At first, I took theater courses on the side. Then, theater became my minor; then it was my major.

California has been very good to me in terms of the professional arena.

As an actor and as a performer, I've felt that the education system has really helped me in a lot of ways... there was always a teacher or a professor along the way that kept pushing me to the next stage.

The Latino population has become such a presence. We are part of the American tapestry in a very profound way, in every area you can think of, and are very significant in popular culture.

We're at a point right now in our development in this country - setting the immigration issue aside - that you can't ignore the sheer population of us in metropolitan areas all across the country, of how significant Latino-ness is in the United States.

When you're doing 22 shows on network television, the writers are going on vapors towards the end and, as an actor, you're just trashed by the end.

I don't want to have the bounds put on me in terms of mediums.

Media images are so important to young people feeling positive about themselves.

The Fourth of July concert is invigorating in so many ways, in terms of what it feels like to be an American.

As an actor, you think to yourself, 'I want to do good work,' but you also want the work that you do to make an impact in some way.

I grew up in New York City, and I've got wonderful memories of the Fourth of July fireworks.

Just give me a good role that allows me to hone my craft, and I am a pretty happy camper.

I started out in the theater, and my background is classical. I'd love to be in a film version of a Shakespeare play.

For minority actors, developing our own projects has to be the eventual path. We have a lot of stories to tell and a really unique voice. But none of that is going to be heard as long as we're just the hired hands, acting.

It just makes you feel proud, more than anything else, that the work has in some way transcended itself.

Of course you draw from yourself, but the artistic nourishment you want to get is be versatile, do something different, and I think I got a chance to do that in a lot of different ways.

All my Latino side is from the Bronx.

I went to Brooklyn College as an education major. It was a big deal in the family, but really, I was living for Mom and Dad.

My comfort zone has always been in an ensemble-type atmosphere.

I wasn't a great student, but I was interested in this theater thing, and I could spend hours in the library researching why the cuffs in the 18th century had four buttons. It was my handle.

There's something so familial and intimate between a boxer and his trainer.

Everything in moderation, like calories.

When I sit down and sign up for something, I vet where the people are coming from.

Women think the people that I play are smoldering and dangerous. I look in the mirror, and I go, 'I don't get it.'