Jimmy Smits Quotes
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I am very Latino in everything I am and I do, but there's a part of me that's also something else. I'm reflective of the way this country's gonna be in the next 40 years. More multicultural is what we'll see.
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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.
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Just give me a good role that allows me to hone my craft, and I am a pretty happy camper.
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At first, I took theater courses on the side. Then, theater became my minor; then it was my major.
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When I sit down and sign up for something, I vet where the people are coming from.
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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.
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I never thought television would or could be a long-term commitment.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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My central strength as an actor is the fact that I'm 6 foot 3. A certain power emanates from my size, juxtaposed with the fact that I try to find an element of sensitivity in every character I play. People enjoy seeing that because it goes against what we're led to expect as far as the way men are supposed to be - macho and all that.
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I almost feel like sometimes when I'm on location, you miss your home and your family and all that stuff, but it keeps you focused on the work.
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I save the rage for the stage.
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Doing a truncated series is like doing a long movie, which allows for a certain artistic freedom. After just 12 episodes, you can take a breather and do other things for your career.
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Everything in moderation, like calories.
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When you're 27 million strong, no one can tell you that you don't belong or expect you to just move along.
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Education is the key in so many ways.
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What happens to George Clooney and Bruce Willis is great, but I can't gauge my career by anyone else's.
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I left 'L.A. Law' after five years when my contract was up because I felt I had done all I could do with the character. I didn't walk off the show with a three-picture deal to pursue this wonderful film career.
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I think education was the key for me, and that's what I tell kids. That base in the classics gave me something to springboard from, which I wouldn't have had if I'd come out to Los Angeles early and been guest punk of the week on 'Hill Street Blues.'
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I wasn't a great student, but I was interested in this theater thing, and I could spend hours in the library researching why the cuffs in the 18th century had four buttons. It was my handle.
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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.
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An actor tries to be versatile, to immerse himself in a different culture.
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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.'