What is John Leguizamo's ethnicity? 'Encanto' star calls out colorism in Hollywood

John Leguizamo, an actor, producer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright, has called Hollywood out on its practice of colorism.

In an interview for Nick Barili’s new series Seen, made in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Leguizamo said:

"There's colorism within Latin culture that we have to fix, but there's colorism in Hollywood, too."

The actor, who has been fighting for people of color and helping them get deserved roles and work in the entertainment industry, told Barili:

"You have to step up and make a change and change it from within."

Leguizamo also noted:

"I feel like if you’ve achieved a certain amount of success, it’s your duty to give back.”

As the interview proceeded, Leguizamo went deeper into persistent racism and colorism in Hollywood.

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John Leguizamo's ethnic background and his experience with colorism in Hollywood

John Leguizamo was born to Alberto and Luz Leguizamo in Bogotá, Colombia. His father, Alberto, had once claimed that the actor was Colombian and not Puerto Rican. According to John, his maternal grandfather was Lebanese, whereas his paternal grandfather was of Puerto Rican and Italian descent. Leguizamo has also referred to himself as being of Amerindian and Mestizo descent.

The Hispanic actor, who called himself a "Puerto Rican-Colombian homeboy from Queens" in his 2006 autobiography, explained that he has benefited from being a light-skinned Latino. John Leguizamo talked about how he went out of his way to keep his skin light as well as Hollywood discriminating against Afro-Latinx and Indigenous Latinx. He told Nick Barilli:

"I stayed out of the sun so I could work. I definitely would not go in the sun. For years I was so pasty so I could work. And all the Latinos that made it so far, a lot of them were all light-skinned. What happened to all the Afro-Latinos and the majority of indigenous Latinos? They don’t get a shot, you know. So, there’s a lot of things we got to deal with in Hollywood, and we got to fix, and we got to speak out and we got to speak up."

Leguizamo, who often speaks up for Latin exclusion in the entertainment industry, commented on how the auditions he went to during his early days were "always for a drug dealer, a murderer, a killer, or your gardener or somebody servicing your house," and how Hollywood disfavors people of color. He said:

"Not only are we invisible, but when we are seen, it’s a negative portrayal."

When asked if he believes things have changed, John Leguizamo explained:

"Things are improving. I think COVID made us really look at ourselves in America. Black Lives Matter was a huge awakening for America, a reboot for America to look at themselves and see what’s going on. I think everybody’s trying to do the right thing and hire many more people of color. What I want to see, I want to see 20% of the roles in front of the camera and the crew."

He also added:

"I'm not asking for extra. I just want what’s due to us."

At one point in the interview, John Leguizamo recalled how he was dropped from a movie he was working on for a week as the director cast a Latin actress and...

“...couldn’t have two Latin people in the movie because then it becomes a Latin movie.”

He also spoke about a producer who had told him:

“Too bad John you’re Puerto Rican, ‘cause you’re so talented. Otherwise you’d be so much further along.”

Leguizamo, who has lost quite a number of followers on social media platforms on account of speaking up about the existence of racism in Hollywood, explained how being vocal comes with a price:

"I got a lot of hate tweets like, ‘Go back to your country. Go back to Mexico.’ I’m not Mexican but I’ll gladly go back to Mexico because it’s a great country. When I post political stuff on my Facebook, they say, ‘John used to be so entertaining, but now you’re a bore.’ … Being vocal has a cost."

When asked about what was left for him to accomplish, John Leguizamo concluded:

"Oh, so much. I'd love to help the next generation get their work done, made, produced. There's so much great talent out there. I wanna be able to help them. I wanna be that studio exec that gets their material and their product greenlit."

Leguizamo, who recently starred in Disney’s animated musical Encanto, once again voiced the role of Sid in Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild (streaming January 28 on Disney Plus), and is going to star in Searchlight Pictures’ upcoming black comedy The Menu alongside Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult.