How come actors feel like they have to give some kind of personal revelation attached to the project?
It's a lot of a workload doing an hour dramatic show. It's just incredible what little time off you get.
I couldn't see myself doing a traditional sitcom.
When we are out there selling a new picture, when did it become part of the deal that you have to sell the family? To use the juicy part of your life to get attention? I'm not blaming the reporters. It's the system.
Variety is the thing for me to be able to work in theater and be involved in more films and TV movies that say something.
There are no right and wrong ways to work in this business, but there are some basic common-sense practices. Work very, very hard and always be prepared; never give up; and once you get the job, give them more than they ever expected: - Shine!
You can't get so serious as to not realize that what we do is entertainment, but when you have the chance to provoke thought or advance discussion on a topic, it's just the icing on the cake.
I never thought television would or could be a long-term commitment.
If you're given gifts or blessings in your life, it's up to you to help the guy coming up behind you.
Women think the people that I play are smoldering and dangerous. I look in the mirror, and I go, 'I don't get it.'
I don't want to have the bounds put on me in terms of mediums.
It's great to be able to play the 'bad guy' role, because you always get a lot to do, but I'm always looking at the why - how does a person get to that particular point.
We tend to think of World War II and all the atrocities that happened, and people say, 'Never again.' But these things are still happening. The Amnesty International files are big.
It's less about the physical training, in the end, than it is about the mental preparation: boxing is a chess game. You have to be skilled enough and have trained hard enough to know how many different ways you can counterattack in any situation, at any moment.
I've been in California for about 15 years now. You're always in your car and insulated. I miss New York so much.
I was asked to speak at a bar association, because there's an upswing on college applications - in general and for Latinos - because of 'L.A. Law.' I went to a couple of functions, and I just felt an energy: It was, you're doing a good job, but do you realize how important it is?
Of course you draw from yourself, but the artistic nourishment you want to get is be versatile, do something different, and I think I got a chance to do that in a lot of different ways.
What happens to George Clooney and Bruce Willis is great, but I can't gauge my career by anyone else's.
Everything in moderation, like calories.
I've been very lucky to work on a wide variety of projects, including two long-run and top-10 dramatic television shows. That is why it is so important to offer a helping hand to the next generation of young Latinos coming up behind me.
At first, I took theater courses on the side. Then, theater became my minor; then it was my major.
People become actors because they want to hide, and it's not easy to talk about myself. I accept that a certain responsibility goes with being an actor in the public eye, but I haven't found a comfortable way to deal with it.
'West Wing' was a show about politics.
There's something so familial and intimate between a boxer and his trainer.
When you're doing 22 shows on network television, the writers are going on vapors towards the end and, as an actor, you're just trashed by the end.
What we need to focus on is not that we're not nominated, but that we have many more Latinos that are in prominent positions on shows all across the dial than ever before.
I started out in the theater, and my background is classical. I'd love to be in a film version of a Shakespeare play.
There's a lot of successful procedural shows that are out there. A lot of them are very successful. I just know there's an audience out there that wants character also.
There are some things you have to give up to the higher power.
When I grew up, we went to Coney Island and Central Park. We'd find our way to the water and watch the fireworks.
I always grapple with myself, from job to job, 'Is this going to make an impact in some way?'
You gotta find that hook so everybody can grab on to it. So that you're true to the culture but, at the same time, how it relates to the larger tapestry.
I had opportunities to stay on shows for long periods of time, and maybe financially that would have been good, but I feel good about trying to keep doing things that are a little bit different than what I've done.
I used to wear sneakers with those nice suits because I wanted Victor Sifuentes to have a bounce in the courtroom.
I know it affected me when I saw certain actors growing up. I had a drama teacher that would take us to see plays in New York, and it was seeing James Earl Jones and Raul Julia - I mean, this guy comes from the place my mother comes from. He's doing Shakespeare right now, and it doesn't seem to matter that he has an accent.
I have no tattoos at all - it was a huge undertaking for me in the '80s to let my parents know I was piercing my ear when I did 'L.A. Law.'
The Latino population has become such a presence. We are part of the American tapestry in a very profound way, in every area you can think of, and are very significant in popular culture.
I worked on a show called 'West Wing' before. I didn't work with Aaron Sorkin, but he created the show and set the tenor of the show, which was you follow the words of the script perfectly because there's a dramaturgical thing behind it.
In my college years, I worked as a union labor organizer. I was just one of the many workers trying to do my part to help the community.
It just makes you feel proud, more than anything else, that the work has in some way transcended itself.
The great thing about working in cable is that, since the season is truncated - we only do 12 shows - the writers are more at ease in terms of mapping out the trajectory of the story and the characters.
With the advent of cable and such, you guys are calling it the golden age of TV in terms of the writing and stuff. But it's like different branches of a big tree that TV has become.
I'm not a policy wonk - I'm somewhere between being undecided and a surrogate.
The Fourth of July concert is invigorating in so many ways, in terms of what it feels like to be an American.
As an actor, it's hard to approach any character with negatives.
Nurturing a project from the ground floor is something I've been wanting to do.
Celebrity hits like a bomb.
The friendships I made on 'L.A. Law,' with the cast and Steven Bochco and David Kelley were really wonderful.
I feel a responsibility to try and give back. I see young people out there who are trained, and any way I can help them and give them an opportunity is gratifying.
