The thing I gravitated to was being the class clown. It was very competitive.

I love independent films, it's the only place as an actor you're totally allowed to breathe.

The beautiful thing about acting is that you can go your whole life if you stay current and you stay fresh.

America may not realize it yet, but Latin prototypes are being created right now, and not just by me. They are these mambo kings and salsa queens, Aztec lords and Inca princesses, every Hernandez and Fernandez, whom this country will one day come to understand and respect.

I had a great movement teacher - he showed me how to walk so I wasn't becoming like a cartoon.

I'd be terrified even now for a Latin kid wanting to be an actor, but back then? Forget it. They must have thought I was going to be working in restaurants and driving cabs for the rest of my life.

In Moulin Rouge I could not change the name of Toulouse-Lautrec obviously to Toulouse-Lautrec- Martinez. But in ER I did that, my name is Dr Victor Clemente, so sometimes it is possible.