Michael Pena
The reality that everyone is stereotyped - every one gets typecast, so you have to work to get out of that.
I am not afraid to play Latin roles - that was a big part of my life.
I've been an actor for 20 years, and I think the first 14 years, it was all struggling. At first, it was all gangsters.
You can think you know somebody. But when they're trying to punch you in the face, you really know somebody. You learn their tendencies.
There's a certain weird something. I'm always nervous when I spar. You learn it's going to hurt, but it's only going to hurt for a little bit. It brings out the animal in you to an extent. You learn what you can take.
There are certain people you don't have to worry about on set.
A shootout is a shootout. You go in and get the bad guys.
There's an immigration problem in every country that has money, in that people there have a problem with immigration.
I'm an American, and I live pretty well. But go down to Mexico, and a lot of people really don't. So what, we're going to blame them for trying to get out?
I lived in Chicago, in a shady part of town, and the cops would always stop me since I'm Mexican and I look like the other dudes. Style played a part in it. You're not really going to dress in a suit in a tie.Collection: Ties
What happened happened. What's gonna happen, is gonna happen.Collection: Destiny
In the beginning, I was always playing some kind of gangbanger and the token Mexican dude who didn't have a lot of lines but was in the entire movie. At the same time, everyone gets typecast, and I decided that if I was going to play a stereotypical role, I was going to play it like a three-dimensional character.Collection: Character
There is always pressure in any movie set. If you think about it, there is something that you memorize and it is almost like public speaking every day, all day. There is a crew of people, there are monitors and if you mess up, you have to do it until you get it right and then sometimes, you would go blank.Collection: Thinking
Eddie Murphy is just so off-the-cuff and can make anything funny. You hope that someday you'll acquire that skill, but maybe you're born with that.Collection: Skills
I took a year and a half off, when my kid was born, because I didn't want to be one of those dads where the kid doesn't know who his dad is.Collection: Dad
You can have a kid and just be off at work all the time, and it's all mom. But, I spent a lot of time with him, so now, every time I see him, he's like, "Dada!"Collection: Mom
I love documentaries and I watch documentaries to no end.Collection: Watches
I think that when you’re doing a comedy and it makes you laugh, there’s a certain… like you can reject it, and it’s okay. It’s not promoting it or making it seem cool. I think that’s when you get into hot water.Collection: Thinking