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.

Jimmy Smits

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

Undertaking UN Too

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.

Jimmy Smits

Work Great Education

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.

Jimmy Smits

Work Art Age

My career aspirations as an actor have always been driven foremost by the creative desire to be versatile.

Jimmy Smits

Car Ways Way

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.

Jimmy Smits

Mom Men You

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.

Jimmy Smits

Time You Ya

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.

Jimmy Smits

Great Art You

Nude scenes aren't fun.

Jimmy Smits

UN T Scenes

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.

Jimmy Smits

Mom Family Education

Just give me a good role that allows me to hone my craft, and I am a pretty happy camper.

Jimmy Smits

Good Us T

I grew up in New York City, and I've got wonderful memories of the Fourth of July fireworks.

Jimmy Smits

Work York Works

What happens to George Clooney and Bruce Willis is great, but I can't gauge my career by anyone else's.

Jimmy Smits

Great Car Will

'West Wing' was a show about politics.

Jimmy Smits

Politics Wing Win

When I grew up, we went to Coney Island and Central Park. We'd find our way to the water and watch the fireworks.

Jimmy Smits

Work Works Way

I get my jolt of energy in New York. I get mi familia vibe in New York.

Jimmy Smits

York Vibe T

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.

Jimmy Smits

York Years Year

The Fourth of July concert is invigorating in so many ways, in terms of what it feels like to be an American.

Jimmy Smits

Ways Way Tin

Women think the people that I play are smoldering and dangerous. I look in the mirror, and I go, 'I don't get it.'

Jimmy Smits

Women Men Anger

When I sit down and sign up for something, I vet where the people are coming from.

Jimmy Smits

Where Vet Up

Everything in moderation, like calories.

Jimmy Smits

Very Thing Thin

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.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

All my Latino side is from the Bronx.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

I've had the good fortune to play characters that have a role-model thing to them.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

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.'

Jimmy Smits

It's a lot of a workload doing an hour dramatic show. It's just incredible what little time off you get.

Jimmy Smits

As an actor, I just want to keep mixing it up.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

There's something so familial and intimate between a boxer and his trainer.

Jimmy Smits

My comfort zone has always been in an ensemble-type atmosphere.

Jimmy Smits

It just makes you feel proud, more than anything else, that the work has in some way transcended itself.

Jimmy Smits

I started out in the theater, and my background is classical. I'd love to be in a film version of a Shakespeare play.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

I've been in California for about 15 years now. You're always in your car and insulated. I miss New York so much.

Jimmy Smits

At first, I took theater courses on the side. Then, theater became my minor; then it was my major.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

Media images are so important to young people feeling positive about themselves.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

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.

Jimmy Smits

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!

Jimmy Smits

I've been told that I wasn't Latino enough, which was code for 'street' enough.

Jimmy Smits

California has been very good to me in terms of the professional arena.

Jimmy Smits

I've been lucky because I've had wonderful teachers along the way who have nurtured and pushed me to the next level.

Jimmy Smits

I don't want to have the bounds put on me in terms of mediums.

Jimmy Smits