John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (/ˌlɛɡwɪˈzɑːmoʊ/, LEG-wih-ZAH-moh; Colombian Spanish: [leɣiˈsamo]; born July 22, 1960 or 1964[note 1]) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and film producer.

He has also written and performed for the Broadway stage, receiving four Tony Award nominations for Freak in 1998, Sexaholix in 2002, and Latin History for Morons in 2018.

As a voice actor, he narrated the sitcom The Brothers García (2000–2004) and played Sid the Sloth in the Ice Age franchise and Bruno Madrigal in Encanto (2021).

[1] His father was once an aspiring film director and studied at Cinecittà in Rome, Italy, but eventually dropped out due to lack of finances.

[1] His paternal grandfather was a wealthy Colombian landowner, and his great-great-grandfather, Higinio Cualla [es], was Mayor of Bogotá for sixteen years in the late 1800s, and was considered an important modernizer of the city.

[10] It was determined that Leguizamo's maternal lineage includes the 16th-century Spanish conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar, as well as Jerónimo Betuma, a 17th-century indigenous Colombian of noble birth.

When Leguizamo was 3 years old,[11] his family emigrated to New York City,[12] where they lived in various neighborhoods in Queens, including Jackson Heights.

Leguizamo started out as a stand-up comic doing the New York nightclub circuit in 1984, and in 1988, he performed at The Public Theater in two shows, including as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream in which he appeared with Fisher Stevens.

In the 1990s he played a terrorist in Die Hard 2 (1990), Hangin' with the Homeboys (1991), the robber in Regarding Henry (1991), Super Mario Bros. (1993), and Night Owl (1993).

In 1995, Leguizamo created, produced, wrote, and starred in the 1995 Latino-oriented variety show called House of Buggin' on Fox Television.

Leguizamo also starred in Romeo + Juliet (1996) as Tybalt Capulet, as Violator in Spawn, Cholo in Land of the Dead, and Pestario 'Pest' Vargas in The Pest, the latter being one of his few roles as a lead actor in a studio film.

Julie Newmar for which he received a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and starred in the 1996 action film Executive Decision as Captain Rat.

In 1998, he debuted on Broadway in the production of Freak, a semi-autobiographical one-person play that was filmed for HBO and released on October 10, 1998, with Spike Lee sitting in as director.

The CD also includes a musical intermission, with two salsa/hip-hop tunes, "The Night Before Christmas" and "Gotta Get Some", and footage from Leguizamo's tours and two interactive games, "Spanish Fly Pick-Up Line".

Later in 2002, on the syndicated version, a question about the movie featured his character and Meredith Vieira mentioned that Leguizamo had played Lautrec and had been on the show.

During the 2005–06 television season, Leguizamo joined the cast of the show ER, playing the emotionally disturbed Dr. Victor Clemente, a new attending who is keen on introducing the staff of County General to better ways of treating patients and cutting-edge technology.

In October 2006, Leguizamo's memoir, Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends: My Life, was released.

During an interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, he stated that his memoir was very candid about experiences involving other celebrities he had worked with.

[25] In July 2007, Spike TV aired its drama series The Kill Point, which starred Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, and Michael Hyatt.

The show was an eight-part series revolving around ex-war veterans whose bank robbery went wrong, thus ending in a hostage situation.

On November 16, 2013, John taped Ghetto Klown at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ for HBO.

In October 2013, Leguizamo started filming for The Crash, starring alongside Frank Grillo, AnnaSophia Robb, Dianna Agron, Ed Westwick, Minnie Driver, Mary McCormack, Christopher McDonald and Maggie Q.

[35] Also in 2014, he played a drug dealer in the action comedy film American Ultra alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart.

Leguizamo describes the work: "Ghetto Klown is the history that I probably never should have told anyone but my therapist, but it's a real lesson that even if you suffer a certain amount (a lot) of self-doubt and anxiety, you can still accomplish great things.

Proceeds from the song went to the Hispanic Federation to assist relief efforts for those in Puerto Rico who were affected by Hurricane Maria.

[41] That year, he also was presented with a Special Tony Award for his body of work and for his commitment to bringing diverse stories and audiences to Broadway for three decades.

In 2021, he played Estragon opposite Ethan Hawke as Vladimir in Waiting for Godot and Wallace Shawn with The New Group Off Stage as a video performance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other guest hosts included Sarah Silverman, Hasan Minhaj, Roy Wood Jr., Wanda Sykes, Leslie Jones, Kal Penn, Chelsea Handler, and Marlon Wayans.

[7][56] In summer 2023, his play, Our Hood, an adaptation of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, had its first reading at the Guthrie Theater under the direction of Maija Garcia.

[76] In 2016, Leguizamo authored a searing op-ed in The New York Times, calling out Donald Trump's "racist rhetoric" and urging Latinos to vote.