Family TiesSmits hopes work in generational tale ‘Mi Familia’ will ease way for Latino actors in ent

Family TiesSmits hopes work in generational tale ‘Mi Familia’
will ease way for Latino actors in entertainment

By Jeffrey Shore

At a luxurious hotel in Beverly Hills, far from the setting of
his new film, the usually unflappable Jimmy Smits looks a little,
well, flapped.

Let in on the open secret that many women (and some men) find
him very attractive, he doesn’t seem too comfortable with the
knowledge. "I’m gonna tell you something," he begins. "And I’m not
shitting you with this either. I don’t see myself as a sex
symbol."

Part of the ensemble cast and temporary family which created the
new film, My Family/Mi Familia, Smits has the distinction ­
and burden ­ of being one of the most successful Latino actors
in Hollywood.

"I know that there’s that dynamic through entertainment history,
of the Latin lover," continues Smits. "When an actor thinks about
an image, and you start basing career choices on some image that
you have to uphold … then I think that’s very dangerous to play
into that."

In some ways, Smits stunning success is distressing to him,
since it is so completely unrepresentative of what most of his
fellow Latino actors face.

"To sit here and say that because of my good fortune the
situation is okay, that’s bullshit. ‘Cause, it’s not."

Smits certainly has had good fortune. After six highly-acclaimed
years in front of the public consciousness as Victor Sifuentes on
L.A. Law, Smits has once again catapulted himself into center stage
of the modern spotlight, replacing David Caruso on the smash-hit TV
series, "NYPD Blue."

"It was just like jumping on this very hot, very fast moving
train," says Smits, about joining the cast of the show. "I’m real
happy that the audience has accepted it."

While many actors find the challenge of representing an
underrepresented minority daunting, to say the least, Smits is
determined to do his best to live up to the task.

"I realize that as a Latino artist that I have a responsibility
to put images out there that haven’t been put out about us on the
screen, on the stage."

That’s why, when Smits came across the script for My Family/Mi
Familia he knew it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. The film
follows a Mexican family’s struggle to stay together in the face of
daunting odds over 60 years in Los Angeles. After taking a large
cut from his usual pay scale to play the role of Jimmy, the
youngest and troubled son of the Sanchez clan, he’d really like to
see this new film do well.

"If this film does good, and it recoups its investment, it’s
gonna be a little easier for the next kid coming in with his idea
of a story about Latinos."

But don’t dare think of this new film as just about Latinos.

"It’s not just a Latino picture," says Smits, with the emphasis
and enthusiasm of a salesman who’s just been delivered a new, hot
product. "I think that across the board, audiences will relate to
it, because of the whole thematic thing of what family is."

Smits own family is not much smaller than the Sanchez clan.
While he is divorced, with two children (aged 20 and 12), he and
his two sisters are part of a large, extended family. Himself the
child of a Puerto Rican mother and a father from Surinam (a Dutch
colony on South America), Smits found he could link directly to a
lot of the family stuff in the film.

"Those family reunion things that are in the movie, I really
relate to," says Smits.

Still, he suggests that being the famous relative may lead to
odd moments.

"Sometimes people say things ­ not the immediate family
­ but it’s because it comes out of a nervous thing, and well
… "

Smits drifts off the sentence, and his eyes shift around, as he
thinks better of what he was about to say. A pensive, intimate man,
Smits allows himself to be vulnerable in front of the intimidating
array of jaundiced journalists, yet still guards certain aspects of
his personal life vigorously.

Running in direct contrast to the Charles Barkeley "I am not a
role model" mode of modern stardom, Smits takes great pride in the
impact he has on the Latino community.

"Every time I work, in a way, I do give back," says Smits, a
smile coming to his face. "And I’ve got letters to prove that. I
mean, if there’s a kid who writes me from Chicago, or East Los
Angeles, or south Florida, I know I’m giving back.

"Because, because I’m doing. I’m working."