Latinos can do anything.
I'm a huge fan of Leonardo DiCaprio's career. I love the path that he's taken. He seems to be very conscious of exactly what kind of project he wants for the following part of his career.
I do think you are mainly thrown into one medium as an actor, and then hopefully you grow from there.
To create a fully formed character full of life, struggle, and humanity is tough.
It's interesting: I think, as a Latino actor, the biggest challenge is being called 'Latino' because immediately, the world has a perception of what that means.
A Latino actor can't play this and a Latino actor can't play that because they're Latino.
Everything you could imagine Robin Williams being, he was and more.
I trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute at Tisch, which is a huge foundation for young actors. They teach you their methods and give you the sense that acting is much more tangible than most people think. I think there's a mysticism of what acting is, in the fact that it's this ungraspable, spur-of-the-moment thing that nobody can understand.
My number one passion is acting, but I also think there's something so special in being able to support a script and an idea and take it all the way through to fruition. I think that process is so rewarding.
I guess I'm kind of a mutt. I was born in the U.S., my parents are from Mexico, and I grew up in Switzerland. It's weird because I sound American, but I spell theater 'theatre' with the 'r' before the 'e'.
My progression into acting was pretty slow. I was constantly performing in different kinds of small shows. One year I would be in a magic show, the next year in a circus show, then a small play, and then a dance show.
People forget that the more we know about the world - about people, cultures, and about life - the stronger we are as actors because the more we can bring to our characters.
The most important thing for me is to continue to impact people through my work.
I think the toughest thing is to describe what a producer does because they basically do everything. They follow a project from the start through the rest of its life and, along the way, are a part of every single aspect of its growth. It's tremendously enriching, though, because you get to know and live with the movie in its entirety.
The great thing about NYU, and the reason I chose to go there, was the fact that they don't inhibit you as an actor and tell you, 'You only have to study acting. This is it for the rest of your life.' They're really great at balancing other things; you get to study two days a week anything you want unrelated to acting.
The great thing about being a producer on a project is that you get to see the ins and outs of every piece of the puzzle. There are so many elements involved in every aspect of a film's development that I don't think the average person is aware of, which is, I guess, why the whole process is referred to as movie magic.
There came a point sometime during high school when I started thinking about exploring acting as a career, but it was more of an intention than an actual decision. I was very interested in a lot of different subjects, but every time I envisioned myself actually pursuing one as a career, I always ended up thinking that I would rather be acting.
I think actors have a huge responsibility because of the vastness of their outreach. I am a big believer of the good that film, television, and theater can do, and I want to be a part of that. Throughout my career, I want to keep telling amazing stories and inspiring people.
My grandmother is one of the biggest inspirations of my life. She was my biggest fan, and she made sure everybody knew it. Her never-ending joy was infectious, and there wasn't anyone who could beat her at partying and having fun.
There is a saying that every single person in the world has something to teach you. So the more people I get to work with, the more I can learn, and the better actor I will become.
