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01
To voice Sid in the 2002 film Ice Age, Leguizamo experimented with multiple vocal approaches after studying Discovery Channel footage of sloths. He chose a lisp because sloths store food in their cheeks.
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02
He was accepted into Lee Strasberg’s actors’ studio and studied with the master for one day before Strasberg died. Leguizamo joked that he has that effect on people.
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03
His parents encouraged him to maintain his Spanish, sometimes with bribes. They spoke to him in Spanish, but he usually replied in English.
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04
In high school, Leguizamo was voted Most Talkative.
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05
He mentioned on The Bob and Tom Show that he turned down the role of Tom Hanks’ boyfriend in the 1993 film Philadelphia to do the 1993 film Super Mario Bros.
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06
He moved from Colombia to the United States with his family when he was three years old.
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07
He majored in theater at New York University and was the only Latino in his drama class.
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08
His last name is actually pronounced leh-gee-ZA-mo.
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09
Although he is about 5 feet 8 inches in reality, he has played two characters who are technically little people, under 4 feet 11 inches: the Clown in the 1997 film Spawn and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!.
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10
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-grandfather, Higinio Cualla, was Mayor of Bogotá for sixteen years between 1884 and 1900.
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11
He grew up in the Jackson Heights section of Queens, New York.
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12
He is the father of Lucas Leguizamo and Allegra Leguizamo with his wife Justine Maurer.
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13
He was nominated for two Tony Awards in 1998: as Best Actor in a Play and as Author of Best Play nominee for his one-man show Freak.
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14
He began writing material for himself in high school, testing it out on classmates.
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15
He met his wife Justine when she was a wardrobe assistant on Carlito’s Way.
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16
Although he was born in a Spanish-speaking country and has understood Spanish since childhood, the 2004 film Cronicas is his first Spanish-language acting performance.
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17
DNA testing on the show Finding Your Roots revealed his ancestry to be 59.4 percent European, mostly Spanish; 24.5 percent Indigenous; 3.1 percent North African; and 2.9 percent Sub-Saharan African, disproving his earlier claims of Puerto Rican, Italian, and Lebanese heritage.
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18
He was considered for the 1995 film Desperado for the role of El Mariachi as a secondary choice if Antonio Banderas turned down the role.
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19
He was considered for the role of Detective Rey Curtis on the 1990 series Law and Order.
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20
His first screen appearance was in the Madonna music video Borderline.
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21
He was listed as one of twelve Promising New Actors of 1991 in John Willis’ Screen World, Volume 43.
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22
His parents divorced when he was in his teens.
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23
He was nominated for the 2018 Emmy Award in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie category for his role as Jacob Vazquez in the 2018 series Waco.
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24
He graduated from Murray Bergtraum High School in New York, New York.
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25
He was a former student of acting teacher David Gideon.
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26
He grew up at 44-07 74th Street in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. After his parents divorced when he was ten, he split his time between his father and his mother who lived at 86-11 Whitney Avenue, Apt 4A.
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27
He has a younger brother Sergio and two younger sisters, Maria and Emily.
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28
He attended Murray Bergtraum High School alongside Damon Wayans.
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29
He is into weight lifting, tennis and dance sessions. He credits production on Romeo and Juliet for getting into fitness.
