Cinco de Cinema - Latino Actors in Hollywood

There have always been Latino actors in Hollywood, but the current contingent is smashing the role barriers.

JIMMY SMITS

Strength: A high I.Q. smolder

Standout Performance: Gen, Tomas Arroyo in Old Gringo. As one of Pancho Villa's men, he more than holds his own opposite Jane Fonda and Gregory Peck

Key Credits: Running Scared, The Believers, TV's "L.A. Law"

Upcoming: The "John-Houseman-in-The-Paper-Chase-role" in Vital Signs

Quote: "There are many wonderful Latino stories to be told, but I don't want to get pigeonholed into playing Latinos for the rest of my life."

RUBEN BLADES

Strength: Everyman charm that sneaks up on you

Standout Performance: In his first movie, Crossover Dreams, he played a salsa musician who abandons his roots when he has a crossover hit

Key Credits: Fatal Beauty, The Milagro Beanfield War, HBO's "Dead Man Out"

Upcoming: Plays a '40s Jewish mobster in Jack Nicholson's The Two Jakes

Quote: "I'm sure somebody must have said, Jack, there art a lot of Jews in Hollywood that need a job, why are you going to a Panamanian?' "

EDWARD JAMES OLMOS

Strengths: A genuine presence that projects omniscience and moral authority

Standout Performance: His Oscar-nominated turn as inspirational schoolteacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver

Key Credits: Zoot Suit, Wolfen, Blade Runner, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, TV's 'Miami Vice"

Upcoming: Triumph of the Spirit

Quote: "If Latin American actors are working, it's got an economic basis. We spend more on entertainment per capita 5 to 1 than Anglos, and we drink 2 1/2 beers to every one of theirs."

ESAI MORALES

Strength: Sex appeal whether he's playing sexy or not

Standout Performance: Playing Ritchie Valens's troubled older brother in La Bamba, instead of the rock star part he was originally (and predictably) cast in

Key Credit: Bad Boys

Upcoming: Naked Tango, Bloodhounds of Broadway

Quote: "I want to be an actor. Period. They don't call Robert De Niro and Al Pacino famous Italian actors."

ANDY GARCIA

Strength: Doesn't have to say a word to hold the camera

**Standout Performance: **Angel Maldonado, part menacingly cool, pan murderously hysterical drug kingpin in 8 Million Ways to Die

Key Credits: The Mean Season, The Untouchables, Stand and Deliver, Black Rain

Upcoming: Internal Affairs, Show of Force

Quote: "I don't negate that I'm Spanish, but I'm not a Spanish actor. No one asks Dustan Hoffman, 'How do you feel representing the Jewish community in Hollywood?' "