Acclaimed actor and activist Edward James Olmos would endorse two primary lessons to up-and-coming dramatists, politicians or athletes: “be disciplined” and “tell your authentic story.”
Growing up in East Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.A., Olmos, the star of major TV shows like “Miami Vice” and “Battlestar Galactica” and movies like “Stand and Deliver,” lived in a community chock-full of children of Hispanic, Native American, Asian and European descent.
“I was born and raised in an area that really did design who I am,” he says.
Olmos’ father emigrated to the United States from Mexico, while his mother was born and raised in the U.S. by Mexican parents. The two met when his mother visited the family in Mexico City. Olmos himself obtained his Mexican citizenship in 2007.
Even though both parents had Mexican heritage, the differences between the two were profound, and they divorced when he was 7.
I was born and raised in an area that really did design who I am.
Olmos’ father “had his kind of way of doing things, and my mother, who was born in East L. A., had her way of doing things,” Olmo says. “They were different. I could see it, and I could feel it. And it was great; I loved understanding all of it, which was wonderful.”
VIBRANT NEIGHBORHOOD
His father was Catholic, and his mother was a Southern Baptist. Churches for both sects, a Buddhist temple and a Jewish synagogue were within walking distance of his house.
His neighborhood “was really an abundance of understanding of culture, race and religion,” Olmos says.
“Through the years I’ve been able to really formulate an understanding of how beautiful it is, of what happened to me when I started,” he says. “It really makes a big difference in how you start your life.”
When he first heard the expression describing the United States as a “melting pot,” Olmos says he never thought of it that way.
“The Russian Orthodox people never blended. The African American people never blended. The Latinos never blended. The Japanese Americans never blended,” he adds.
Through the years I’ve been able to really formulate an understanding of how beautiful it is, of what happened to me when I started.
Those families in his neighborhood “stayed” Japanese, Armenian, Russian, African or Indigenous.
“They were all the same, where the onion stayed the onion, the olive stayed the olive, the tomato stayed the tomato, and the lettuce stayed the lettuce,” he says. “On top of it, you could put a Russian dressing or Italian dressing or French dressing.”
“I only believe that there’s one race, and that’s the human race, period,” he says.
Within that human race exist great cultures and ethnicities, “but we’re all one solid race of humanity, and we’re all connected,” he says. “I don’t care what religion you are. I don’t care what culture or ethnicity you are. We are connected as a human body.”
The worst part for Olmos is that “we don’t act that way. And now, especially in today, 2024, it’s the worst I’ve ever seen it in my life.”
I only believe that there’s one race, and that’s the human race, period.
Given the country’s diversity, Olmos never thought he would experience this behavior in the United States.
“We come from all over the world. We’re immigrants in, in a native Indigenous land,” he says.
That mindset has led Olmos — in addition to a fruitful acting career — to a life of activism and involvement in the nonprofit world.
In the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Olmos received the John Anson Ford Award for his peacekeeping efforts during the unrest. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People also honored him for promoting racial unity.
He also founded several nonprofit organizations, like the Latino International Film Festival, Latino Public Broadcasting, Latino Film Institute, the Youth Cinema Project, and the Latino Book and Family Festival.
Olmos says he always used “Latino.”
“I want people to use it and understand that this is our contribution to humanity and trying to understand ourselves,” he says. “What have we given? What has the Latino given to all of us?”
Check out Part 2 tomorrow, where Olmos talks about discipline and how it can help one succeed.
