New York State of Mind: 20 Latino Celebs with Big Apple Roots!

By Tom Castaneda | 01/31/2013 - 13:34 | 0 Comments

New York City is commonly known as “The City of Dreams,” with people from all over the world coming to the Big Apple each year to pursue their dreams. As Alicia Keys sings in her “Empire State of Mind” collaboration with Jay-Z, New York City is a “concrete jungle where dreams are made of. There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York. These streets will make you feel brand new. The lights will inspire you. Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York.”

But for every import, there are a handful of homegrown talents raised with the New York State of Mind. Here’s a look at 20 of our Latino luminaries with Big Apple Roots!

PREV
SLIDE 1 OF 20
NEXT
Getty Images

John Leguizamo, Raised in Queens

He may have been born in Bogotá, Colombia, but John Leguizamo’s family immigrated to the United States when he was only four years old and lived in various Queens neighborhoods, including Jackson Heights. Leguizamo, who started out as a stand-up comic in New York’s nightclub circuit, credits his acting abilities on growing up as one of the first Latino kids in his Jackson Heights neighborhood: "It was tough. There were lots of fights. I would walk through a park and be attacked, and I had to defend myself all the time,” said Leguizamo; whose award-winning semi-autobiographical, one-man theater show Ghetto Klown highlights his path from obscurity to stardom. “But this helped me to become funny so that I wouldn’t get hit.”

Twitter
Facebook
StumbleUpon
More Services
Send to a Friend
Printer Friendly
Tagged As