HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 14: Edward James Olmos attends the AFI FEST 2019 Presented By Audi ... [+]
WireImageAs a teen, Edward James Olmos dreamed he’d become a professional baseball player. He even joined the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system as a catcher.
Instead, Olmos became an actor. The rest, as the cliché goes, is history. The native Angeleno earned a Tony nomination for his performance in Zoot Suit, the first Chicano play on Broadway. He won Golden Globe and Emmy awards for his portrayal of Lieutenant Martin Castillo in Miami Vice and an Oscar nomination for playing math teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver.
Olmos talks about his nonprofit efforts, the state of Hispanics in Hollywood, and why he considers his performance in Walking With Herb among his finest.
You're an actor, director, producer, and activist. You co-founded the Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival and Latino Public Broadcasting. What keeps your juices flowing today?
I started going into the community to work with the kids—in libraries, juvenile halls, schools, and colleges—and just talking, just trying to get them to understand that I was nothing special. I'm just a person like everyone else. I was born in East L.A. in very modest surroundings. I have no relatives that were in anything that I was doing, except for maybe baseball. My grandfather played the game and taught me how to play.
I tell them that anyone can be the best that they can be, which is why 25 to 30 years ago I started to develop Latino Public Broadcasting, LALIFF (Los Angeles International Film Festival), the Youth Cinema Project and the Latino Book & Family Festivals throughout the country.
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What keeps me going today? All that energy. I'm still doing that. It's still growing. It's much more relevant today than when we started these nonprofits.
The L.A. Latino International Film Festival pulled off quite a coup and will screen In The Heights shortly before the film’s debut in New York. Wow.
The world premiere is going to be at [the] Tribeca [Film Festival] because “The Heights” is in New York. They were really understanding about what the film means to the Latino community throughout the world, not only here in United States, and allowed us to screen it. I can't say thank you enough to Tribeca and everyone that had anything to do with making that film. It's going to be a major hit.
That film and others will help the Latino community and Latino art form garnish a lot of attention next year at the Oscars and Golden Globes.
Speaking of award shows, what were your thoughts about the Latino presence at this year's Oscars?
Well, there was none.
Exactly.
The sadness is that people don't see what the issue is because Rita Moreno was there. She's a brilliant artist, one of the most positive representations of Latinos in the world, a genius at what she's done with her life. This year, the African American experience was very well documented and the Asian too.
Latinos were not present at this Oscars. They haven't really ever been. When I was nominated in 1988 and went to the Oscars, there were maybe two or three of us there. Even when Guillermo del Toro or Alfonso Cuarón get nominated and win, they're the only one.
And the experience of Chicanos or other U.S.-born Latinos is different than of those born abroad.
I'm the only Latino born in the United States of America that has been given the Best Actor nomination since the awards were first presented over 100 years ago. [Note: Puerto Rican actor José Ferrer was nominated and won the Best Actor Award in 1951 and 1953, but Olmos is the only Hispanic nominee born in the 50 states.]
Why?
You have to understand that this is show business. It's not show sociology, psychology, or cultural awareness. You can put depth and texture into a work of art that can be commercial like Selena, La Bamba or Stand and Deliver. These are films that were well received and made more money than they cost to make—and that's what it's all about.
Caucasian storytelling has been very profitable. God Almighty, it's a multibillion-dollar business so they never needed to use non-European based cultures to tell stories for the world. Now, it's starting to make more sense to diversify. The change is happening but has taken a long, long, long time.
Do you try to take only roles that elevate the image of Latinos?
I'm doing a show right now called Mayans, M.C. that is very dark. If you liked Sons of Anarchy, then you know that world. Everything in front of the camera and behind the camera has been done very well. I’ve played characters that are very dark. In American Me, I played the head of the Mexican Mafia.
And I've done things like Lieutenant Martin Castillo, which was a very positive look at a Latino in the world of Miami Vice. In Battlestar Galactica, I played the Admiral.
I love to play in good stories like Walking With Herb, which is out now in theaters across the country. George Lopez plays a messenger from God. I play a person who has lost all hope. George helps me regain my faith and have the courage to keep living.
Yes, I pick my parts very strategically and have turned down a lot. But I decided early on I wasn’t doing this to become rich and famous. Now the things that I've done have made me known throughout the world and given me a wonderful, privileged life but I wouldn't call myself independently wealthy.
When I'm gone, 100 years later they'll be able to watch my work and say, “Wow, this is really interesting how he used this medium.”
Do you see yourself primarily as an artist or activist?
An activist, since I was one long before I worked on the screen. Then when I started acting, it helped me continue my activism in a stronger way.
You're committed to making a better planet.
I'm making my art. But the work I've done away from the camera makes my work in front of the camera grow. That's why my performance in Walking with Herb is probably one of the best I’ve ever given.
To find a nearby theater playing Walking with Herb, CLICK HERE.
Listen to the full interview of The Revolución Podcast episode featuring Edward James Olmos with guest co-host Linda Lane Gonzalez (Ana Crandell took the day off), and co-hosts Diego Lastra and Court Stroud on Apple Podcasts, iHeartMedia, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Deezer or by clicking here.
The Link LonkMay 25, 2021 at 03:55AM
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Edward James Olmos Says ‘Walking With Herb’ Performance Is Among His Best Ever - Forbes
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