Quotes from Jimmy Smits

I am very Latino in everything I am and I do, but there's a part of me that's also something else. I'm reflective of the way this country's gonna be in the next 40 years. More multicultural is what we'll see.

Michael C. Hall is an incredibly detailed actor who can convey so much with just an eyebrow.

At first, I took theater courses on the side. Then, theater became my minor; then it was my major.

My comfort zone has always been in an ensemble-type atmosphere.

I'm not going to leave one of the best shows to do another TV show.

Women think the people that I play are smoldering and dangerous. I look in the mirror, and I go, 'I don't get it.'

As an actor, I just want to keep mixing it up.

I've always strived to keep mixing it up, keep doing different things, and work in all different parts of our business.

Everything in moderation, like calories.

I went to Brooklyn College as an education major. It was a big deal in the family, but really, I was living for Mom and Dad.

It just makes you feel proud, more than anything else, that the work has in some way transcended itself.

Latino people have come up to me and said they were motivated to become a lawyer because they saw me play one on TV - and you can't discount how great it is when they tell me I was the first.

I was asked to speak at a bar association, because there's an upswing on college applications - in general and for Latinos - because of 'L.A. Law.' I went to a couple of functions, and I just felt an energy: It was, you're doing a good job, but do you realize how important it is?

I'm not a policy wonk - I'm somewhere between being undecided and a surrogate.

I have no tattoos at all - it was a huge undertaking for me in the '80s to let my parents know I was piercing my ear when I did 'L.A. Law.'

As an actor, it's hard to approach any character with negatives.

When you're doing 22 shows on network television, the writers are going on vapors towards the end and, as an actor, you're just trashed by the end.

I grew up in New York City, and I've got wonderful memories of the Fourth of July fireworks.

Unfortunately, considering that we Latinos are really big for movie companies when they have blockbuster releases or new cable shows, when it comes to the dynamic of supporting our own product, it leaves much to be desired.

For minority actors, developing our own projects has to be the eventual path. We have a lot of stories to tell and a really unique voice. But none of that is going to be heard as long as we're just the hired hands, acting.

The friendships I made on 'L.A. Law,' with the cast and Steven Bochco and David Kelley were really wonderful.

You have to find what makes you stable in the storm. Then, no matter what's happening round you, no matter what the hype or the publicity, you can still manage to make leaps in your work as an artist.

Variety is the thing for me to be able to work in theater and be involved in more films and TV movies that say something.

My career aspirations as an actor have always been driven foremost by the creative desire to be versatile.