Briefly, John Leguizamo

Occupation: Hyperkinetic actor.

Born: Bogota, Colombia. Moved to Queens, New York, at age four.

Now Lives: "Somewhere in Manhattan."

Current Activities: Starring in Super Mario Bros. ("It's the prequel—before they became the video game"); starring in Spic-O-Rama, an HBO special of his most recent one-man show; filming Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way (with A1 Pacino, Sean Penn, and Penelope Ann Miller); trying to complete White Chocolate, a screenplay he's been working on with his frequent director, Peter Askin.

Reason for Career Choice: "I was getting into trouble at school and getting arrested and whatnot, and some teachers suggested I, uh, rechannel some of my energy."

His Parents* Reactions to Spic-O-Rama: "A cornucopia of feelings. Conflicting, let's say."

Most Appalling Incident of Prejudice Endured in Entire Professional Career: "During Die Hard 2. It wasn't race discrimination, it was height discrimination. I'm five feet eight. I was cast as Terrorist No. 2, but I was the shortest one there and they demoted me to Terrorist No. 7. And they had me die earlier than I had to. And they made me die with a hood over my head. And then they dubbed my voice."

His Dream: "I wanna write five classic American films and die. I want the director to yell 'Cut!' and that minute I'll die. Someone else can do the editing."

G.K.