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When I first set out to do it, I wanted to be a working actor, and now it seems like it's superseded even my dreams.
There's an immigration problem in every country that has money, in that people there have a problem with immigration.
I grew up reading the newspapers, mostly the sports section. I was a wrestler and would check to see if I was ranked.
I've been an actor for 20 years, and I think the first 14 years, it was all struggling. At first, it was all gangsters.
When I did 'Crash,' to be honest with you, it was just another acting job. I just wanted to do as good as I possibly could.
I came to L.A. when I was 19, and my two roommates were blue-eyed, blond dudes. I helped coach them, and they both landed pilots.
When I was a kid, I lived in a poor part of Chicago, and I remember my brother and me using towels as capes. My son does it, too.
I want to find my own rhythm and style. That's probably the harder way to approach it, but I think it will pay off in the long run.
When you finish a drama, you go, 'I can't wait to do a comedy.' When you finish a comedy, you go, 'I want to do a dramedy, dark humor.'
You can think you know somebody. But when they're trying to punch you in the face, you really know somebody. You learn their tendencies.
I don't know if I'm necessarily a role model, but hopefully I can inspire any artist - Latin or otherwise - to do this thing for a living.
I saw Gosling just kill it in 'Blue Valentine.' I thought he was just amazing at that, and I wouldn't mind maybe doing something like that.
I took a year and a half off, when my kid was born, because I didn't want to be one of those dads where the kid doesn't know who his dad is.
I think nerves stop you from doing things. Make you stop and maybe make you withdraw. Then there's excitement where you can't wait to do it.
Some of my favorite actors are Gene Wilder and Eddie Murphy back in the day - that's mainly what me and my brothers watched when we were kids.
There's something about coming up with something out of nothing. I work with somebody else's creation already, and I just try to make it better.
I wouldn't say I have comedy chops. I guess you get lucky with good writing because I don't think I'm a comedian by any stretch of the imagination.
Eddie Murphy is just so off-the-cuff and can make anything funny. You hope that someday you'll acquire that skill, but maybe you're born with that.
I'm living in Hollywood, and I'm making movies, but it goes beyond me. If my family is not doing very well, or even OK, you want them to be better.
I remember my seventh-grade chemistry teacher told me I'd never amount to anything. I thought, 'Hmm. OK.' That gave me motivation to prove her wrong.
I'm an American, and I live pretty well. But go down to Mexico, and a lot of people really don't. So what, we're going to blame them for trying to get out?
When I started wrestling, I sucked. I hated losing, so I started doing pushups and more squats, and then I did summer wrestling and learned different styles.
I don't think people are experiencing superhero fatigue. Do you hear people complaining that there are too many action movies? I think it's good entertainment.
You can have a kid and just be off at work all the time, and it's all mom. But, I spent a lot of time with him, so now, every time I see him, he's like, "Dada!"
All the guys at Marvel are really passionate, and they love entertaining folks, and they really think about the story, and there's a lot of thought that goes into that.
My brother and my father both got laid off around the same that I was starting to do this movie 'Chavez.' And at the same time, it was when all the bailouts were happening.
When I watch movies with my kid like 'Shrek,' I'm like, 'Wow, this is pretty funny.' That's why I wanted to start doing movies like that - so my kid would laugh at my jokes.
As a kid growing up in Chicago, I've been shot at before. I remember I very calmly went down on the ground. Afterwards, you're like, 'Omigod.' You just don't have time to think.
I usually just try to do whatever's on the page because I've done research before - including a lot of analysis - but you end up with conflicting data. To me, the script is king.
I guess people recognize me, but I'm not a household name. Two out of every five people who come up to me know my name. The one thing I don't want is to be followed by paparazzi.
I'm just an actor. If it's drama, I add as much humour as the part will stand. And if it's a comedy, add as much drama as you can, so it balances out; you don't wanna be too serious.
A good director is like a good coach. You want to play for him. You want to really show him your good stuff. You don't want to let that person down. Ridley Scott is one of those guys.
Regardless of whatever job you do, you want to see the importance of it or how it can be important. I think by inspiring the people that I come from - if I inspire anyone - would be worth it.
'Tower Heist?' That is a movie that it's hard not to name-drop, but, it's a crew of five, and it's Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, me, Matthew Broderick, and Casey Affleck. And we're like, on a heist.
The only time that I really go on Twitter is to promote, because what sucks is there's some weird trolling going around. Even if you are well-intentioned, there's some mean people behind a keyboard.
I used to tour with this band. I was a drummer. I would tour a bunch for about 10 months out of the year and act for about two months. I would make what I needed from acting and would stretch it out.
I'm into looking at things from the other point of view. And if you look at who votes in the Oscars, mostly older Jewish guys, they're going to vote for stuff they relate to. Do they relate to NWA? I doubt it.
I lived in Chicago, in a shady part of town, and the cops would always stop me since I'm Mexican and I look like the other dudes. Style played a part in it. You're not really going to dress in a suit in a tie.
I think that when you’re doing a comedy and it makes you laugh, there’s a certain… like you can reject it, and it’s okay. It’s not promoting it or making it seem cool. I think that’s when you get into hot water.
There's a certain weird something. I'm always nervous when I spar. You learn it's going to hurt, but it's only going to hurt for a little bit. It brings out the animal in you to an extent. You learn what you can take.
I was a quiet kid - I didn't think I needed to be the funniest guy. I was always more of a listener. I went to 12 different schools, and I wasn't the charismatic dude, but I was captain of the track team and wrestling team.
I remember I used to think my dad was really cool working at a factory. He used to make buttons. I used to brag, 'This button here, My dad made it.' There was this sense of pride. It's knowing your dad is doing something cool.
I used to love those movies, back in the day, like 'A Nightmare on Elm Street,' 'Friday the 13th,' 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'The Shining.' I really liked those kind of movies, and I wanted to be a part of one of those kinds of movies.
The joy of 'Crash' was that it was all about the work. It was my first real part. Before that, it was a line here and there, maybe a scene. 'Crash' was five scenes, a beautiful arc, a little vignette of my own. It really meant something.
My first ten years in Hollywood were really tough. I'd be coaching friends who came to me for acting advice, and then they'd make it before I did. I'd still be helping them while they were on movie sets and I had four lines on a TV show.
I feel really comfortable with going for the reality of the drama, but I'm not much for the comedy of it. You have to make people laugh, or you have to be true to the character in such a way that makes people laugh. It's a whole different thing.
I feel lucky. I feel blessed. If you get blessed with some ability, I think you have to work hard at it. Michael Jordan was a great basketball player, but he wasn't the best shooter, even though he had the skill, and he had to work and work at it.
It was an event whenever 'CHiPs' would come on in my house. There wasn't a lot of Latin people being hired to star in TV shows or movies back in the day. Not only was it a fun show, there was a Latino starring in it - so we thought it was extra cool.
I've tested for I-don't-know-how-many pilots, and I didn't get any of them. I would always try to go off the top and make it as spontaneous as possible, but acting in sitcoms is such a skill set, and I didn't have it. I wish I did back when I was younger.
I went to a prep school in Chicago, and my dad and mom worked really hard - even though we lived in the ghetto - to get me to there. A lot of it had to do with 'Stand and Deliver' and 'Dead Poet's Society.' It does help you. It inspires you. It definitely did for me.