A multi-faceted performer and Emmy Award winner, JOHN LEGUIZAMO (Cholo) has established a career that defies categorization. With boundless energy and creativity, his work in film, theatre, television and literature covers a variety of genres, continually threatening to create a few of its own.
Leguizamo’s most recent feature release was The Honeymooners, with Cedric the Entertainer, Mike Epps, Regina Hall, Gabrielle Union and Eric Stoltz and directed by John Shultz.
Upcoming for Leguizamo is Cronicas, which screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and 2004 Toronto Film Festival and was honored as an Un Certain Regard selection at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Written and directed by Sebastien Corduro and produced and financed by Alfonso Cuaron’s Monsoon Entertainment, Cronicas follows a popular TV reporter (Leguizamo) who’s willing to sacrifice everything to get the story of a notorious serial killer.
Leguizamo also recently completed The Alibi, directed by Kurt Matilla and Matt Checkowski for Summit & Endgame Entertainment. The independent film tells the story of Ray Elliott (Steve Coogan), who runs a successful business providing alibis for men and women who cheat on their spouses. Leguizamo plays Hannibal, the fierce gangbanger (but tortured soul), who preys on Ray to find information about his former lover. James Marsden, Selma Blair, Sam Elliot and Rebecca Romijn also co-star.
Leguizamo’s forthcoming projects also include Sueno, the story of Antonio (Leguizamo), a talented musician from Mexico who pursues his dream of becoming a singer in Los Angeles. The film also features Elizabeth Peńa and Nestor Serrano.
Leguizamo recently co-starred in the remake of John Carpenter’s 1976 film Assault on Precinct 13 with Laurence Fishburne, Ethan Hawke, Gabriel Byrne, Brian Dennehy, Maria Bello and Drea de Matteo and directed by French filmmaker Jean- Francois Richet.
Leguizamo also recently completed production on the new Edward Burns project The Groomsmen and has also signed on to reprise his voice role as Sid, the Sloth for the Ice Age sequel, which Fox will release in 2006.
Leguizamo was also recently seen in HBO’s Undefeated, his feature directorial debut. Scripted by Frank Pugliese from a story by Leguizamo and Kathy DeMarco, the film is a drama about a young Latino boxer dealing with love and career success.
Leguizamo’s filmography includes Franc Reyes’ Empire, co-starring Peter Sarsgaard, Denise Richards and Isabella Rossellini; Jonas Akerlund’s Spin, with Jason Schwartzman, Mena Suvari and Brittany Murphy; Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor (ALMA nomination, Best Supporting Actor); Ice Age; Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam; Seth Zvi Rosenfeld’s King of the Jungle (ALMA nomination, Best Lead Actor); the cult hit Spawn; Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet; and Dr. Doolittle. For his performance as a sensitive drag queen in To Wong Foo: Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar, Leguizamo garnered a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Additional film credits include Stuart Baird’s Executive Decision, Brian de Palma’s Carlito’s Way, Collateral Damage, ZigZag and Brian de Palma’s Casualties of War.
In 1991, Leguizamo created an off-Broadway sensation as the writer and performer of his one-man show, Mambo Mouth, in which he portrayed seven different characters. He received Obie, Outer Critics Circle and Vanguardia awards for his performance. The play’s HBO special led to his first television comedy special, Comedy Central’s The Talent Pool, for which he received a CableACE Award.
Leguizamo’s second one-man show, Spic-O-Rama, had an extended sold-out run in Chicago at the Goodman and Briar Street theaters before opening in New York. The play received numerous accolades, including the Dramatists’ Guild Hull-Warriner Award for Best American Play and the Lucille Lortel Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Broadway Performance. Leguizamo received the Theatre World Award for Outstanding George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead – Production Information 21 New Talent, as well as a Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance. Spic-O-Rama also aired on HBO, receiving four CableACE Awards.
Freak, Leguizamo’s third one-man show, ended a successful run on Broadway in 1998. Billed as a Semi-Demi-Quasi-Pseudo Autobiography, Freak was described as scathingly funny (The New York Times). Along with the Tony Award nominations for Best Play and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, Leguizamo won the Drama Desk and the Outer Critic’s Circle Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance. A special presentation of Freak, directed by Spike Lee, aired on HBO and earned Leguizamo the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program, as well as a nomination for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special. Fall of 2001 saw Leguizamo’s return to Broadway with his Sexaholix...a Love Story. Directed by Peter Askin, the play is based on the sold-out national tour, John Leguizamo Live! Leguizamo was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and the show received a Tony nomination for Best Special Theatrical Performance. Sexaholix aired as an HBO Special in Spring 2002 and also toured the country.
Additional stage credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and La Puta Vida at the New York Shakespeare Festival and Parting Gestures at INTAR. On television, Leguizamo starred with Ray Liotta in HBO’s Point of Origin and in ABC’s mini-series, Arabian Nights, where he played both The Ring Genie and The Lamp Genie in the literary classic. In January 1995, Leguizamo set a precedent by creating and starring in the first Latin comedy/variety show, the Emmy award-winning House of Buggin for FOX.
Raised in New York City, Leguizamo studied acting with Lee Strasberg and Wynn Handman at New York University. He was the recipient of the 2002 ALMA Award for Entertainer of the Year.
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