“Look at the Oscars, what they just did was incredible. For the first time the Oscars are asking, they’re sort of putting a demand, that the movies that Hollywood submits must have a percentage of people of color.”
Actor, stand-up comedian, producer and screenwriter John Leguizamo began the 17th season of the Distinguished Speaker Series tonight virtually, speaking on his work as a Latino actor and views on Latinx representation in Hollywood.
Communication Professor and moderator Greg Selber introduced Leguizamo to the audience via his home office as he spoke about the event’s uniqueness.
“Very seldom have we had someone who’s had such a unique style and unique résumé,” Selber said. “They say that he’s hilariously informative. Someone else I heard once described him as brutally funny. Someone who brings an intense self-portrait to all the artistic creations that he does.”
Leguizamo sends a message to students who are aspiring actors.
“Find the best teacher in your community, in your area, and study your ass off,” he said. Learn the craft and then you can throw down with anybody.”
Leguizamo recalls his motivation for writing his Broadway show “Latin History for Morons” was because his son had begun to be bullied in school for his race.
“I started doing all this research and the things that I found were l so incredible and it made me feel so many different things,” Leguizamo said. “So powerful, and yet so angry that these things were kept from me and sad about our history because there’s so much pain and the wealth of information.” 22:00
Biomedical Sciences Senior Enrique Granado was among one of the students logged in for the event and shared his thoughts on Leguizamo’s show.
“That show was just completely showing about all the accomplishments that Latinos have done in this country and not just in this country but throughout all of the Americas,” Granado said. “So, I think it’s very important for us to be able to show that not only are we here but we’ve built the foundation for what is now this country and we should be proud of our history.”
Leguizamo closed the evening sending a message of encouragement to the campus community.
“I know COVID is really hard and all this quarantining is very difficult and Zoom learning is not the greatest but have faith that all this hard work is going to pay off,” he said. “I mean the world is so much more willing to accept Latinx in so many different capacities.”
Director of Student Activities Cindy Mata-Vasquez reminded the campus community to look forward to new announcements from the Distinguished Speaker Series.
FOR VAQUERO NEWS, I’M JUSTIN ELIZALDE.
