I can honestly say from my experience, my family and I had to start from scratch. We left Venezuela back in 1998 and sold the few things we had to come to America in search of the American dream. We went through really tough times. There were moments where we were wondering are we going to make it.

There comes a time in your life where you're called to not only reinvent yourself but to rebuild your spirit. It's so relevant today.

My dad had a couple of professions in mind for me. He either wanted me to be a doctor because he said male doctors make a lot of money, or he wanted me to be a soccer player. Myself, I thought that I would really love being a pilot for the Air Force. I really wanted to be a part of the Air Force.

You do some things and you just hope people will laugh.

I played sports, so I understood quickly I shouldn't be eating fast food because it was slowing me down, making me feel lousy and lazy, and my instincts were not working as they should.

For me, honestly, I'm an actor. There's one thing I know how to do - act. And that's all I know how to do. Through our work, [actors] can trigger awareness.

Doing this movie [Fast Food Nation] made me realize that our bodies are digesting things that it's not meant to digest. It's pretty bad for you. The cast is [now] very, very aware of where we get our food and what we put in our bodies.