John Leguizamo continues to have a long and varied career. He began on television on Miami Vice in 1984, then had his first movie role that year with Mixed Blood. He then continued on a string of high-profile roles with Casualties of War, Die Hard 2 and Regarding Henry. Carlito's Way moved him into the serious parts; then, he stole the show in heels as Chi-Chi Rodriguez in To Wong Foo.
His voice work with the rat in Dr. Doolittle and Sid the Sloth in Ice Age have made him unforgettable in the ears of children everywhere.
Other notables were his work with Baz Luhrmann on Moulin Rouge and Rome + Juliet along with starring in Summer of Sam produced by Spike Lee.
While his movie career kept him busy over the years he has always made time to perform one-man shows like Mambo Mouth, Freak, and now Ghetto Klown being his fifth.
For two weeks, Leguizamo brought his unplugged version of Ghetto Klown to Chicago audiences before taking it to Broadway, where he earned a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance, and a Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance for this show.
We gave the talented performer a call before his triumphant return with a revamped version of Ghetto Klown to the Windy City.
Windy City Times: Hi, John. I saw Ghetto Klown when you first workshopped it in Chicago.
John Leguizamo: Yeah, yeah—at the Royal George, across the street from the Steppenwolf. Remember the snowstorm? People came in snowmobiles and skis; we had a little bit of an audience even with that weather.
WCT: It was nice opportunity to see a work in progress.
John Leguizamo: I have always enjoyed Chicago. I have done almost all of my shows there. I did Freak and Spic-O-rama there. That was the first city out of New York that I ever went to. Audiences are great there. It is a real theater town. It is multiethnic and hip. It's a good crowd for me.
WCT: Do you ever get nervous with being alone onstage?
John Leguizamo: Yeah. I guess I get nervous but as soon as the audience is laughing and on my side; then I feel I can do anything. I can go bonkers and it is all going to be good. The more bonkers you go, the more they laugh. We feed off each other.
WCT: You have done several one-man shows over the years but is Ghetto Klown special to you?
John Leguizamo: Yes, this is the one that is nearest and dearest to my heart. I worked on it for a long time. It took me a couple of years to tell my life story and break that paradigm about the psychological one-man show.
This is about my whole life. It about how I got into show business, getting arrested in the subway for commandeering it, my math teacher telling me I could be somebody, from Miami Vice, my first acting teacher to fighting with Steven Seagal in Executive Decision and getting advice from Pacino in Carlito's Way, then duking it out in full garb with Patrick Swayze.
WCT: What did you learn from playing Chi-Chi Rodriguez in Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar?
John Leguizamo: Wow—women go through a lot of pain to look that hot! It was brutal. I was running seven miles every day to try to stay in shape for my legs. We had to shave every day and they put gender-benders on us and strap our chests. It was crazy.
WCT: You were the new kid on the block and the cute little one.
John Leguizamo: I was the ingenue.
WCT: It was like RuPaul's Drag Race on the big screen. What have people's reactions been after describing them in your show?
John Leguizamo: Seagal said he was going to knock me out if he saw me on another red carpet. Swayze wrote his version of the incident in his book. I think everyone else has been pretty cool. Pacino hasn't seen it yet, but his girlfriend and his best friend saw it.
WCT: If audiences have seen it on HBO already, is it better to see it live and in person?
John Leguizamo: It is very different. On HBO, they cut out a lot of jokes and material because it had to be 90 minutes. Onstage, it is a full two hours with intermission. I can do all of my gags and the jokes back. It has become a beautiful piece. Now it is really tight and compressed at the same time. I'm going a little further acting wise. I'm more comfortable going deeper. We did a lot more in a full way.
WCT: Do you have a particular character that you like portraying now?
John Leguizamo: The Pacino one comes out pretty well; people go nuts over that. I didn't know if I could do Pacino that well but I guess I got better at it as time went on.
WCT: Did you enjoy PBS doing a Tales From a Ghetto Klown, going behind the scenes?
John Leguizamo: It was very cool. I didn't know how I felt about it from the beginning. Of course, I was honored because it was PBS and the highlight of television but having a camera following you around during the process is not much fun. I was trying to be in the moment and really figure shit out. There was a camera there all the time. It was annoying. Not everyone is themselves. Some people see the camera and start acting for it. I was trying to get my work done and about to open on Broadway. People were trying to be discovered or wanted to run away!
WCT: Talk a bit about your new movies. You were just in Ride Along, which was a huge success.
John Leguizamo: That was a blast. Kevin Hart and Ice Cube are really nice dudes and very down to earth. We had a lot of laughs on the set with Bryan Callen and all of the talent that was there. It was a huge success and made my pocket very happy.
WCT: You play a food worker on the new film Chef.
John Leguizamo: That was a passion project of Jon Favreau. He wrote a beautiful tender script. We studied hard and did a few more months in the kitchen of a cooking school. We did a month at at restaurant in New York then a couple of places in LA. We gave it all we had and it was fun. We went to Miami, LA, New Orleans and Austin. I gained 20 pounds for that role!
WCT: Are you a good cook?
John Leguizamo: I am better and improved. Cymbeline, my Shakespeare piece, just got into Venice so I am pretty proud of that. It is with Ethan Hawke, Dakota Johnson and Ed Harris. It is great and a crazy cast.
WCT: How was working with Ethan?
John Leguizamo: He's a sweetheart and what a talent. He blossomed into an incredibly gifted actor. He's so brave and courageous.
WCT: You have part five of Ice Age coming out?
John Leguizamo: It won't quit, man. It is the franchise that keeps giving! People love it. It plays around the world. It give parents a chance to keep some conjugals going so let's keep doing it so people will keep propagating.
WCT: Where did you come up with Sid's voice?
John Leguizamo: I looked at the Discovery Channel on sloths. I found out that they stored food in their cheek pouches. It would ferment and turn into alcohol. I walked around with food in my mouth like a sandwich and started to talk like that. I called the director and in the Sid voice said, "Guess who this is?" He said, "I don't know maybe Daffy Duck?" I said, "No, guess again!"
WCT: Hilarious. So Sid is always drunk?
John Leguizamo: Well, he's kind of goofy and a little off. He's a little slower than everybody else mentally.
WCT: I read you were in Madonna's "Borderline" video.
John Leguizamo: I was many years ago, when I was but a young buck. I thought I was going to get some because I heard Madonna liked Latin guys and would go around the neighborhood looking for them. I thought with me she wouldn't have to look for them anymore.
WCT: How was the undertaking of translating Ghetto Klown into Spanish and taking it to Columbia?
John Leguizamo: Oh, dude—I almost had a brain aneurysm. I love the language but it almost killed me. It was eight months every day. It was speech classes and tongue-twisters. It was rough.
When I got there, I was really surprised that I was able to do it and really thrive. Spanish became my second language. I loosened up and can now have conversations.
WCT: Has it inspired you to do more?
John Leguizamo: I am working on my next one- man show. The next one is not personal at all.
Leguizamo's one-man show is Saturday, Sept. 13, at The Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St., at 8 p.m.
Visit www.thechicagotheatre.com to reserve a ticket today.
