With the political and social landscape in the United States as polarizing as it is today, actor John Leguizamo (The Green Veil) recognizes the professional risks he’s taking when he speaks out on issues that are important to him.
One of the issues closest to his heart is fighting for Latine representation in Hollywood. He’s been doing it for a majority of his career. In 2022, Leguizamo wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times where he put it as bluntly as possible: “As it stands right now, if your name is Garcia, Perez or Hernandez, and if you look Latino, you won’t get the same shot,” he wrote.
Two years later, Leguizamo is still fighting the good fight. Although one could argue that Latine talent is getting more opportunities in the industry than they were 30 years ago, the change has come at a glacial pace. Earlier this year, a report showed that while Latines make up 19 percent of the U.S. population, they only make up four percent of lead or co-lead roles in movies produced in the U.S.
Leguizamo isn’t surprised at the statistics, especially since he doesn’t feel there are enough Latines making as much noise as he is about the lack of diversity in Hollywood.
“I’m alone in this whole quest for equality,” Leguizamo, 64, told Remezcla during a recent interview. “I mean, who else is fighting as hard as I am? No one is doing what I’m doing. No one’s using their platform.”
Leguizamo was given a major platform last month when he took the stage at the 76th Emmy Awards to introduce the first-ever Latine chair of the Television Academy, Chris Abrego. During his speech, he celebrated the Latine talent who were nominated that evening and called out white actors who have played “brownface” in their careers, including Al Pacino in Scarface.
“The Emmys wasn’t completely happy about my speech, but they relented because Chris Abrego fought for me,” Leguizamo said. “I went out there and did my thing. I was a little nervous because I was saying certain things that I hadn’t told them I was going to say. You could hear a pin drop at the beginning. And then [the audience] started vibing and grooving with me.”
Along with forcing Hollywood to confront its faults when it comes to diversity, Leguizamo is making sure his voice is being heard less than a few weeks away from Election Day. His support for vice-president Kamala Harris and strong criticism of former president Donald Trump comes with a price, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“No good deed goes unpunished,” Leguizamo said. “When I started getting political, I lost half my following. I understood that there was a risk, but I’m willing to take it.”
His message to the 37 percent of Latines who are estimated to be voting for Trump is simple: Don’t vote “against your own best interests and … against your people.”
“I can understand if you’re Republican and you vote conservative, but Trump disparages Latinos,” John Leguizamo said. “I have zero tolerance for Latino Trump voters.”
Leguizamo can currently be seen in his latest series, The Green Veil, on The Network, a free, ad-supported streaming app from Comcast that only releases exclusive originals.
