ACTOR
John Leguizamo
23 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (23)
- #001
For his role in Ice Age (2002), John Leguizamo tried out several different voices for the character Sid. After watching several hours of footage of sloths on the Discovery Channel, he developed the lisping voice because sloths store food in their cheeks.
- #002
His family encouraged him to keep up his Spanish, sometimes by bribing him. They spoke to him in Spanish, but he usually answered in English.
- #003
In high school, John Leguizamo was voted "Most Talkative."
- #004
On The Bob and Tom Show, John Leguizamo said he turned down the role of Tom Hanks's boyfriend in the film Super Mario Bros. (1993) in Philadelphia in 1993.
- #005
At the age of three, John Leguizamo moved with his family from Colombia to the United States.
- #006
His surname is actually pronounced leh-gee-ZA-mo.
- #007
John Leguizamo studied theater at New York University and was the only Latino in his drama class.
- #008
He is the son of Luz Marina Peláez and Alberto Rudolfo Leguizamo. His family is Colombian. His paternal grandfather, Martín Vargas Cualla, was a wealthy landowner, and his great-great-great-grandfather Higinio Cualla was Mayor of Bogotá, the country's capital and the city where John was born, for sixteen years between 1884 and 1900, and modernized the country significantly. (His surname comes from his paternal grandmother, María Emilia Leguizamo.)
- #009
John Leguizamo grew up in the Jackson Heights section of Queens, New York.
- #010
In 1998, John Leguizamo was nominated for two Tony Awards for his one-man show "Freak": Best Actor (Play) and Best Author of a Play.
- #011
In high school, John Leguizamo began writing material for himself and trying it out on his classmates.
- #012
Although he was born in a Spanish-speaking country and had understood Spanish since childhood, Crónicas (2004) was his first acting performance in Spanish.
- #013
John Leguizamo is the father of Lucas Leguizamo and Allegra Leguizamo and the husband of Justine Maurer.
- #014
John Leguizamo was considered for the role of El Mariachi in Desperado (1995) as a second option in case Antonio Banderas turned the role down.
- #015
His first screen appearance was in Madonna's "Borderline" music video.
- #016
John Leguizamo was considered for the role of Det. Rey Curtis on Law & Order (1990).
- #017
John Leguizamo's parents divorced when he was a teenager.
- #018
John Leguizamo was nominated for the 2018 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role as Jacob Vazquez in Waco (2018), but lost to Jeff Daniels for Godless (2017).
- #019
John Leguizamo graduated from Murray Bergtraum High School in New York, New York.
- #020
John Leguizamo is a former student of acting teacher David Gideon.
- #021
John Leguizamo has a younger brother, Sergio, and two younger sisters, Maria and Emily.
- #022
John Leguizamo takes part in weightlifting, tennis and dance sessions. He credits the production of Romeo and Juliet with keeping him in shape.
- #023
John Leguizamo attended Murray Bergtraum High School along with Damon Wayans.
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