Jimmy Smits Quotes

Author Image

Jimmy Smits

Profession : Actor

Birth : July 9, 1955

There just aren't enough positive portrayals of Latino life in film.

Jimmy Smits

I left 'L.A. Law' after five years when my contract was up because I felt I had done all I could do with the character. I didn't walk off the show with a three-picture deal to pursue this wonderful film career.

Jimmy Smits

I'm happy David Caruso is out there working.

Jimmy Smits

I work out, but I'm not doing it specifically because I show my butt on TV.

Jimmy Smits

As an actor, you think to yourself, 'I want to do good work,' but you also want the work that you do to make an impact in some way.

Jimmy Smits

I always grapple with myself, from job to job, 'Is this going to make an impact in some way?'

Jimmy Smits

I was in Puerto Rico going to school, and it was very jarring for me. 'Traumatic' is the only way that I can say it. Kids were making fun of me: 'Oh, you're a Yankee.' And I acted out a lot. A lot. But looking back, and through a little bit of therapy, everything I am has to do with that time.

Jimmy Smits

I know it affected me when I saw certain actors growing up. I had a drama teacher that would take us to see plays in New York, and it was seeing James Earl Jones and Raul Julia - I mean, this guy comes from the place my mother comes from. He's doing Shakespeare right now, and it doesn't seem to matter that he has an accent.

Jimmy Smits

I've had the good fortune to play characters that have a role-model thing to them.

Jimmy Smits

I wasn't a great student, but I was interested in this theater thing, and I could spend hours in the library researching why the cuffs in the 18th century had four buttons. It was my handle.

Jimmy Smits

All my Latino side is from the Bronx.

Jimmy Smits

You gotta find that hook so everybody can grab on to it. So that you're true to the culture but, at the same time, how it relates to the larger tapestry.

Jimmy Smits