2009 Star Gala Fundraiser

LGYS.org - La Gente Youth Sports
2804 E.12th Street - T.719.542.3766 - F.719.542.3471

Mission: To create a positive lifestyle through sports and education, especially for those in need of opportunity

Mission: To Create a Positive Lifestyle Through Sports and Education for all Youth, Especially Those in Need of Opportunity

SAVE THE DATE * LGYS Star Gala
Saturday April 17, 2010
Pueblo Convention Center

2009 Star Gala with special guest John Leguizamo

Thanks for Everything John Leguizamo

Hollywood star shares tales of ornery youth at La Gente gala.

By JEFF TUCKER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

April 19, 2009 12:18 am

Hollywood actor and comedian John Leguizamo shared a little bit of his life with more than 600 people Saturday, telling anecdotes about his upbringing and life on the set in his trademark rapid-fire humor.Leguizamo was the keynote speaker at La Gente Youth Sports' Annual Star Gala, entertaining the crowd with humorous stories of his life. "I grew up mad poor," Leguizamo said of his tough, Queens, N.Y., neighborhood. "We couldn't afford therapy so we had to be funny." Leguizamo said he acted out throughout much of his youth, starting with kicking in a conductor's door on a subway train, taking the microphone and telling what jokes he knew. He said that as the police officer took him to the 110th precinct, he told the young comic that his jokes needed more substance. Leguizamo talked about how he used to lock teachers out of classrooms and organize walk-outs at his high school. He was on the verge of flunking out when a teacher told him to find a way to channel all of his nervous energy. Leguizamo said he went home, opened the Yellow Pages and found the Showcase Theater, and he began to study acting and comedy. "I was handed a whole stack of plays and I read all of that stuff and I learned that no matter how messed up your life was, you could put it all down on paper," he said.
Leguizamo was the only Latino in his class at The Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg. He talked about landing a role on Miami Vice, "the Latin exploitation TV series" and about turning down a role in the blockbuster "Philadelphia" for the bomb "Super Mario Bros." "I could have been Tom Hanks' lover, but I didn't think he was cute enough," Leguizamo joked. He talked about working with screen legend Al Pacino, who would tell him to just do less and he would respond by doing more instead.
The lesson from those confrontations? "Don't ever argue with anybody who is smaller than his Oscar," Leguizamo said. He talked about his work as a drag queen in "Too Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar," including a fist-fight he had on the set with Patrick Swayze while both men were dressed in drag.
Leguizamo was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in the movie and said he might have been too good. "I started getting lots of prison mail," he said. "I don't even jaywalk I'm so afraid." While Leguizamo has enjoyed widespread fame and success and helped pave the way for younger Latinos in Hollywood, he told the crowd that the stories he shared Saturday were to show that people from humble beginnings can be successful, but they don't get there on their own.
It takes guidance and dedication. Leguizamo toured the La Gente Youth Center earlier in the day and met about 75 children from the program.
The organization serves as many as 1,000 children in the community. "I had a lot of mentors along the way and a lot of people who pushed me and shaped me," he said. "I see what you do with the kids here, and that's why I have to give you guys big ups or whatever you do here."
jtucker@chieftain.com

JOHN LEGUIZAMO

A multi-faceted performer and Emmy Award winner, John Leguizamo has established a career that defies categorization. With boundless energy and creativity, his work in film, theatre, television, and literature covers a variety of genres, continually threatening to create a few of its own.

Leguizamo recently starred in Overture Films' "Nothing Like the Holidays" also starring Debra Messing, Alfred Molina, and Freddy Rodriguez. The film opened December 12, 2008. Going back to his theatrical roots, Leguizamo recently went back to Broadway in the revival of David Mamet's "American Buffalo" also starring Haley Joel Osment and Cedric the Entertainer. Prior to that Leguizamo could be seen on screen in M. Night Shamalan's Righteous Kill", opposite Robert Deniro and Al Pacino.

This past year John can also be seen in the following Independent Films: "The Babysitters", opposite Cynthia Nixon; Brad Furman's "The Take", opposite Rosie Perez; and Franc Reyes's "The Ministers".

Fall of 2007, Leguizamo was seen in New Line Cinema's "Love in the Time of Cholera," the screen adaptation of celebrated writer Gabriel García Márquez' novel. Directed by Mike Newell, also starring Javier Bardem, Benjamin Bratt and Giovanna Mezzogiorno. The film charts the evocative story of an unrequited love spanning five decades in turn-of-the-20th-century South America, with the tale of 'Florentino' (Bardem) and 'Fermina' (Mezzogiorno). Leguizamo stars as 'Lorenzo Daza,' Fermina's father determined to keep them apart.

Past television credits include: Spike TV's limited series "The Kill Point", “My Name Is Earl”, and “ER” just to name a few. Also an accomplished author, Leguizamo penned his autobiography "Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends." Harper Collins released the fast-paced, hilarious, and poignant memoir in October 2006.

2008 Star Gala with special guest Cheech Marin

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