John Leguizamo recalls one movie that gives actor ‘PTSD’

John Leguizamo is looking back on one of his earliest film roles, and it’s not a memory he cherishes. 

The Emmy-winning actor recently opened up on the Fly on the Wall podcast with Dana Carvey and David Spade about his small part in the 1991 drama Regarding Henry, where he played a character credited as “Liquor Store Gunman.”

Though he accepted the role because he wanted the chance to work with the late director Mike Nichols, whom he called “one of the greats,” Leguizamo admitted the experience still stings. 

“Even talking about [the movie] just gives me PTSD,” he said, reflecting on how limited opportunities were at the time. 

“You know, I was kind of humiliated by it. I did it because I got no jobs. There were no jobs for Latin folk. There just weren’t.”

The J.J. Abrams–penned film, which starred Harrison Ford and Annette Bening, followed a ruthless lawyer who changes his ways after being shot by Leguizamo’s character and later waking up with amnesia. 

While the movie made less than $90 million against its $25 million budget and earned mixed reviews, for Leguizamo the bigger issue was the stereotype he felt forced to embody.

He recalled that Hollywood roles at the time often boxed Latino actors into negative portrayals. 

“The roles that were available at the time were ‘white doctor, white lawyer, white husband, white lover, Latino drug dealer,’” he explained. 

When he landed Regarding Henry, he said, “It was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m perpetuating what they want to see,’ which is negative Latino images.”

Asked if casting directors ever explicitly told him to exaggerate his identity for parts, Leguizamo said it was usually unspoken. 

“They didn’t have to say that to me as much. I was the flavor they were looking for, like a ghetto hoodrat,” he admitted. His acting teachers had once pushed him to drop his accent, telling him, “No one can understand you with that accent. Do you really speak that way?”

Leguizamo, who went on to star in films like Carlito’s Way, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, and Romeo + Juliet, has since used his platform to advocate for better representation in Hollywood. 

Looking back now, he sees his early struggles as part of a much larger fight to break stereotypes and push for more opportunities for Latino talent.