John Leguizamo Biography

John Leguizamo

Leguizamo moved with his family to New York when he was four. Accepted into Lee Strasberg's actors' studio he studied with the master for one day before Strasberg died. After studying acting at NYU, he began his career as a stand-up comic. Parts in numerous films followed, including the role of Miss Chi-Chi Rodrigquez in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995), for which he won a Golden Globe award, and Tybalt in Baz Luhrman's William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1996). He played the diminutive artist Toulouse-Lautrec in Baz Luhrman's latest film, Moulin Rouge (2001). Other film credits include Carlito's Way, Casualties of War, and Regarding Henry. He has appeared on the New York stage in A Midsummer's Night Dream and La Puta Vida, both at the New York Shakespeare Festival. Leguizamo became an Off Broadway sensation in 1999 with his one-man show, Mambo Mouth, which won him an Obie and several other awards. He has two children with girlfriend, Justine Maurer.