Interview with Luis Guzman
Thursday / October 1, 2026
About Luis Guzman
Puerto Rican-born actor raised in New York, a former social worker known for Carlito's Way, Boogie Nights, Traffic, The Count of Monte Cristo and Gomez Addams in Wednesday.
Source: SAG-AFTRA Foundation on YouTube
These answers are taken from Luis Guzmán Career Retrospective | Conversations at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation on SAG-AFTRA Foundation's YouTube channel. You! Backstage did not conduct this interview.
What was your very first experience with acting?
The first thing that I ever did was a high school play. I did Bye Bye Birdie. My gym teacher was directing the play. I walked by the auditorium, saw him in there, and said, "What are you doing?" He said, "I'm directing the school play this year." I was like, "Dude, you can't even run a gym class. You're going to direct the play?" So he threw a script at me, like, "Let's see what you can do." I couldn't back down, and I ended up doing the role of Mr. MacAfee, which was done by the great Paul Lynde. The most nervous moment, and I think we did four shows, was just getting that first line out. Once I got that first line out, it was pretty much a breeze.
Right after high school, I joined a street theater company on the Lower East Side. We used to do street theater, and I'd end up doing eight, nine, 10 characters in the play. I did a couple of indie films that friends made. But again, it was a hobby. What I was really pursuing was my community activism.
When did you start acting?
I was a social worker at Henry Street Settlement, working with teenagers. I was looking for a few teenagers that didn't show up to my program, so I went out to the street looking for them, and I ran into a friend of mine, Miguel Piñero, one of the original New York poets, who also wrote Short Eyes. He told me he was writing for a TV show and they were coming to New York to look for people. He gave me a phone number, and somehow I ended up at Bonnie Timmermann's office, the legendary casting director. I had no clue what I was doing. The next week I got a call to meet the producers and the director. I still had no clue what was going on.
The third week, I get a phone call from a guy named Richard. He said, "I represent your friend Miguel, and I'd like to represent you." And I go, "For what?" He goes, "Well, you just booked a co-starring role in the season premiere of Miami Vice." That was my first job. I swear, I had no clue. That's how I got my SAG card. But more than anything, I wanted to get me a used car, so I could drive to Orchard Beach on the weekends and not have to take the train and the bus.
What attracted you to begin a career as an actor?
I was influenced by my mom a lot. My mom used to take me every Saturday to the Jefferson Theater on 14th Street, and every Saturday they had the biggest showcase of Latin artists. That's where I first saw Marco Antonio Muñiz on the stage with a mariachi band on a white horse, and he made that horse stand up on stage. Seeing El Gran Combo, seeing all these incredible artists when I was a kid. My mom had a big influence as far as the whole music scene.
And every Sunday on Channel 9 they had Million Dollar Movie, and I would sit down with my stepdad to watch those movies. One of the most memorable movies for me was On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando. It really struck me as a kid, because we used to hang out on the piers. But I didn't know how great Marlon Brando was. I found that out years later.
What do you enjoy most about acting?
I love to improvise. Usually what I'll do is I will always give what the director wants, what's on the script, and then I will always ask for the last take, because sometimes I have ideas too. It makes me feel more important to the project, having the freedom to be able to improvise. I don't mind improvising, and I don't mind being improvised with, because I think a lot of fun stuff can come out of that.
Sometimes as actors we're really affected by what our colleagues are doing, their performances. It happened to me with Denzel when I did The Bone Collector. He's doing this whole scene about how messed up it is that he's laid up in bed and he can't live a normal life, and it's mesmerizing. It's beautiful. It's art.
What was a great moment for you as an actor?
The night before my audition for Carlito's Way, a couple of my cousins came over to my apartment with this old beat-up zipper leather jacket they found in Tompkins Square Park. I looked at it and said, "That's the jacket I'm going to wear for my audition," because it looked so gangster. It worked.
I went into the audition, and there's Brian De Palma, there's Marty Bregman, and the casting director, Bonnie Timmermann. I start doing my lines, and Brian De Palma starts laughing, and I'm like, "Oh, damn." I took a deep breath and just plowed through, but I left him laughing. I didn't know I was supposed to do that. This is back in the day when you had the answering machines with the little light going on and off. And it's Bonnie saying, "You got the part." I knew before my agent. It was a dream come true for me, because who wouldn't want to work with Al Pacino?
How did your acting career unfold?
I get a package from a guy named Paul. A manila envelope. I put it in my office, and six months later I'm cleaning my office, I get to the bottom of the pile, and I open it. It's the script for Boogie Nights. I couldn't put it down. I called him up immediately and said, "Dude, are they going to let you make this movie? This movie is so out there, so well written. I could feel the texture. You captured that era incredibly well. How old are you?" He goes, "I'm 25." At that point I said, "This guy is really special. Absolutely, I will do this movie."
The opening of the movie, with the Steadicam coming off the crane, following the car to the front of the club, going in: we rehearsed that the whole night before. Then we rehearsed half the next night, and we did not get the first one off till three in the morning. I said, "This guy's out of his mind, but he's a genius." We went on to do Magnolia, and then Punch-Drunk Love. That's where I first met Adam Sandler.
What advice do you have for new actors?
Learn as much as you can. Be very observant. Be a good listener, and humble yourself every day, because I have worked with a lot of people in my career, and I've seen people crash and burn because of ego. Just be a good human being. Don't forget where you come from. I always go back to my neighborhood and hang out with some of the folks I grew up with. I still visit programs.
And to me, everything really lies in the material. It's not about who's in the movie, who's directing. That comes into play after you say, "Oh, this is a cool story." I never go into something with the expectation that this is going to be huge. I go in with the expectation of just being an artist, complementing my actors, looking out for my directors, doing my job.
What has been your greatest accomplishment as an actor?
I was shooting a movie in Cardiff, Wales, with Tom Hardy, and I get a phone call: "Tim Burton wants to talk to you." They want you to play Gomez. I was blown away, because we were just coming out of COVID, and right before I took the Tom Hardy movie, I was actually going through all my stuff, thinking, okay, maybe it's a good time to retire now. And I get this part, and it was like, no, baby, you got more coming your way.
A lot of my friends said, "Man, that's a lot of pressure. You're stepping into big shoes." I said, "No, I'm not stepping into big shoes. I'm paying homage." I grew up watching The Addams Family when it was black and white. I was an outcast before anybody knew what an outcast was. And I loved it when I saw Raul Julia play Gomez. Never in a million years would I have thought of something like that. But that's been the story of my career.
People ask how I prepare for a role like that, and it's quite easy for me, because Gomez is this passionate, loving man. I love being passionate and I love being loving. You have a love for a wife, for a daughter, for a son. I just apply those things, and it works. It's beautiful. It's simple. It's organic.
Think about a demanding director, professor or cast mate. What made him or her difficult? How did you successfully interact with this person?
I studied for two years with a gentleman named Bill Alderson, and it was a love-hate relationship. One time I was doing a scene from The Rose Tattoo, and at the end you get your critique. The first words he said to me were, "What are you doing in acting?" He really shot me down. As I walked by him, I stopped by his table, looked at him and said, "You know what? [Expletive] you." And I went and sat down.
But the biggest thing that came out of that for me was that I did not quit, because I saw him criticize people and you would never see them again. My lesson from that was, if you're going to have a coach, that's the coach that you want, because he's challenging you. And I appreciated that. I came back, and believe it or not, for two years I was the only student in that class getting jobs, and the only Latino in that class. You don't want people to baby you. You don't want people to have sympathy for you. You want to do the work. I let my work do the talking for me.
Have you progressed in your acting career as you have expected?
I don't think in my career I have ever done the same role twice. Different roles. Because I don't really think about what I'm doing, it's pretty fresh to me. When I show up, I'm not really using my career as a reference. I'm more using my life as a reference.
Sometimes I don't really believe this life that I have. I really don't. I used to think it was weird hearing this about other people, but I never knew that I couldn't leave my apartment without wearing a hat and sunglasses just so I could make it to where I had to go. It's an honor for me. I love my people. But sometimes I just really want to be me. That's why I live in Vermont. I stack my own wood. I go to the supermarket and people go, "Oh my god, you're shopping." And I go, "Yeah."
How do you show your cast mates the importance of communication?
It starts with, "Hey, I'm Louie," and just seeing what their response is. And I observe. Sometimes the hardest take is the first take, so it's a very quick feel right there. A quick diagnosis. I just show up and I'm ready.
On Traffic, Don Cheadle and I pretty much improvised most of our stuff, and we never rehearsed. The way we really bonded was before we shot, I invited him over and cooked a meal, Puerto Rican food, rice and beans and pork chops, and he loved it. He invited me over to his place the next day. We bonded. We never talked about what we were going to do. We just did it.
On Perpetual Grace with Sir Ben Kingsley, after two weeks of scenes with no dialogue, we finally did a seven-page scene. The very first take I didn't say anything that I'd memorized. I was just trying to work out my nerves. The second take I did a little better, and by the third and fourth take I nailed them both. Sometimes it takes a little warming up, but once I warm up, I'm on a roll.
Of all the roles you have played in the past, which is your favorite?
The Count of Monte Cristo was my first period piece. I end up going to Ireland, my first time in Europe. I'm meeting Richard Harris, who I love, and all these actors from Scotland, Ireland and England, and here's a kid from the Lower East Side. Going from a pirate to wearing these beautiful, incredible costumes, I felt like royalty. And it's not just the costume. It's the artwork. It's the architecture of what's going on. It's getting on that little dinghy boat. It's like living in a museum almost, because it's that whole different era.
That was by far one of my best experiences. I've had many, but that was an awesome experience. We did a great movie and everybody loved it, and people still point it out to me today.
Who is your favorite actor, and why?
Al Pacino was my hero, from Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon. The first time I met Al, my hands were very cold and sweaty, because that's an artist you look up to. We did a table read for Carlito's Way, and it was making me feel super uncomfortable, very insecure. I thought, they're going to recast this part. I called up Paul Calderon, an incredible actor, someone I look up to, and he gave me the best advice: "Papa, you have lived this life. You've hung out with many Pachanga wannabes. Just do your thing." And that's what I did.
When Al turned that switch on, he was amazing to watch and to listen to. In the scene in the office where he pulls out the wire, I'm outside listening to this, and I just felt so bad for [Kleinfeld], taking all this in emotionally, and two seconds before, I go, "Oh, I've got a cue." I came in and got my cue, but man, I felt it. I love working with Al.
Describe your acting style.
I draw a lot from my life. I draw a lot from observation. When I first got into the business, there would be four pay phones, and I would just stand there and watch people's conversations, and I could tell: she got the job, she's worried about something, this guy's out of it. I studied human behavior. That's how I did it. I used to study how people walked across the street, what their steps were saying to me, what their movement was saying to me.
With comedy, I don't do things to try to be funny. I don't do things to be slapstick. I allow the dialogue, I allow the situation, and how I react. That to me is comedy. Adam Sandler appreciates that. It comes out funny because of the situation, because of the circumstances.
Sometimes I like to really speed things up, because I work according to my rhythm. So I'll tell the DP, "Bro, get the lighting right, because I'm going to fly through this."
Tell me about a time where you had difficulty with a character. What was the role and why was it challenging?
On The Count of Monte Cristo, I had three weeks to work on my accent. I was always asking for a dialect coach, but they wouldn't send one, so I said I've got to do this on my own. My first scene with dialogue is when I roll up in a horse and carriage with all the jewels and tell the guy, "We're going to buy your land." Action. "Hello there, sir. How are you?" Cut, cut, cut.
Kevin Reynolds goes, "Come here," and we go on a walk down this dirt road, and I'm like, "Oh god, what's going to happen?" And he goes, "Lou, you're the only actor in this movie that doesn't have to talk like that. You're a pirate and you came from somewhere else, not from here. So do me a favor: lose that and be you." I go, "I can do that." And that was my thing on that movie.
What was the biggest audience you have performed in front of?
Oh my god, my fan base is 8, nine, 10 years old now. I got a whole army of them. I don't go into something saying, "Oh, this is going to be huge," because I didn't know what Wednesday was going to do. But when they sent me some of the episodes before, I was like, "Wow, this is different. This is beautiful. This is special." My fan base goes from great-grandparents all the way down to little kids, because The Addams Family is a generational piece. Many of us watched it when we were kids, many of us saw the movie, the cartoons, and now here we are.
Tell me something I may not know from reading your resume.
I was a shoeshine boy in the summertime, and a delivery boy. One time a guy sits down coming out of the bank, and I look up and it's Jimi Hendrix, and I'm doing his boots, and I got $5.
It was because of Crocodile Dundee II, my first residual check, back in the day when a residual check was a residual check, that I bought my first house in Vermont.
And in Traffic, when I get blown up, they made two busts of me. I still have one, with the full wig and mustache, in my closet. Once in a while I'll put it in the passenger seat of my car and drive around, and somebody goes, "Yo, you driving around with your brother?" "Yeah, he came up to visit."
Luis Guzman's Full Biography
Puerto Rican American actor and producer. Luis Guzman, who gained fame making many memorable films in the 1980s and 1990s due to his villainous physical appearance. Guzmán was born in Cayey, Puerto Rico on August 28, 1956 and raised in New York City's Greenwich Village and the surrounding Lower East Side neighborhood. He is of Native Latino descent. His mother Rosa worked in a hospital and Benjamin Cardona, his stepfather, was a TV repairman. Guzman presently resides in Vermont with his wife and kids.