WHAT THIS STRANGER DID FOR ESAI MORALES, AND HOW HE'S REPAYING IT

Welcome And Meet Esai Morales

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Hi, I'm Kim Alexis. I am after Kelly is showing his collection of spring clothes. Hi, I'm Kim Alexis with your ticket to adventure. I'm Kim Alexis, and I'm here in New York City. Got a great show coming up for you, so stay tuned.

SPEAKER_04 0:21

Okay, so I am here with an actor, a founder of NHFA, an activist, you like to call yourself, and a producer, the Isai Morales. Hi. Hey.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

How are you?

SPEAKER_04 0:35

Thank you for coming.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Famous Beauty. Hello.

SPEAKER_04 0:39

Yeah. So this whole show is about celebrating you. We're here to talk about you. And I have read your bio, Amazing, all the different things you've done. Thank you. Just give yourself a pat on the back.

unknown 0:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 0:52

But you have you started young. When did you know that you wanted to get into the business? You went to the high school of the performing arts. So did you know at a young age? Was that all you wanted to do?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Actually, I I I refer back to this because I actually now remember the moment. The moment. Like when I elbowed whoever it was, I don't even remember who it was anymore. Right. I elbowed my buddy in like 1972, three or four. Whenever Dog Day Afternoon came out, and I just I'm like watching this ball of fire, confusion, passion, these eyes is Al Pacino. And I was like, what that's what I want to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Whatever that is, right? That's what I want to do.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

And just when I thought I could get out.

SPEAKER_04 1:42

So you I don't remember that, but I'm sure that was a good one. No, it's from an Al Pacino movie. And I'm sure you did it really.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

I know. I love you know it's funny. I did a little movie with Alec Baldwin, and he and I got into an al-off.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

You know, like it was like, and whoa! Now who's half the man I was, and we were just going on say hello to my little friend. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

He's such an amazing actor, and and he's such a persona that uh I mean, you know, everybody has their Alp Al

The Pacino Moment That Lit Fire

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Pacino imitation.

SPEAKER_04 2:11

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

And Alec is scary good. He does Sir Sir Um Anthony Hopkins amazingly well. Yes, on the British Tundra. You know, he's talking about it.

SPEAKER_04 2:22

I can't watch Anthony Hopkins things because he's too dark. Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

It's just brilliant. Speaking of dark, that's what I did for a living, basically, you know.

SPEAKER_04 2:30

Yes, I know.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

But say hello to the bad guy.

SPEAKER_04 2:33

We're going back to high school. So you go and you studied theater first.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yes, performing arts high school. I auditioned for that with uh one out of two. I was supposed to have two monologues, and you know, I just could barely get one in and barely remembered my lines, but I was just so in it, so in the moment. And then when we did the theater games portion, I remember being a little kid in in a littler kid in school, and this troop from Juilliard had come through my part of the Bronx, you know? Right. And they were doing theater games, and my life was just like it was a tease of wow. It's more than just you know, reading, writing, math, and more than the mechanical arts or you know the disciplines. Right. And to be on the floor sizzling like a piece of bacon and just committed to it. Yeah. They were like that, that kid, yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_04 3:29

But that could have scared you off and it didn't.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

No, it intensified that passion. Yeah, and I didn't know what it was. It was just beautiful. It was just imagination is like such a powerful thing.

unknown 3:41

You know.

SPEAKER_04 3:42

So then you did you graduate high school first or did you get roles?

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Well, this is very interesting. I um in 1977 I got my Screen Actors Guild card.

SPEAKER_04 3:53

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Yes, and that was for I think I was 15 years old. And uh it's pushing 50 years.

SPEAKER_04 4:00

You get child's rate for that.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

You know, it's funny. I I don't know. I just went for a PSA against uh drinking, you know, drinking and driving, you know.

SPEAKER_04 4:08

Oh, good for you.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

And um, and I got my card somehow, someway.

SPEAKER_04 4:14

We have to do you get one commercial first for back in the world. Yeah, there was a member I did. Yeah, right. You get one free commercial, and then they're like, okay, if you do another one, you have to join.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

Okay, so I'm still a member myself.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

It's an interesting thing. This year was the first year I wasn't not on the board after like decades being on the board. That's a tough thing, you know. Politics, it it the same dynamics happen everywhere, and it's very difficult sometimes with a lot of infighting, and yeah, you know, it's the democracy, right? Like in a dictatorship, you don't have those problems. Right. You know, you have other problems, but in a democracy or purported democracy, um, it's just daunting. Yeah. I ran for president twice.

SPEAKER_04 4:58

You did?

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:59

I might have voted for you.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Maybe. You know, a lot of people said they voted for me, and which is interesting because um even the uh the national executive director was like, Well, we should have lunch. And I thought, oh my god, I might win this thing.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

But like many other elections, you know, I I wonder how how pure the process is. Because our our observers couldn't really observe. They had to be like, they were behind, and there's all sorts of stuff that makes you wonder just how clean.

SPEAKER_04 5:24

Okay, well, let's go down a different path. If you had become all of a sudden and had this role of having to this responsibility, it might have pulled you away from something else.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

You know, I actually there's a person who ran against me who like kind of you know split the vote enough, or at least that was, you know, what it looked like. And I I thank him for it now because I would have been a lightning rod. And and you know, we ran knowing we were outspent six to one, but the reason I decided to, you know, throw my ego aside knowing I would probably lose is because at least you have a platform to say things that are important that need to be addressed. Right. And to reach people. So I was

Performing Arts School And Early Breaks

SPEAKER_00 6:05

great. I was grateful to have the opportunity.

SPEAKER_04 6:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:09

So take me to your first theater gig. Yes. So going back to how old were you then? Was it seven?

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Yeah, it's seventy eight, eighty. When I graduated performing arts high school, I had uh I did a play Shakespeare in the Park.

SPEAKER_06 6:26

Oh right.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Remember the the Delacourt Theater with Raul Julia, the legendary.

SPEAKER_04 6:31

And that was in seventy-seven.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

I think that was eighty. Okay. I just graduated. I did two things. I did that and and a play, a one-act play, part of a three one-act play evening called El Hermano. A play called The Brother about these uh two American uh sailors that are in Nicaragua and they meet these two gals at a bar, but before they can go off and this little thing going on. Yeah. Before they can go off and, you know, graduate to um more intimate uh settings, they have to get permission from their brother. So I played this distinguished young man trying to you know seem older than he was and I had to have they had to have my blessings, but in I I had to have a commitment from them. Right. That they were gonna be gentlemen. And another kind of commitment. Financial commitment. Yeah. And so is this guy a protector or a pimp? I mean, you know, it's like really weird.

SPEAKER_04 7:33

But when you're that young, how did you what did you pull on to be able to get a role that was older than you?

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Imagination, number one. I mean, but he was pretending to be older too. Do you see what I'm saying? That the the character wanted to seem more more distinguished. But it was a play, ironically enough, written by a great playwright named Romulus Linney. Now you might know that name, Linny, because I met his daughter, one of the greatest actresses out there, Laura Linney. She did Ozark and a ton of great movies. She's just a beast.

SPEAKER_05 8:10

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

And I was like, oh, by the way, is we any relationship? Yeah, it's my dad. I'm like and I'll never forget that play because it was the first time I ever got a review from the New York Times, Mel Gusso.

SPEAKER_04 8:24

Do you like reading reviews?

SPEAKER_00 8:26

You know, you have to take them with a grain of salt because you know they can be extremely um, you know, nice or they can be nasty.

SPEAKER_06 8:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

So if you can accept the niceness, you better be willing to take, you know, the nastiness and not let it affect you too much. Both, both, you know. It's great to have love. So I will never forget the words. It was the first paragraph, and then it said, enriched by Mr. Morales' performance. I'm like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 8:57

Enriched is a good word.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

What a great word. And Mel Gusal. I'll take it. He was he was like, you know, he's one of the big guys at the New York Times. And I wish, you know, I don't know if he's still alive. I th I heard he passed away, but I just, you know, want to say to his family, whoever they are, you know, thank him for me because um it it made me feel like maybe, maybe I have a future in this.

SPEAKER_04 9:18

Right, which again is kind of pivotal where where it's like, oh, okay, check. Got that off your right? That's off your resume.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

I might be doing something right.

SPEAKER_04 9:27

Exactly. Exactly. And it keeps you going. Sure it does. But amazingly, like, did you feel like you had to pursue a lot or did jobs kind of just come not fall on your lap?

SPEAKER_00 9:38

That does stalk my work. No, um, you know, it's funny because you can only prepare so much, and no matter how much you prepare, there's no guarantee of success. Right. And then there was times that I didn't do anything and it just like fell on my lap.

SPEAKER_04 9:53

And then what it does it mess up here with your mind a bit?

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Well, here's the thing. I did a I did a project called Ozark for Netflix. Yeah. My standing. Your stock goes up and down in in this industry. Yes. And Ozark quite quickly. Yeah. What have you done? What are you doing right now today? What's what's your box office numbers? What's your star rating, you know, on IMDB or something like that? Yes. Which I find kind of silly, but whatever. It's like how many followers do you have?

SPEAKER_04 10:23

You know, IMDB is like so long.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

But yeah, and it's a yeah, it's a collection of pyramids, you know.

SPEAKER_04 10:30

Well, and you must get in the mail so many of those little residual checks. I still get some from like 20, 30, 40 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Little is the keyword there. I got some for like two or three cents. I was like, why bother?

SPEAKER_04 10:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Why bother sending me the email? Let them collect a little.

SPEAKER_04 10:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

And when they're over 10 bucks, let's just say, you know. Exactly. Loop them in together. But it it's it's something we're in negotiations right now. I think that they've come to a tentative agreement. But I always get nervous when I hear that because I go, what did we give up this time? Oh in order to get peace. Yes. You know? Yes. Our antecedents fought very hard and um and nobly for the gains that were attained. And then little by little they get whittled away. So, you know, it it's it's it's a tough thing.

SPEAKER_04 11:17

And then you think that's the new normal. Oh, absolutely. That's the scary part.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

But here's the scarier part that we would do this for free if they let us. Do you know? I mean, it's yes. We it it's a it's a bad habit, you know, it's kind of like neurosis. But it is a craft, it is a career, it is something that some people make look easy and others work their whole lifetimes.

SPEAKER_04 11:37

And well, you made it look easy and have worked pretty much your whole life. You've worked, what, over 40 years?

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Yeah, pushing 50. Yeah. Of having my screen actors killed covered. And yes, when I was born, yes.

SPEAKER_04 11:52

You're still younger than I am. Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Respect your elders. I can't believe that.

SPEAKER_04 11:56

Three, four years.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

No, you are I was born 60.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

You were born in 60.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Okay, I'm gonna podcast interview you. What are you doing? I met your hubby. You know, I mean, you guys make a very, very oh, how should I say it? Handsome couple is not enough. It's like sophisticated yet down to earth. Both of you have a really good energy, and I like that.

SPEAKER_04 12:17

Yeah, well, thank you. You too.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

So, what's your secret?

SPEAKER_04 12:21

No, we're going back to you. Um, I love how you went from theater and then you transitioned into television first and movie. So you did LaBaud, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:32

I did theater and then I did Bad Boys with Sean Penn.

SPEAKER_04 12:35

Oh, right, bad boys.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

82. Paco. Paco Moreno, bad guy.

SPEAKER_04 12:38

You had to somebody how do you pull on that? How do you figure that out?

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Well, no, you know, I gotta tell you, it was very painful because um I dedicated my you know, I did Shakespeare in the park. You know, I I was I was um, you know, in The Tempest with Raul Julia and a few other actors that are, you know, subsequently did well. Um uh Linda Hamilton was in our production. She became, you know, the Terminator's mom.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

You know, um, a few other people, you know, um Barry Miller and just a lot of great actors coming up. And then I was like, okay, I'm not gonna do this stereotype thing, you know.

Unions, Politics, And Industry Reality

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Maybe as a as a blonde, you had moments where you were like you didn't want to play the dumb blonde, right? Right. Stereotypes don't just belong to minorities, you know? No. So uh, you know, uh, so I was like, I'm not gonna do that. And then there's this like juicy little role. He's a bad guy, but they killed his brother. So there was something that I could lean on that that it wasn't just because he was a Latino or whatever that he's bad. It's because I don't want to contribute to the denigration of my people, quote unquote.

SPEAKER_05 13:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

But I did this role, and what I tried to do is add a dimension of of humanity so that you know, there's more than two dimensions, you know.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

Well, and you have to have that in you to be able to tap on it. And some people I think spend so much time in this area they lose that.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yeah, right. And some people lose themselves in the bad too. That stuff follows you.

SPEAKER_04 14:13

Have you seen that?

SPEAKER_00 14:14

I've experienced it.

SPEAKER_04 14:16

With yourself?

SPEAKER_00 14:18

I I I realize I'm becoming like a character. So when you would walk offset after being bad onset, you would lash out at someone or you know, um, you draw from reality, you draw from you know real life experiences. I'm turn off my dinger on the phone just in case that real life experiences you've never experienced.

SPEAKER_04 14:37

Oh. I'm assuming you've never raped anybody.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

No, but here's the point. What is the abuse of persons? You know, what is beating someone up? What is losing your temper? What is the relative loss of control where you actually hurt someone else? Where does that come from?

SPEAKER_05 15:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

And if you find most people, I mean, I I watch, I get I get lost doom scrolling, and I can't help but to watch fights, either MMA or people in the street really fighting. And I don't know what it is about real life things like that that grip me because it's like there, but for the grace of God, go I. What would I do in this situation? Right. Yeah, you know, I think that a lot of guys are obsessed with fights and sports because, you know, primordially, we're there to protect and provide. And God forbid, somebody comes near your family.

SPEAKER_06 15:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Or your friends, who are you gonna be? Right. The guy that says, no, no, please don't hurt me, you know, the guy that runs away, or the guy that says, Yeah, you you might just beat me, but you you're gonna pay. It it's maybe, maybe you shouldn't.

SPEAKER_06 15:47

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

You know, and and it comes from fear, I think, you know. And then when I was a kid in the Bronx, I wasn't a big teenager, you know. I was rather, you know, small until I was scrappy, but scrappy. And and but because there was a song called Kung Fu Fighting, remember? Everybody was kung fu. And I remember going to school one day, and that was a song that all of a sudden there was a free-for-all, and every smaller kid in the school got kicked in the head, in the face, in the back. It was like and I was like, Whoa, where is this coming from? Right. So I, you know, I experienced the receiving end of that.

SPEAKER_06 16:23

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

And then I know what it's like to say, I'm gonna get you back, because revenge is, I mean, you know, most of our movies are based on revenge is like the final payoff, right? So you have to find that that initial pain that will then turn you into a, you know, oh, I I got, well, you're gonna get now too. So most of the things, you know, when people make jokes about, hey, you know, you you I saw you be the bad guy in that, you know, mission movie, right? I go, no, no, no. I was the good guy. You see, you see, Ethan Hunt took all my money and I was trying to get it back. That's just what they're telling you. That's the side you see, but you can't believe everything you see, you know.

SPEAKER_04 17:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

The point is you got to find that pain because it's hurt people that hurt people.

SPEAKER_06 17:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Someone who's given love and tenderness their whole lives that doesn't understand what a smack in the face for looking at them the wrong way is wouldn't conceive of hating another human being, you know?

SPEAKER_06 17:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

And even myself, I I grew up under punches. You know, I have a daughter and I have friends, you know. I can't conceive of striking my child, but I reserve the right, I tell her. I said, do not push it. Do not push it.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Once she's at that age, your daughter's 16.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

15. Well, yeah, going on 50.

SPEAKER_04 17:40

Yeah. And then it's like You're coming out of that hormone. I have three sons, and I had two stepdaughters at the time. And my oldest son said, Mom, she's finally almost a human being again. And she was just at 16. I remember it because he was a little younger.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

They get so mean on it.

SPEAKER_04 17:56

I mean, it's like the hormones, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

It is, and but but I also think they know. Like when I was a little kid, I I could hear our parents, oh, they don't know any better. I'm like, I know better. You know, like I'm like, why are they treating us like we can't hear them talk about us? Like, you know, so I do believe that you have to, you cannot be too strict. You can't be this you know, immovable wall.

SPEAKER_05 18:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

But you can't be too coddling.

SPEAKER_04 18:24

No. Yeah, they they play you.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

They do play you. Yes, yeah. And and then I say the first lesson in life, if I don't teach it to you here, you're gonna learn it the hard way on the street. You're gonna talk to somebody the way you just talk to me now, and they're gonna slap you.

SPEAKER_06 18:37

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

They're gonna slap you or punch you.

SPEAKER_06 18:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

I said, I don't want you to learn that way, okay?

SPEAKER_06 18:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

You you control yourself. If I have to control myself right now, yeah, start, start that process, okay? Okay. You're getting you're getting away with that one. That one. Now it's like, okay, now you're pushing it. Now you want me to, you need to learn consequences.

SPEAKER_04 19:01

Yes. Because and I always say cause and effect. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Okay, so you don't want to go on that camping trip, obviously.

SPEAKER_04 19:08

That's what kept me alive in my modeling business. I mean, the things people would offer me or places to go with certain people, I'm like, um, yeah, no, this and this, that's not going to be good news. And your agency's telling you, oh, it's good for your career. And I'm like, um, no, then I'll do something else.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Here's the funny thing is I'm like that. I I've never been one to worship success. I don't worship success.

SPEAKER_04 19:35

And you don't chase it.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

No, I work hard. Right. You do have to chase your own limitations. You, you know, I did that. Well, let me see if I can get past that. But when somebody, especially lady friends, actress friends, so be like, you say, what do I do? I'm like, what's up? Ah, this director, this producer wants to, you know, have a meeting with me. I'm like, what time? Where? At his hotel at eight. That's not a meeting, that's a date. If you like that person, that's on you.

unknown 20:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

If you're not interested in that, you should kind of like reconsider and let them know nicely, of course. You don't want to be too, you know. The way you say no to people can determine a lot for you.

SPEAKER_04 20:13

You learn this as a bad guy.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Oh, I learned this in a real life offer by some real heavy cats in the industry that like, or not in, they were outside the industry, but as this one person said, we have our fingers in some studios, we can make things happen for you.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

Oh. And you didn't want to go down that path.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Well, I'm thinking to myself, real quick, these really quickly in your head, you're like, okay, is this how is this it? Is this how it happens? Is this how like this one did it? That one, like, is this my moment? Like, you know, say thank you and sure, help me out. Yeah. But then you hear about stories in jail. Oh, they're for your candy bar or a cigarette.

unknown 20:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

They're, you know what? Like, I'm like, yeah, no, I don't want to be anybody's B. You know what I mean? I don't want to be. Then I thought about the Godfather and I thought about Frankie Fontaine, no, what who is it, Fontaine, Johnny Fontaine, singing at their weddings and stuff. Like, what if you don't want to do that? You know, I I didn't want to be committed to somebody and accept help. And it's almost like a voice from above, I I can only believe, because it wasn't from below. From below, it'd been like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, go for it. Said, you shut up, let me talk. There you go. And I said, Thank you. Thank you so much. I said, In my life. I remember these words. I've only one other podcast, I actually spoke about it for the first time recently. One, this is the second where I said, in my life, I've never been offered any help. So for you to even say that you would help, I'm honored. I said, I'm like, wow, thank you. I'm I can't tell you, you know. I said, but I know you're gonna understand because I can see you're a stand up guy. So you appeal to his vanity a little, you know. And this guy was if you know what I mean, like they took over that club. I mean, they're they're real. Real people. I found out later just who it was. I was like, I'm glad I responded that way. I said, You're a stand-up guy, and you you know that if I take help this early in my career, I'll I'll never know. And I know you know. I'll never know where I could have gotten on my own two feet before I could take help. I said, as a man, and and then you're a man. I mean, you know, you're a real cat. So and he just leaned back and like Yeah, right. Like he it was like, good answer.

SPEAKER_04 22:31

It was a it was a complimentary no, in a way.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Yeah,

Stereotypes And Humanizing Villain Roles

SPEAKER_00 22:35

no, it was a very complimentary no because these guys will break your legs if you say, nah, I don't need that at all, really.

SPEAKER_06 22:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

You don't know, you don't know, and you learn to be very nice to everybody because you don't know who you're talking to.

SPEAKER_06 22:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

And I can't stand that when I see people who are so full of themselves, they treat people who they think are nobodies. Right. You know, hey, this soup, it's cold.

SPEAKER_06 22:57

You know, like that person's working for a living. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

You respect that.

SPEAKER_06 23:01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

You clean toilets, you respect that person that cleans toilets. It's just, you know, oh, somebody's rich, a billionaire. Okay, great, but I don't know how they got their money.

SPEAKER_06 23:10

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

It doesn't guarantee that they did it in a noble and, you know, non-compromised way. So I don't respect, you know, success. I mean, yeah, I respect achievement.

SPEAKER_06 23:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

You know, I told a certain very famous actor, I said, man, I've never seen anyone do what you've done four decades, and you stayed right on, like in the top file, and you're just putting out great stuff. I said, Man, that's that's that's amazing.

SPEAKER_06 23:36

Yeah.

unknown 23:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:37

You know?

SPEAKER_04 23:37

Well, that's that's good to give compliments to other people.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

And and then, but they're not empty. You don't want to seem like somebody who's always trying to like, hey, ha ha, you know, you're great, man. And it they're not cheap. They're they're really heartfelt. And I think this person, when I um said no, thank you, but thank you so much. You know, um, I'm honored. I said, just that alone was a was a, you know, like I I feel indebted to you. Yeah, you know. Yeah. And that person ended up doing 20 to life for murder for the son of another very famous person, him and his right hand. And then that person put another hit on, probably the biggest, the most famous person from prison. Put a hit on.

SPEAKER_05 24:17

Well.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

And had that other person not gone to prison, they would have ended the same way they rose by taking out another guy.

SPEAKER_04 24:24

Okay, this is like another screenplay. Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

You know, but it's a funny thing, is uh I'm a kid from the Bronx, but I'm not of the streets, but I walk through the streets.

SPEAKER_04 24:35

Right. And you so I mean, from just the little bit we've been speaking together, you're just very observant of other people's human nature. And that's you absorb that like a sponge, and then you spit it back out in whatever character you we all have mirror neurons, they say, in our brain, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:51

But some people use them and some people don't. That's true. Some people have a gift for them, and some people don't. Like, I like talking like British people. Do you know what I mean? Like, and they talk to you like he's a good, he's a ripe chicken geezer, but I I don't get cast in these parts, do you know? And I'd have to work on it to be a lot more consistent. Or if I have uh Russian friends, Yagavrini and Noshka Baruski. This is something that I like to do. What could I play Russian? Oh, it was Cuban who was raised in Russia. I could play, you know, Leonid Gonzalez. You know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 25:25

You're doing voices, please do from Dora the Explorer.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

I barely remember, but Dora stuff, hey Poppy, I played Papi and Dora the Explorer.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Hello?

SPEAKER_04 25:35

You know, it's just I'm a little fish. Were you a fish or what no?

SPEAKER_00 25:38

I was her dad. I was her dad on a few episodes. It wasn't like a lifelong thing, but I was honored. I had a little three-year-old. I'm like, I can't wait till you see this. Yeah, you're dad. Yes. Because the the movies, when you know, when you're the kid, they don't know anything. Then when you get older, that's when they're like, Oh, my friends think you're cool.

SPEAKER_04 25:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Oh, and then they look at you through the eyes of their friends and you're like, Oh, thank you, God. You know, finally, because most of the time it's like, You again.

SPEAKER_04 26:05

So I have three sons, and my sons when they're one time I picked up one of my sons at football practice in high school, and I was in an open Jeep and just driving up to pick him up at practice, and the whole team turned around and looked at me, I guess. My son came over and said, Don't you ever pick me up in this car again.

SPEAKER_03 26:24

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 26:24

Because the way they talk, and I'm like, Oh my gosh, my hair wasn't done. I didn't have makeup on. I'm like, I wasn't there, I was just there.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

You know what they say in your business, you got the bones, okay? We may, we don't need all that outside stuff. You got the bones.

SPEAKER_04 26:37

So in my business, my sons were very thankful. Mom, thanks that you didn't do certain things.

SPEAKER_03 26:43

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 26:43

That really I mean, my sons would have taken on a whole team, you know, to stop the goo. And when we were working back in the day, we didn't know what Google was. Oh my god. We didn't know people could find old photos that we did when we were.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

Cut off midrift. My friends are like, oh, you went through your gay phase? Like a not that there's anything wrong with that. No, but it was just you know, the 80s when like you wore hair in air. Like it was crazy. Yeah, but it was a rather uh flamboyant looking pose. I don't know. I can't believe they picked it as hunk of the month. I'm like, oh god, I'm embarrassed. And it was burned in the calendar, it was burned, it was one of those, you know, teen beat, tiger beat type of magazines, and it was one of those things that the trolls, you know, somebody wants to really stick it to you when everybody's saying, Oh, how great you are. Yeah, what about this? Yeah. And I gotta tell you, it burned me in the beginning. I'm sorry. And then I was like, lean into it. Yeah. Yeah. The more it bothers you, the more potent it becomes as a weapon against you.

SPEAKER_04 27:51

Exactly. Yeah, you learn to let stuff roll.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 27:55

Okay, so all then you But I digress. Yeah, I know, I know. I'm trying to stick to my little thing here. So how did you go from acting, so acting theater, acting television, acting movies, and then movies and then television. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

So I did I did Bad Boys, right? My first movie, very interesting audition. I didn't think I was gonna get it. I was gonna go home. I saw the toughest guys in the room, like waiting. And I'm like, oh yeah, this guy's bigger, this guy's handsomer, this more muscles, this guy looks like karate guy. Like, oh gosh, I thought I wasted my 35 cents or whatever, 65 cents to to take the subway to go there.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

That was a long time ago. That was 65 cents for the subway.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

Do the math. No, don't do that. Exactly. Anyway, so uh, you know, I was about to like leave and I went and I pushed the down, you know, elevator elevator and it just read down and just something and said, You punk, really? You don't you didn't even get in the room and you're you're walking, you're letting other people intimidate you. Right. Now you know about that in the modeling world, right? Yes, and you're there and you're seeing every other gorgeous human being on the planet, and you think, ah, what am I doing here? You know, because all you all you think all you see is your own insecurities, right? No one looks at yourself the way you do.

SPEAKER_04 29:14

Yes, you know, like I was a tomboy. I always had wet hair, swimming, I was just busy, and I wanted to be a pharmacist.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

So I'm drug dealer too. I played drug dealer.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

I never wanted to go and model, I didn't study it, I didn't know how to put makeup on. But how did it happen? I was in a modeling school and I got discovered. I was just trying to make extra money for not barbizon, right? No, back in the day, it was the little one in Buffalo. I'm from outside of Buffalo.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

You know, Barbazon, like a lot of people went that way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:44

And then back, see, this was in 1977-78. Wow. And I was 17 and swimming five and a half hours a day, and then I'd go up and drive to Buffalo in the snow, go to that class, and felt like I didn't belong because all these girls were all like gone up and they had their portfolios and they hadn't, and I'm showing up with wet hair and yeah, but you had those bones, man, them cheekbones, that facial symmetry.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

We're in a visual medium.

SPEAKER_04 30:11

Yeah. But I didn't know that. I I never focused on it.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

So then why did you go?

SPEAKER_04 30:16

I thought, don't ever say I could have tried something, go ahead and do it. Just try it, see what happens. And so I was raised that way. My parents were supportive of me. We got a guaranteed contract for a year, me being paid money guaranteed for a year, which was unheard of.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Yeah, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_04 30:34

I think that's how he had to get me to New York. And then I had a cover of a magazine in four days. So my career in a national ad for makeup in three months, which is unheard of.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

So when you're young like that, I mean you just you're literally fresh out of the everything glows about you. You know, it's the thing about youth. But it's like becoming famous. People say, Oh, you you you made it. I'm like, Becoming famous is nothing compared to m staying relevant.

SPEAKER_04 31:02

Right. And that's why this show is important and developing character that really makes things last. I mean, to me, this is gonna fade. And so what else do you have? What else do we have to give?

SPEAKER_00 31:16

You know, I think this is a reflection of this.

Saying No Without Burning Bridges

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Yes. In the best sense.

SPEAKER_06 31:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

And people say, Oh, it's your secret. You're like how old and you're still running around playing tennis. I won an Indian Wells Pro, first time. It's not pretty, but it works. I got it. You know, the the a guy wrote a book called Winning Ugly. I'm like, I could have written that book because my technique has a lot to be desired.

SPEAKER_04 31:39

But you got out there. Heart. Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Heart. And it's all about heart. And like you said, I never want to say I could have. Right. So I have things still to this day that I'm like nervous about doing. Because you know, I when I was young, I go, Oh, I'll wait till I'm older. Then I'm like, wait, I wish I was younger now.

SPEAKER_06 31:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Because I heard um Houston, John Houston waited till he was 40 before he directed his first film. What I would give to be 40 again, you know, like so now and I want to direct and um officially, because I tell people, well, I've directed before, but without permission. Like, oh yeah, you maybe you can like, why don't you try it this way? You know, like the kind of directing that where you're walking on eggshells a little because you you really shouldn't. You know, it's a no-no to you know help your other actors.

SPEAKER_04 32:23

Who told you to do that? Well, he did.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

No, I'm just saying, you know, I just said it's an option, a choice. The point is, you know, it's impolite, but sometimes you can't help yourself because you see somebody struggling. You go, well, think of this while you do that. You know, like I'm very helpful.

SPEAKER_04 32:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Because it ain't about glorifying myself. It's about let's get this whole shit, the tide to rise, and then every ship rises with right. So um, so I I find projects that I want to direct, but there's always something missing. You know, it's like a a house that needs a fixing up.

SPEAKER_06 32:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

You know, so because all the great materials taken up by already, you know, proven talents that can do it. Yeah. So um that's one of the things I I want to do, and I just I have so much heart for it, but I also have respect for what I don't know, the technical aspects.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

Yes, yes.

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SPEAKER_04 33:14

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SPEAKER_00 33:55

There's something called technique and and and form. Like in in sports, you would call it form, right? And model, it's how you you have to work work the runway. There's a way to do it, and there's a way to just walk and do be drab, right? You can't.

Technique, Training, And Staying Relevant

SPEAKER_00 34:10

There's a purpose, and you have to figure out what will give me longevity because making it, yeah. 15 minutes and you're gone. You can't 15 minutes go by, goes by really quickly. You know, they say everybody gets their 15 minutes of fame. So, what are you gonna do to continue that streak? And what you do is you have to prepare some sort of method. Oh, you method actor. Well, everybody has their own method, meaning, what's your approach to a role so that every role isn't just you saying the different lines? It's yo, you again. Some actors, that's what they like, you know. Oh, I I want that. Yeah, made famous because that's who I am, that's who they want to see. Right. In different clothes, but it's that shtick that I do.

SPEAKER_04 34:49

Well, that's boring.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

Yeah, it can be, but some people trying to go like John Wayne, famous example.

SPEAKER_04 34:55

True.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Who didn't love John Wayne as a cowboy and as a soldier. And you could never imagine him as a well, he did Ganga Din, or no, not Ganga Din, Genghis Khan. Literally with eye makeup to like make it look, and it was such a big flop because you can only go so far not being authentic. Do you know what I mean? Yes, and he wasn't, you know, Sir Lawrence Olivia or even Marlon Brando who got away with it in uh Zapata and a few other things, right? There was a time where that's the norm, you know. They didn't have actors of minority backgrounds famous enough to hold up a movie. So you had to have your big actors. Even when I came up, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro played famous, you know, Latino characters. Wow. You know, De Niro and Cuban is Teddy Bear on Broadway, which I auditioned for. Funny story. Funny story. And the Pacino, obviously, in Scarface and Carlito's way.

SPEAKER_06 35:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

You know, and and people criticize his accent, like, you know, because it wasn't exactly Cuban, but it was enough and it was consistent enough. The key for an accent is you hang on to it the whole time, commit to it. Because the minute you go in and out of it, you lose your the audience. Like if you you become, oh yeah, that's you again. And then, well, now you're putting on an accent, but then you're gonna talk like this. Yeah, that kills it.

SPEAKER_06 36:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

So it has to be a consistency, and then you can get away with it if it's not too horrible, if it's not annoyingly bad.

SPEAKER_05 36:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:22

But he was, you know, someone like, ah, this is so into it, so committed emotionally, yeah, that you get drawn into it. So, what was your question 10 minutes ago?

SPEAKER_04 36:32

If you feel what's your thoughts to these people who don't study?

SPEAKER_00 36:37

I feel bad because um study is no guarantee, but my God, you you you want to feel like you have a a bag of not just tricks, but something to draw from, right? Yeah, there's a that's how I would say there's an arsenal. An arsenal of talents, of techniques, so that if you have an accent, let's just say, I mean, it's rough, you know, because I have to sometimes, like in in in Ozark, I played Mexican, and there's a different kind of accent. It's not like the Puerto Rican one that is very Caribbean or the cubano, very similar. Lucy, I hung, you know. Um, it's not like the Spanish from the Spain. There are that is uh, you know, my name is in Inigo Montoya, you kill my child prepared to die. But but Spanish is very, very choppy. It's the difference between Portuguese from Portugal or from Brazil, which is a more sing song, you know, and more Afro-Indigenous influence. Puerto Rican Spanish, very indigenous and Afro-influence. So, but Mexican, much more indigenous influence. And it's like um, it's like Western, you know. You know, it's a it it where English English from England is like British, right? Right. And then New Choppy. New Yorkers is like New York. I would I would compare the Puerto Rican accent to kind of New York, you know, it's more relaxed, you know. How you doing? Yeah. How you doing, you know? Um, where Western is like a derivative of Southern.

SPEAKER_06 38:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

And southern is old English. Now, how do you do? Slow down cockney sometimes or or or propa. But it's just, I love like how languages flow in and out of each other. So to answer your question in 15 minutes, I believe that they're gonna get rude awakenings when they come across the given roles that they somehow for some unspoken reason they don't seem to lock. And yeah, they got famous, but they'll get forgotten unless you have talent. Like the greats. Yeah. Like, you know, um Tony Collette. Oh my god, everything she's in, you know, Laura Linney. Um so many great, especially the women actresses, you know. It's just I call them beasts because they just they devour these roles. Um I mean, it's so many. I you know, I feel terrible naming them because I don't want to, you know, forget some forget some. But um yeah. But when you approach it with a technique that looks inside out, then you have more to deal with. And even me, I mean, I I I'm very grateful for the kind things people say about me, but I I I I feel like my best work is still yet to come. I want to be challenged.

SPEAKER_04 39:38

I love that. So what besides directing, is there anything else that you want to be challenged with?

SPEAKER_00 39:44

Well, just you know, if somebody says, What kind of role would you like to play? What's your ideal role? And the only thing I could say to that is someone as crazy as myself. You know, I'm American. Yeah, I'm Latin, but I'm also very American.

SPEAKER_06 39:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

You know, I'm very proud of my roots, but not at the expense of my nationality. You know? Um, I think you can be both. I think you can be a hybrid, not a low bridge. Yes. You know, um I I people say, what kind of role do you want to Oh, what's your favorite role? I go, the next one that's gonna pay for my kids' education and eventual our retirement or whatever. I I don't look back and rest on my laurels. I leave that for other people to talk about.

SPEAKER_03 40:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

But I'm looking for what's the next thing I can do so that I I feel like I can make people forget all the other performances. You know? And I think I may have come across one in a little indie that I did late last year called Coyote. Because I did say to the universe and some interviewers on the red carpet, What kind of role would you like to do? I said, well. They say, You do so many bad guys. Do you want to do a good guy? I go, Yeah, but I want to do a good guy who was a bad guy. Like the ideal role. Like um, what's his name? Jean Renault and the Professional. Oh my gosh. The first movie that uh little Natalie Portman, who was like nine or twelve years old. Oh my gosh. This movie, he plays a hitman, and like somehow, like this little girl like latches onto him, he kills like her family, whatever. A bad family, like like the father was abusive

When Acting Skills Save A Life

SPEAKER_00 41:20

or stuff. But then like they they form this bond. But he's a guy who's like he has no time for this. It's a reluctant hero, but she eventually melts his heart so much that at the end you just done.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

Can you watch a movie regular or are you always analyzing? I mean, I guess you don't know what what it's like to watch one from my point because I can't watch a fashion show or watch another photo shoot, and I'm like, what is she doing?

SPEAKER_00 41:55

I know, right?

SPEAKER_04 41:56

So I'm sure you're like that with movies.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

I do that with fashion shows too. No, um with movies it's weird because if they're really good, you just forget and you just get sucked into the storyline and you're like, what's gonna happen? The hard thing about being a director or even a really good actor, I would think, is you have to stay one or two steps ahead of your audience, but not more than that, or you lose them. But if they catch up to you and they know what you're doing and they can tell what you're gonna do next, you lost them. Right. It's like how much time is it? I've seen this before. It's so easy to bore people. Really easy.

SPEAKER_04 42:34

And you know what I find in life I keep waiting for like the happy ending in two hours. And sometimes in life, things are not that way.

SPEAKER_00 42:42

And it's like But there is a massage parlor down like if you turn I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_04 42:47

Oh, right, sorry, wrong hour my patience level for people or for situations and or or justice or so many things. I'm like, oh come on, like let's what is justice though, right?

SPEAKER_00 43:00

One person's justice is the beginning of a next like as you think about wars, right? Both sides think they're they're in the right. Yeah, just like a few people do, you know, yeah, evil for evil's sake.

SPEAKER_04 43:11

What was that Snidley whiplash?

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Yeah, oh my gosh. We watch the same cartoons, right? Um what makes someone evil is I guess the lengths they'll go to get what they want and the rules, the social norms they'll break. Where it's like, I don't care. And I learned that as again, going back to the story when I was a kid walking home. I had to walk home with a hand always in my pocket.

SPEAKER_05 43:41

Why?

SPEAKER_00 43:42

Because I can tell you're from Buffalo. If you if you ask that question why, then because I have a hand in my pocket and you're looking for a victim to take. Oh. He could have a knife or a gun. Who knows? Mystery, you know. Acting, I started there. I remember once I ran because I heard screams at like four in the morning and they didn't seem like happy screams. They were like terrifying.

SPEAKER_04 44:05

Weren't you at at home in your bed?

SPEAKER_00 44:06

No, I was in my early, I think it was 21, 22.

SPEAKER_04 44:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

Yeah. It was after bad boys, but it was like four in the morning. It was a weekend. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 44:16

In New York City.

unknown 44:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

That's like lunchtime.

SPEAKER_04 44:19

Oh, it's lunchtime, wasn't it? I'm saying four in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Oh, like in for New Yorker, but it's a 24-hour city.

SPEAKER_00 44:24

You know, it's like, I'm going to the store, you know, at four. Anyway, I was leaving a bar, okay. Um, but I heard these screams and I just I ran. Towards it or away? Towards it. There you go. Stupidly. And it was like 77th Street. And it turned out that my friend's club, the Kangaroo Club, 77th Street. And I walked up First Avenue trying to find the source of these screams. I eventually found them on 79th and 2nd.

SPEAKER_05 44:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

Late at night, those canyons travel. And I saw a car on the corner, one woman half in, half out, another woman outside screaming at the car, and the car door opened.

SPEAKER_05 45:10

Right.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

So I think it was an attempted carjacking. And there were two women that looked like you, Bond American gals. And there was somebody in the driver's seat, and there was screaming. And I didn't think. I was like, I ran across the street diagonally. And the only thing that I could do at the time, because I didn't have any weapons on me, right? Was use my acting. I had a leather jacket on, and I put my hand behind my back.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

Police get out of the car, freeze.

SPEAKER_00 45:45

And I was like, and I gotta tell you, the look on this guy's face, like, what the and did it work? He got out and ran down the street. And I'm like, You okay? You okay? He's got our keys, he's got my keys. So I ran down. You're like, cute. I know. And then my friend, by the way, I had a friend that was like literally I left him like two blocks behind. Like he didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 46:14

Did you catch up?

SPEAKER_00 46:15

I not not by the time, you know. Let me tell you what happened. Then I I came down and I ran after him. He's on the sidewalk. I stay in the street. Why? Because if he had a gun on him for any reason or a knife, there's cars in between us. I can go around the cargo, you know, like you don't want to run up on somebody who can just turn around and shoot you.

SPEAKER_04 46:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

Or stab you if you get too close. Right.

SPEAKER_04 46:38

You want an object.

SPEAKER_00 46:39

And I was like, give me the keys, give me the keys, right? And he's like, okay, okay. Turned down the block, and I he picked up a garbage can. Like, okay, middle ages jousting, you know. What is it? The Renaissance Fair, New York, urban Renaissance Fair. And and we were like, it's just so stupid. Somebody from upstairs threw an egg. They're like, shut up. I'm like, oh my God. Incoming fire. But I got this guy in a headlock. I said, just give me the keys. I didn't want to like, you know, just I just wanted to write the wrong. Yeah. I wanted to save the girl's car or something. Because you could have thrown them then come back later, take them leave. I don't know. Right? Just give me the keys. I don't know. And in the corner, uh, the lights turn on when the light goes, and it's cop cars. They watch the whole thing.

SPEAKER_04 47:31

They're like, let him do it.

SPEAKER_00 47:32

They watch this thing happen, unfold, and then they come by. These two New York City cops, you know. It's going to be this guy. He's gonna kiss you. All right. I sat on the sidewalk and um they took him away. He was on parole.

SPEAKER_05 47:46

Huh?

SPEAKER_00 47:47

He was a career criminal. And then they asked me, Hey, hey, you an Hector? I seen you in Bad Boys, and I was mortified. I was like, I don't know if that guy was a fan or like his family knows me. Like, oh my god, you know, they go, Yeah, no, listen. We, you know, hey, do you mind if we the New York Post will call you to do a story? I don't know. I don't know. Because I'm thinking, you know, somebody's family. You got my cousin locked up, my brother, yeah, my husband. Yeah, you had a signing event, there you go. Turn into John Lennon, there, your last autograph. You know, that was traumatizing.

SPEAKER_04 48:21

I was in the city for that.

SPEAKER_00 48:22

I was too.

SPEAKER_04 48:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

And so I said, No, listen, you know, and finally they go, No, no, don't worry. Those interviews. A guy stuck his foot out, tripped a person actually, and ended up with a half a page. Come on. So I said, Oh, all right, fine. And nobody called. And I saw the two cops say, Hey, how you doing? Hey, did anybody ever call? I go, No. Wow. And that kind of hurt my feelings. I didn't want it, but I'm like, oh, wait a minute. Now but I did get a commendation from the city of New York, which was very nice.

SPEAKER_06 48:52

Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_05 48:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:53

I mean, you know, I didn't do it for that, but you know, but I'll tell you what really hurt my feelings.

SPEAKER_05 48:58

Uh oh.

SPEAKER_00 48:59

The ladies never said thank you. They drove by, identified the guys, and left, and I never heard anything from them. I was like, I was a little butthurt, I have to admit.

SPEAKER_05 49:07

I guess so.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

You know, I could have died, you know, but you know, I didn't do it for that. But when I thought about it, it was a double whammy. The New York Post didn't give a damn. Yeah. And the ladies never reached out. And like easy to find.

SPEAKER_04 49:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:22

It's like, okay, well, I hope you're a little bit more.

SPEAKER_04 49:24

Simple thank you would have been nice.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

Yeah, because uh when I was a kid, I have a scar here when I got stabbed at 14 years old. Oh. By two guys and one guy trying to take my radio. And yeah, um, they eventually ran off. And I was sitting on the side of on a corner on Riverside in the 104th, and a tall, lovely, blonde lady just like yourself said, Are you okay? I couldn't move my wrist because they had cut the uh the tendon that lifted it. Yeah. And I was very scared at the time of not that there's anything wrong, but appearing gay for the rest of my life because my wrist was gonna be limp. I'm a 14-year-old kid. I'm like, oh my God. False advertising. I'm like, oh, and I'm like, and then blood's dripping out, but not gushing. So I knew it wasn't an artery, but a vein got cut. Right. And I'm like, what am I in? I was in shock. And she said, You need to go to a hospital. I go, I I know, and I I didn't know where. 104, I'm like, do you go to Roosevelt? Do you go to this one? She gave me five

Kindness, Foundations, And Giving Back

SPEAKER_00 50:25

dollars, which in those days is like giving me 50 today. Right. And she said, Here, take it to this hospital. She told the cab driver where to go, and to this day, if I could find that.

SPEAKER_05 50:34

Aww. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:37

She was a good Samaritan.

SPEAKER_05 50:39

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

So that kind of stuff really moves me. Yeah. Yeah. I was a stabbing victim, you know? Yeah. And she was kind. Yeah. And she gave me money to take a cab.

SPEAKER_04 50:54

That's a good lesson there.

SPEAKER_00 50:55

Yeah. So I tell whenever I talk to kids or underprivileged people, I go, You're very lucky. And you know, I tell them that story. I go, you know, random acts of kindness is what it's all about. If you can do something for someone with nothing in return.

SPEAKER_04 51:07

Well, and you pay it forward. I try. Yeah. I mean you started your foundation, right?

SPEAKER_00 51:12

I'm working on another one now. Which one? Well, it's not announced yet, but um we will we will raise money to help people on the island that my family's from, Puerto Rico, because we have some talent there, but no distribution, no training outlets. If you don't have money, you know, how do you how do you become a storyteller? Yeah, and they've they've there's some really good shorts and stories, people are doing on their iPhones. So um I started the Richport Foundation.

SPEAKER_05 51:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 51:39

Richport, right? Well that means Puerto Rico in English. No, you know, while we're talking. And yeah, I I want to give something back to the island. Um and I'm working with another group, which is already established for 30 plus years in Guatemala that I just made deep connections with. And we're gonna overlap. And I'm gonna help them. I'm an ambassador for hope of life.

SPEAKER_06 52:05

Oh good.

SPEAKER_00 52:06

And they're amazing. And what they do, I mean, people from the States and Canada pay money to go help these folks as they find people that are starving, you know, the the native and semi-native, like they're people in the outskirts, like little kids with distended bellies, because in the hot, hot months the drought gets so bad, or El Nino, too much water or not enough can affect them. Um generational poverty. Where they don't mindset. The mindset and and and literally, if if a child doesn't get enough nutrition by a certain point, they will never, and then the children they have, it's it becomes a vicious cycle of of povert impoverished minds, bodies, and souls, you know.

SPEAKER_04 52:49

And sometimes it's a handful of peanuts that had enough nutrition, right? Gets rid of that orange in their hair.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

Oh my god, so much and and and things we take for granted. And we have so much wealth, and there are people who who who make a lot of money and don't know what to do with it.

SPEAKER_04 53:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:05

So we we're here soon, you'll be hearing from me. There you go. What to do with it, transparent, very, very above board, because that's very important. Because a lot of folks do take advantage of people's good nature.

SPEAKER_04 53:16

Yes. So, um so looking at your whole career and now being able to give back, there were moments, I'm sure, where you were working with Al Pacino and you were working with all these.

SPEAKER_00 53:27

Yeah, I did a play with him, but I didn't have I didn't act with him. I was I killed myself as he walks over my body to make his entrance in Salome.

SPEAKER_04 53:35

But you've done all these wonderful things. And I mean, we could talk for hours about all the great things you did, but there's something about giving back now.

SPEAKER_03 53:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:43

And that whole feeling of, oh, this is the value, and this is where I feel um, I don't know, you're most fulfilled in a way.

SPEAKER_00 53:51

Is that people ask why I became an actor, you know, in the beginning for for superficial reasons. Well, I want to be famous, I want to be loved, I want the girls to like me. You know, it's like, you know, why not? But you get into it and you realize why you stay, because that that that just, you know, it's like oh, you're pretty, but that only lasts so long. You want to be more than externally appealing, right?

SPEAKER_06 54:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 54:11

And and I feel like we're all like part of the same five created consciousness, God, whatever you want to call it. You know, everyone has their own angle on it. And I am he is you or he, and you are me, and we are all together. I believe that being a performer is our way of speaking each other's language. So much so that it resonates with the audience and then you care for this thing that you know is not real.

SPEAKER_05 54:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 54:41

It draws you in. That's what great literature does. That's what great art does. It lets you f feel connected to something eternal. Yeah. Something that you can't fully describe, but you know, other people call God, God consciousness. So I want to be the best human being I can be, and I think you get in order to take care of yourself, you'll have to take care of your surroundings

Meaning, Purpose, And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 55:05

as well. Yeah. And the more successful you are, the bigger that radius becomes.

SPEAKER_04 55:11

That's my quote. Much is given, much is required, right? Yes. Yeah. Well, thank you very much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 55:18

I feel like I just da just babbled and you only got to two, three questions. You probably prepared 30. I did.

SPEAKER_04 55:25

I had quite a few here. But every every interview takes on its own character, and that's what's so fun about it.

SPEAKER_00 55:31

So otherwise, we'd be bored to death. That's right. Yeah. Well, thank you for being lovely and interesting and um beyond skin deep beauty.

SPEAKER_04 55:39

There you go. Thank you. That's the compliment right there. It's true. Yeah. Thanks for watching the show. If you have any questions for me or you want any more information, go to Kim Alexis.com.