John Leguizamo On His New ‘VOCES American Historia’ Series And His Career: ‘I Never Relied On Hollywood’

John Leguizamo filming "VOCES American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos"

NGL Studios/PBS

He's the hardworking actor behind such beloved films as Super Mario Bros., To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar, Romeo + Juliet, Spawn, Chef, The Menu and many more. He has also voiced some of the most iconic animated characters in recent history, including Sid in the Ice Age films and Bruno in Encanto.

Being born in Bogota, Colombia and having moved to New York City, New York when he was just five years old, John Leguizamo is now bringing VOCES American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos to our television screens, which takes a deep dive into shining an often dimmed spotlight on the significance that the Latino community has on the formation of America, both past and present.

I sat down with Leguizamo, 64, to learn more about his new series, which premieres September 27 on PBS, and to give him a moment to reflect on his own journey of overcoming adversity and paving his own unique path in Hollywood, while continuing to push to provide greater opportunities for others like him.

Jeff Conway: Where did your initial interest and the first steps come from in building this three-part series into what it is for the world to soon see?

John Leguizamo: Well, it's been a passion project of mine. I feel like it's one of my most important contributions to American culture is this show. I guess it began, if you can be completely honest, is in my youth when you're playing with your White friends in your neighborhood and you beat them at stickball or two-hand touch and then they say, "Why don't you go back to your country, spic?" All of a sudden, you become an ethnicity when they lose. I never had a retort - I never had an answer and I never felt like I could give an answer. I would just get mad and we'd fist fight, but when it happened to my son, I was like, I want to break this cycle of violence. To me, violence is the lowest form of communication and I wanted to weaponize his language, his words, his facts. I started doing research and I was like blown away by the plethora of Latin contributions to the making of America.

John Leguizamo speaking with attorney/writer Sharyll S. Teneyuca in "VOCES American Historia: The ... [+] Untold History of Latinos"

NGL Studios/PBS

John Hopkins University did a study, found that 87% of Latino contributions to the making of the U.S. are not in history textbooks, and the 13% that's there gets less than five sentences. So, this is my anecdote to that - this is my putting us back in history textbooks, in the history channel and everywhere that we're missing because our contributions are massive.

Conway: John, in your opinion, what is it about our world and society now in America that makes your storytelling here that much more timely and necessary?

Leguizamo: I mean, I feel like we Latin people are at an incredible inflection point in our being here in America. We're about to decide who the next President is because we have over 30 million registered voters. We're the largest voting block in America, after White people. I think it's such an important point right now that it needs to get out there. We're the youngest ethnic group in America - the majority of Latino people are under 26 years of age and impressionable. They need this information to feel validated, to feel like they matter, to understand that they can be anything they set their minds to, and I think this show does it.

Conway: When it comes to this VOCES American Historia series, obviously it's great for people that are from the Latino community to see this and see their history, see their ancestors, but I'm sure you'd also agree this series is almost more important for people like myself to see this, because this is what needs to be the wake up call for people beyond the Latino community. Would you agree?

Leguizamo: Beautifully said, man. I wish I had said it, but you did. Yes, it's more important that White people see it. It's important that Black people, Asian, LGBTQ+ - everyone should see this show because once you realize when you say "Make America Great Again," it's basically "Make America White Again." It was never White. It was always Indigenous, Latino and Black. To deny that, you're denying such a powerful group its opportunity and you create an under-class that becomes sort of the undoing, eventually.

Conway: What is it within our society today, John - Latin leaders, Latin trailblazers - that makes you most excited about our country and where it can go next?

John Leguizamo speaking with actor, director and producer Edward James Olmos in "VOCES American ... [+] Historia: The Untold History of Latinos"

NGL Studios/PBS

Leguizamo: Our [Latino] buying power is $3.4 trillion dollars of buying power that we have. We are a third of the U.S. box office - we keep the U.S. movies going. We're a third of subscribers on streaming. We're a third of sports fans, but we're less than 4% of the leads in movies, less than 1% of the stories being told, less than .09% of the executives making the decisions. That's Hollywood because I know Hollywood, but I know when I talk to my Latin brothers and sisters, it's in the tech industry, it's in medicine, it's in banking, it's in the corporate world, as well. They're telling me a lot of executives tell me, "I'm good enough to train the future executives, but I'm not good enough to get the promotion." That's where in lies the systemic racism and that's what I'm trying to do with this show.

I'm so lucky to be on PBS because they an incredible platform - 11,000 public schools that my show is going to go to, where we are the largest minority. We're 30% of the students in public schools across America. This is the perfect show for teachers to use as a tool.

Conway: The New York Latino Film Festival - what does it mean for you, John, to be a part of this and to get to do this beside your peers and beside the Latino community?

Leguizamo: Dude, it's just such pride. All these organizations - Latinos are getting very organized and getting uppity. That's right, we're getting uppity. It's so great to see us celebrate ourselves, when the society at large is not. We are basically living in a shadow parallel world. Here in New York, we're equal to Whites in population. Whites are 32% - we're 31%. You wouldn't know that from looking at The New York Times, New York Magazine, New Yorker or anything going that's media here - you would not know that we were equal to Whites in population. You would think we're like this marginalized group. So, to have the New York Latino Film Festival here celebrating us, making sure we get our props for the work that we're doing and creating, it's so important.

Conway: John, you have had such an impressive acting career. What comes to mind as you look back on your work and your efforts thus far?

John Leguizamo attends the premiere of "Encanto" at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California on ... [+] November 3, 2021.

AFP via Getty Images

Leguizamo: My longevity in Hollywood has been because of my exclusion in Hollywood. I never relied on Hollywood - I knew I couldn't. When I was going to NYU, paying the same amount as Andrew McCarthy and D.B. Sweeney, who were massive stars in the era in the 80s - they were going to five auditions a day and I was going to one every five to six months for a drug dealer or murderer - I knew I didn't have the same equal opportunity. I was very idealistic and believed in a meritocracy, but then I stopped as a young man, understanding that no matter how hard I worked, no matter how smart I was, no matter how talented I was, I'd never have the same shot and opportunity. So, I never relied on Hollywood.

I did my own thing, I wrote my own shows - did them here in New York. I went to theatre when films weren't coming my way, then went to television when that wasn't happening - did voices. So, the exclusion made me even more talented because I wasn't going to be kept out.

Conway: After people watch VOCES and just in general, what do you want to say to your Latin community and people out there, young and old, that sometimes feel like they are underserved or feel like the underdog within our society?

John Leguizamo in "VOCES American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos"

NGL Studios/PBS

Leguizamo: You're not wrong - you are being underserved. We are being excluded aggressively. We are being held back but my answer to you is not to accept that. We need to organize better, we need to get more assertive. I think we have to get legal - I think that's what we have to start doing is start getting legal about the situation and demanding our right because we have the facts, we have the data - it's there, it can't be denied anymore. Thank god for the digital revolution because that's going to be our savior.

Conway: Lastly John, what would you say to the little John Leguizamo growing up in Queens, dreaming big things for himself. If you could speak to him today, John, after all that you have accomplished and achieved in your life & career, what would you tell that little John that maybe he wishes he could have heard back then?

Leguizamo: Well, I didn't totally believe that I could make it. I wasn't trying to make it - I wasn't trying to be famous or rich. I just wanted to act, so I would tell myself like, Oh my god, the world is your oyster. You have the right to demand to be a lead. You have a right to demand your stories to be told. I would've told that to myself.

I think what I really learned from this [VOCES] show was that we Latin people are the most resilient people on earth because we're the only ethnic group whose culture was destroyed - our religion was destroyed, our language was destroyed. We dealt with so many obstacles in America and in our Latin countries, as well, because obviously colonialization was all over the place, and here we are!