Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends

Leguizamo’s memoir is a raucous, profane account of clawing his way from a Queens childhood and rough Latino neighborhoods to Broadway and Hollywood. He writes candidly about a volatile father, the racism and typecasting he met in the industry, and the manic energy he poured into his one-man shows. The voice is pure stand-up on the page: fast, self-lacerating, and funny even when the material is painful, which is exactly what makes the hard-won triumphs land.