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My Mom [comes] To See My Shows Because She's So Proud, But I'm Talking About Losing My Virginity, My Ex-wife And Our Sexual Problems, And She's Sitting In The Front Row Smiling. I Just Go, "mom, You Can't Sit In The Front Row, You Can't Smile. You Have To Go Way In The Back And Dress In Black. If I See You It's Like You're Breaking In When I'm Having Sex With My Wife. It's Just Wrong."

-John Leguizamo

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My Mom [comes] To

John Leguizamo

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My Mom [comes] To See My Shows Because She's So Proud, But I'm Talking About Losing My Virginity, My Ex-wife And Our Sexual Problems, And She's Sitting In The Front Row Smiling. I Just Go, "mom, You Can't Sit In The Front Row, You Can't Smile. You Have To Go Way In The Back And Dress In Black. If I See You It's Like You're Breaking In When I'm Having Sex With My Wife. It's Just Wrong."

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Voices Come To Me But To Maintain Them Is Hard Work. They Go Away Just As Easily, So I Have To Remember Them And That Takes Work. With Sid, I Needed To Make Sure You Could Understand What He Is Saying, His Enunciation. Sometimes I Couldn't Even Say My Own Name [his Name] In His Voice. It Sounds Like 'shid', It Sounds A Bit Like He Has A Lisp.

I'm Not Really Against A Lot Of Things Unless They Are Just Pure Exploitation And Then They Create Their Own Copycat Culture That Comes From Someone Acting Irresponsibly. That's Dangerous When That Happens.

America May Not Realize It Yet, But Latin Prototypes Are Being Created Right Now, And Not Just By Me. They Are These Mambo Kings And Salsa Queens, Aztec Lords And Inca Princesses, Every Hernandez And Fernandez, Whom This Country Will One Day Come To Understand And Respect.

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.

Is There A God? Yeah, But There's Not Just One God. There's A Whole Lot Of Gods, Because One God Couldn't Have Possibly Made So Many Mistakes All By Himself. This Had To Be Done By Committee.

To Be A Comedian, You Gotta Jokesmith, There's No Way Around It.

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.

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.

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.

I Wanted To Enjoy The Process. I Wanted To Enjoy Just Being On Stage And Giving Back And The Feedback.

Independent Film Is For Actors That Love To Act.

I Had To Get The Voice Back, The Precise Pitch Of Sid's Voice And I'd Forgotten That I'd Pitched Him Higher Than My Regular Voice, So That Was A Little Difficult To Begin With. It Was Especially Hard Because We Started Recording In The Morning So I Had To Warm Up A Lot And My Usual Voice Is A Little More Gravelly.

I Like Drama. I Love Being In A Drama Where I Get To Be The Funny Guy. That's What I Really Love The Most.

You Have The Hilarity And The Great Production. These Films Are Distinctive Because They Are Not Just Topical, They Tell Good Stories And They Let Scenes Play Out Physically. Apart From The Dialogue, The Characters Also Have A Non-verbal Existence, For Example With Scrat.

I Had A Great Movement Teacher - He Showed Me How To Walk So I Wasn't Becoming Like A Cartoon.

With Kids, The Days Are Long, But The Years Are Short.

I Don't Think It's My Responsibility, But I Definitely Try To Create My Own Projects That Are Latin-based With A Latin Crew And Latin Cast. I Try To Give All My Characters Latin Names Whenever I Can And Make Sure That They Are Of Latin Heritage. But That Does Not Work With Every Project.

My Mom [comes] To See My Shows Because She's So Proud, But I'm Talking About Losing My Virginity, My Ex-wife And Our Sexual Problems, And She's Sitting In The Front Row Smiling. I Just Go, "mom, You Can't Sit In The Front Row, You Can't Smile. You Have To Go Way In The Back And Dress In Black. If I See You It's Like You're Breaking In When I'm Having Sex With My Wife. It's Just Wrong."

T Is For Me Because I Needed To Do This. I Really Think Actors Shouldn't Act Unless They Really Need It In Their Lives. I Think It Has To Be Something That Is So Much A Part Of Your Chemistry, Such A Passion, That You Can't Live Without It. You Should Not Do It Just Because You Are Seeking Fame Or Want To Get Rich.

Great Acting Is Being Able To Create A Character. Great Character Is Being Able To Be Yourself.

I Had To Work With Ben Mendelsohn Who's One Of The Great Actors Of Our Time. I Had A Lot Of Scenes With Him And I Was Thrilled To Be On The Set With Him; I Just Wanted To See How We Were Going To Play It.

Yes It Did Really. It Was Very Exciting To Find That My Energy Could Be Directed Into Something More Useful And Positive. I Was Starting To Get Panicked. I Was Thinking 'what Am I Going To Do With My Life?' I Wasn't Sure What Was Going To Happen. Then I Became Crazily Obsessed With Acting. I Suddenly Had A Work Ethic And Then Everything Changed Completely For The Better Because I Knew What I Wanted To Do With My Life.

That's The Happiest I Am, When I'm Doing Great Work.

But When You Are Doing An Animated Voice, It Has To Have More Energy Than Usual Or It Falls Flat And Doesn't Work. For Myself, I Found That I Had To Put Myself In The Same Physical Or Emotional State As Sid, In Order To Make That Voice Sound Alive And Authentic. So If There Was A Scene In Which He Was Running, I Would Be Running Beforehand To Sound Out Of Breath. That's Important Because The Audience Can Tell Intuitively If It Does Not Sound Real.

So Many People, My Friends And Family, Were All Saying, "you're So Funny. Why Don't You Become A Comedian Or An Actor?" But It Wasn't A Reality At The Time, It Wasn't A Road That Latin People Were Accepted In.

I Love Independent Films, It's The Only Place As An Actor You're Totally Allowed To Breathe.

You Know, I Am Kind Of A Bi-polarish Schitzerphrenic. I Run The Gamut Of Being Incredibly Shy And Withdrawn To Being A Crazy-eccentric Exhibitionist. And I Have Always Been Like That.

You Just Want To Go Off And Be Intuitive And Wild, And That's What Bryan Cranston Brings To The Game.

It's All About Respect; He's Looking For Respect From His Buddies. In The Last One He Just Wanted To Hang Out, To Be Part Of The Group, But This Time He Wants More From His Friends. And Without Giving The Story Away, He Finally Gets Something That He Has Been Looking For When The Mini Sloths Kidnap Him And Take Him To Their Tribal Area. He Gets To Be The Fire King And They Worship Him And There Is An Amazing Scene With A "call And Response" Sequence In The Style Of Cab Callow [the Legendary American Jazz Singer And Band Leader] Between Him And His Audience.

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Latins For Republicans. It's Like Roaches For Raid.

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Wild Imagination

First I Went To C.w. Post And I Was A Psychology And Theater Major And Then I Transferred To Nyu's Tisch School Of The Arts As A Drama Major.

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I Keep My Kids Out Of The Whole Business Entirely. Allegra And Lucas Are Five And Six And I'm Not Interested In Them Doing Any Acting At All. I Don't Want My Kids In Show Business. I Keep Them As Far Away From My Work As Possible.

[brad Furman] Wants To Try Stuff, He's Willing To Try Stuff. And He Wants Electricity On The Camera. And That's What I Want, I Want Electricity Whenever I'm Performing.

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I Was Working At Kentucky Fried Chicken When My Math Teacher Said, "you're Failing In School, You're Messing Up, Why Don't You Just Try This?" I Said, "alright, Let Me Try It," And I Started Going To Acting Classes And I Loved It. I Thought, "i May Not Make It But I Love Doing It."

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Don't Confuse The Beginning Of My World With The Breakup Of Yours.

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You Grow Up Latin In This Country And You're A Third Class Citizen From The Word Go, And So You Have To Deal With Everything Around You From That Point Of View And Trying To Feel Entitled.

I'm Hoping My Play Opens Up Conversations, I Hope It Makes People Question Textbooks, I Hope It Makes #oscarssowhite And #hollywoodsowhite Question Things. I Hope My Play Sparks Conversation Between Latin Kids And Latin Parents And People Start Doing Their Own Due Diligence As Well, I Think It's Everyone's Responsibility.

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