The celebrated actor remembers pitching stories about unsung Latin heroes — including Guy Gabaldon, an 18-year-old from East L.A. who captured more than 1,000 enemy soldiers during World War II; or Gilberto Bosques Saldívar, who saved 40,000 Jews in Vichy France and then gave them asylum in Mexico; or Jovita Idar, a journalist who ran her own newspaper and “saved Latin boys from being lynched all over the Southwest. I want to tell that story.”
“I’ve been pitching period stuff with some of these stories. And they tell me, ‘Oh, we’re not doing period stuff. And then, boom, ‘Gladiator II,’ ‘The Crown.’ They sold me a bill of goods,” Leguizamo pointed out.
When asked how he can focus on which story to tell with so many to choose from, he replied, “I just want to tell one! Greenlight one, god damn it. It’s so hard to get Latin content greenlit in America. I see so much Latin talent out there that’s not getting used, and it’s frustrating and painful for me to watch.”
“American Historia” host John Leguizamo (right) with Professor José Moya (CREDIT: PBS)
He said that sharing the contributions of Latino people around the world empowers him and he hope it does the same for young Latin people: “I wanted them to see themselves in a new light, show them that they matter, that they’re important, that they can achieve anything they want, because they come from greatness.”
Leguizamo is also proud to bring the series to PBS. “They were the first to have real Latino representation when I was a kid,” he shared, naming groundbreaking 1960s and ’70s series like “Zoom,” “Electric Company,” “Sesame Street” and “¿Qué Pasa, USA,” the first Latino sitcom in the country.
“They were so far ahead of everybody. So to be on this network is really important to me, because those shows saved me, gave me identity,” he said.
“VOCES American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos” premieres Friday on PBS.
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Publish date : 2024-09-27 07:59:00
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