I discovered very soon, especially for movies, because I started in theater, that every director has his own universe. You have to be free enough to try to understand what he wants from you. Especially when that director has a tremendous personality. And I'm talking about people like Pedro Almodovar and Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino and Woody Allen. And you have to adapt. If you don't adapt to them, you are off the thing.

Cinema has opened a world of possibilities up for me.

[Pablo] Picasso was born in my hometown, in Málaga, so I have this of strange connection with his persona and with what he did. He left Málaga, practically at the same time and age that I did.

To be married in our profession is not an easy thing. Theres too many beautiful people around, very interesting people. Its just a matter of really having-being patient and probably having the capacity and the faith of falling in love with your own wife again. That happens to me.

We're living in hard times.

I did my first movie, "The Mambo Kings," in America without speaking the language. I learned the lines phonetically. I had an interpreter actually just to understand directions from my director.

There were many generations of Latino people coming to this country, coming from difficult political or social situations in their own countries, and they worked very hard to have their kids go to universities. Well, those kids came out and they are now doctors and architects, or they are on the Supreme Court. That has a reflection in Hollywood. So, we are actually very proud that our characters are Latinos, and I think it's good for diversity and cultural interaction.