I was just school class clown and that was it. Someday I'll get a job as a cab driver or whatever. John Leguizamo More Quotes by John Leguizamo More Quotes From John Leguizamo There were no Latin people on 'Star Trek,' that this was proof that they weren't planning to have us around for the future. John Leguizamo starslatinpeople To be a comedian, you gotta jokesmith, there's no way around it. John Leguizamo comedianway The thing I gravitated to was being the class clown. It was very competitive. John Leguizamo clownclass It used to be trained professionals doing animation and they were great. Now they have celebrities and famous actors doing the voices, but that does not always work. But I think this film turned out really well, partly because the three of us (me, Ray and Denis) are comedians who are used to doing solo acts and doing certain types of voices. The three of us are New York guys, we all came up the same way in the profession and we are all edgy and enjoy doing family movies. It was a good combination I think. John Leguizamo voicenew-yorkthinking I had a great movement teacher - he showed me how to walk so I wasn't becoming like a cartoon. John Leguizamo becomingcartoonteacher My parents were incredibly strict, almost military style. John Leguizamo styleparentmilitary Rehearsals make a huge difference. John Leguizamo rehearsaldifferenceshuge Most of the great directors I've worked with - De Palma, Spike Lee - like rehearsals. John Leguizamo rehearsaldirectors Voices come to me but to maintain them is hard work. They go away just as easily, so I have to remember them and that takes work. With Sid, I needed to make sure you could understand what he is saying, his enunciation. Sometimes I couldn't even say my own name [his name] in his voice. It sounds like 'Shid', it sounds a bit like he has a lisp. John Leguizamo voicehard-worknames It's all about respect; he's looking for respect from his buddies. In the last one he just wanted to hang out, to be part of the group, but this time he wants more from his friends. And without giving the story away, he finally gets something that he has been looking for when the mini sloths kidnap him and take him to their tribal area. He gets to be the Fire King and they worship him and there is an amazing scene with a "call and response" sequence in the style of Cab Callow [the legendary American jazz singer and band leader] between him and his audience. John Leguizamo kingsfiregiving I'm not really against a lot of things unless they are just pure exploitation and then they create their own copycat culture that comes from someone acting irresponsibly. That's dangerous when that happens. John Leguizamo copycatsactingculture Sid [the character from 'Ice Age'] is a prehistoric sloth. Sloths move really slowly and they store food in the cheek pouches. That's where I got the voice that you hear. He had to sound as though he was storing food. John Leguizamo voiceslothmoving I did 40 voices for Chris Wedge, the director of the first film, before coming up with the version we used. He was hard to please, I don't know why. I gave him really slow talking voices. then I thought perhaps Sid could be an Indian sounding sloth. To find out more about my character, I watched footage of sloths. I discovered that the food they store in their pouches rots and ferments and half the time they're drunk. John Leguizamo voicetalkingcharacter At Murry Bergtraum [High School] if you were really funny you sat at this table at with all of the funniest dudes, the toughest, the coolest - everybody sat at that table. It was like the ghetto Algonquin Round Table. [Comedy] was my entry, my membership card. John Leguizamo ghettocardsschool It was at a performance art space that's no longer around, Gusto House... All of these great performers from all over the country lived on the Lower East Side, and they would take somebody's living room that opened right onto the street, open the door and charge tickets and put up chairs. John Leguizamo doorscountryart I would be jokesmithing. I had files with tons of disses that I would try to write as I was on the train going to school. John Leguizamo writingtryingschool First I went to C.W. Post and I was a psychology and theater major and then I transferred to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts as a drama major. John Leguizamo dramaartschool I'd be terrified even now for a Latin kid wanting to be an actor, but back then? Forget it. They must have thought I was going to be working in restaurants and driving cabs for the rest of my life. John Leguizamo actorslatinkids I don't know if tennis players feel like that but when you have a great opponent - although I didn't feel like he [ Ben Mendelsohn ] was an opponent - you just know your game is going to jack up and it's just going to raise the bar. I couldn't wait for that elevation. John Leguizamo tennisplayergames I had to work with Ben Mendelsohn who's one of the great actors of our time. I had a lot of scenes with him and I was thrilled to be on the set with him; I just wanted to see how we were going to play it. John Leguizamo actorssceneplay
