John Leguizamo was born July 22, 1964, in Bogotá, Colombia. His father, Alberto Leguizamo, worked as a realtor in Puerto Rico when he met and fell in love with Leguizamo’s mother, Luz. By 1968, the family moved to the United States and established themselves in Queens, New York.
Leguizamo attended Murry Bergtraum High School. It was here he first began writing and sampling his comedy on classmates. They took to it immediately, and even awarded Leguizamo the honor of Most Talkative.
After graduating high school, Leguizamo went on to New York University. Set on stardom, he attended theater classes. Like so many comedians before him, Leguizamo started his career in standup. He worked the clubs until a television job panned out in 1984. Opposite Don Johnson in Miami Vice, Leguizamo acted in three separate episodes.
To bolster his success, Leguizamo also decided to pursue acting in a less conventional way. He wrote and starred in his own Off-Broadway play Mambo Mouth in 1991. For his efforts, he won an Obie and Outer Critics Award. In 1993 he did something similar with Spic-O-Rama, which dealt with Latino stereotypes within the United States. This won him a Drama Desk Award and an impressive four CableACE Awards.
Also in 1993, he took a role in Super Mario Brothers, opposite Bob Hoskins, Dennis Hopper, and Samantha Mathis. Despite a lukewarm reception, this movie launched his acting career, and Leguizamo never looked back.
Luckily, Leguizamo found much more critical acclaim in his next project, Carlito’s Way, with Al Pacino, Sean Penn, and Viggo Mortensen. And 1995 really showed his versatility with To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. Leguizamo stole the show as drag queen Chi-Chi Rodriguez, alongside Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, Stockard Channing, and Blythe Danner.
The rest of Leguizamo’s career can be counted in extremes. For example, people will remember him fondly for his role as Tybalt in Romeo + Juliet, beside Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, Paul Sorvino, Brian Dennehy, and Paul Rudd. But they might choose to forget The Pest. They’ll gladly recall his turn as Toulouse-Lautrec in Moulin Rouge! with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, but then just as quickly pretend Spawn never happened.
Despite his ups and downs, Leguizamo walked away with an Emmy for his 1998 one-man show Freak.
Some might also recognize his work in the animated films Ice Age and Ice Age 2: The Meltdown as the voice of Sid the Sloth.
Leguizamo recently completed a twelve-episode stint on the popular medical drama ER and has completed filming a drama entitled Where God Left His Shoes. In late 2006, his memoirs were released under the title Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends: A Life.
Leguizamo has been married twice. His first marriage to Yelba Osorio only lasted for two years, from 1994 to 1996, before they divorced. However, his second marriage in 2003 to Justine Maurer is still going strong. The couple has two children together.
YUDDY
