aren't fun.
I went to Brooklyn College as an education major. It was a big deal in the family, but really, I was living for Mom and Dad.
Just give me a good role that allows me to hone my craft, and I am a pretty happy camper.
I grew up in New York City, and I've got wonderful memories of the Fourth of July fireworks.
What happens to George Clooney and Bruce Willis is great, but I can't gauge my career by anyone else's.
'West Wing' was a show about politics.
When I grew up, we went to Coney Island and Central Park. We'd find our way to the water and watch the fireworks.
I get my jolt of energy in New York. I get mi familia vibe in New York.
Growing up in New York, we lived all around the city depending on our economic circumstance. I also lived in Puerto Rico for a number of years.
The Fourth of July concert is invigorating in so many ways, in terms of what it feels like to be an American.
Women think the people that I play are smoldering and dangerous. I look in the mirror, and I go, 'I don't get it.'
When I sit down and sign up for something, I vet where the people are coming from.
Everything in moderation, like calories.
I wasn't a great student, but I was interested in this theater thing, and I could spend hours in the library researching why the cuffs in the 18th century had four buttons. It was my handle.
I know it affected me when I saw certain actors growing up. I had a drama teacher that would take us to see plays in New York, and it was seeing James Earl Jones and Raul Julia - I mean, this guy comes from the place my mother comes from. He's doing Shakespeare right now, and it doesn't seem to matter that he has an accent.
All my Latino side is from the Bronx.
Of course you draw from yourself, but the artistic nourishment you want to get is be versatile, do something different, and I think I got a chance to do that in a lot of different ways.
You gotta find that hook so everybody can grab on to it. So that you're true to the culture but, at the same time, how it relates to the larger tapestry.
I've had the good fortune to play characters that have a role-model thing to them.
For minority actors, developing our own projects has to be the eventual path. We have a lot of stories to tell and a really unique voice. But none of that is going to be heard as long as we're just the hired hands, acting.
I think education was the key for me, and that's what I tell kids. That base in the classics gave me something to springboard from, which I wouldn't have had if I'd come out to Los Angeles early and been guest punk of the week on 'Hill Street Blues.'
It's a lot of a workload doing an hour dramatic show. It's just incredible what little time off you get.
As an actor, I just want to keep mixing it up.
I almost feel like sometimes when I'm on location, you miss your home and your family and all that stuff, but it keeps you focused on the work.
There's something so familial and intimate between a boxer and his trainer.
My comfort zone has always been in an ensemble-type atmosphere.
It just makes you feel proud, more than anything else, that the work has in some way transcended itself.
I started out in the theater, and my background is classical. I'd love to be in a film version of a Shakespeare play.
The Latino population has become such a presence. We are part of the American tapestry in a very profound way, in every area you can think of, and are very significant in popular culture.
I've been in California for about 15 years now. You're always in your car and insulated. I miss New York so much.
At first, I took theater courses on the side. Then, theater became my minor; then it was my major.
As an actor, you think to yourself, 'I want to do good work,' but you also want the work that you do to make an impact in some way.
As an actor and as a performer, I've felt that the education system has really helped me in a lot of ways... there was always a teacher or a professor along the way that kept pushing me to the next stage.
Media images are so important to young people feeling positive about themselves.
There's show business, and the business is sometimes in capital letters. You just have to give it your best shot when up at bat.
When you're doing 22 shows on network television, the writers are going on vapors towards the end and, as an actor, you're just trashed by the end.
We're at a point right now in our development in this country - setting the immigration issue aside - that you can't ignore the sheer population of us in metropolitan areas all across the country, of how significant Latino-ness is in the United States.
Latino people have come up to me and said they were motivated to become a lawyer because they saw me play one on TV - and you can't discount how great it is when they tell me I was the first.
There are no right and wrong ways to work in this business, but there are some basic common-sense practices. Work very, very hard and always be prepared; never give up; and once you get the job, give them more than they ever expected: - Shine!
I've been told that I wasn't Latino enough, which was code for 'street' enough.
California has been very good to me in terms of the professional arena.
I've been lucky because I've had wonderful teachers along the way who have nurtured and pushed me to the next level.
I don't want to have the bounds put on me in terms of mediums.
