John Leguizamo still feels bad about one of his early roles.
John is opening up about having to play negative roles as a Latino, as “there were no opportunities” for Latinos at the time.
The Ice Age star, 65, appeared on the Fly on the Wall podcast with Dana Carvey and David Spade, and admitted he felt humiliated by his role as a robber in the 1991 film Regarding Henry.
In the film, John’s character robs a convenience store and shoots a lawyer played by Harrison Ford, who then struggles to regain his speech and mobility.
“When I got Regarding Henry, it was a drug dealer. I shoot this white guy. It was like, I’m perpetuating what they want to see, which is negative Latino images,” he reflected.
“You know, I was kind of humiliated by it,” Leguizamo said of the role. “I did it because I got no jobs. There were no jobs for Latin folk. There just weren’t.”
“I’m not going to lie. It was like white doctor, white lawyer, white husband, white lover, Latino drug dealer,” he said of the majority of roles at the time.
The Bloodline actor was asked if he’s ever been asked to intensify his Latino portrayal, to which John Leguizamo replied, “They didn’t have to say that to me as much. I was the flavor they were looking for, like a ghetto hoodrat.”
