Accepted into Lee Strasberg's actors' studio he studied with the master for one day before Strasberg died. After studying acting at NYU, he began his career as a stand-up comic. Parts in numerous films followed, including the role of Miss Chi-Chi Rodrigquez in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995), for which he won a Golden Globe award, and Tybalt in Baz Luhrman's William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1996). He played the diminutive artist Toulouse-Lautrec in Baz Luhrman's latest film, Moulin Rouge (2001). Other film credits include Carlito's Way, Casualties of War, and Regarding Henry. He has appeared on the New York stage in A Midsummer's Night Dream and La Puta Vida, both at the New York Shakespeare Festival. Leguizamo became an Off-Broadway sensation in 1999 with his one-man show, Mambo Mouth, which won him an Obie and several other awards.