Edward James Olmos: ‘I Want to Live to at Least 120’

The 79-year-old actor ponders more memorable roles — and living to care for his great-grandchildren

As told to

Lisa Rosen,

AARP

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Published May 22, 2026

Before Edward James Olmos exploded onto the acting scene in 1981’s Zoot Suit, he was a star in another field. Make that on another field: At only 13, he was so good at baseball that he played in a Dodgers farm league. Then the stage called — first as a member of a rock band, then in theater. In Zoot Suit, Olmos played the mythical narrator El Pachuco, first on Broadway, then on film, and the acting roles have rolled in ever since. An incomplete list of projects includes The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, Miami Vice, Blade Runner, Battlestar Galactica and Stand and Deliver, which earned him an Academy Award nomination. In 1997 Olmos played Jennifer Lopez’s father in Selena, and almost 30 years later he’s playing her father again, in the Netflix romantic comedy Office Romance, due for release this year.

edward james olmos posing seated in front of a yellow background, wearing a cream colored hat and patterned shirt

A few weeks after celebrating his 79th birthday, Edward James Olmos spoke to AARP for the June/July issue of AARP The Magazine.

Photograph by Jesse Dittmar

Olmos also devotes his time to giving back to the community. His work to raise awareness about diabetes prompted the American Limb Preservation Society to name an award for him; the Edward James Olmos Award for Advocacy in Amputation Prevention has been given out since 2003.

A few weeks after celebrating his 79th birthday, Olmos spoke to AARP for the June/July issue of AARP The Magazine.

A boyhood held dear

I was born on the east side of Los Angeles and had a beautiful experience there. But now that I look back, it was quite different than most people’s upbringing. There weren’t really too many trees. It was all cement. My great-grandfather used to walk me to preschool, and he would look at a stop sign and say, “ See that? It says stop. When you see that, I want you to stop and look around for a tree, look for birds, look for nature.” From that moment on, whenever I saw a stop sign, I heard my great-grandfather’s voice.

Baseball’s life lessons

I played baseball for quite a few years. It taught me discipline, determination, perseverance and patience, the key ingredients to my life. By the age of 14 I had won the state batting championship in California for two years in a row.

The power of rock ’n’ roll

At 14 I quit baseball, got into a rock band, started singing and ended up performing at Gazzarri’s, a club on the Sunset Strip, seven days a week, finishing high school and putting myself through college. I ended up doing very well at East L.A. Community College, where I took a theater class — drama, comedy, improv — and that got me to where I am today.

When it all came together

In 1978, I took a role as a Mexican American that required me to sing and dance and do comedy and drama. El Pachuco was a one-of-a-kind character, and Luis Valdez wrote a beautiful script that re-created a true story from 1943. After Zoot Suit, I never had to audition again.

edward james olmos in a scene from battlestar galactica

NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection

“'Battlestar Galactica' was a tremendous story; I really enjoyed being part of that,” says Olmos.

The battles and the gifts

Discrimination, prejudice, I felt right from the beginning. If the character was stereotypical, I wouldn’t do it. I am the first and only [U.S.-born] Mexican American lead actor who’s ever been nominated for an Academy Award in the history of film [playing Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver].

Seeing fiction become reality

Battlestar Galactica was a tremendous story; I really enjoyed being part of that. And Blade Runner too — good stories about what the AI world would be like. And now we are seeing that come to pass.

edward james olmos and harrison ford in a scene from blade runner

Olmos starred with Harrison Ford in “Blade Runner,” describing it as a forward-thinking film “about what the AI world would be like.”

Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection

Listening to my grandkids

I spoil them. I’m permissive. And I talk to them directly. I just ask a question and listen to them. When you listen to people, things change. When you talk at people, it becomes something else. So you’ve got to be a good listener as you get older.

Sounding the alarm on diabetes

I am working on bringing diabetes awareness to the forefront because of the amount of diabetic disease that is in my culture. It’s from our diet and it’s all about what you eat, and the sugar and what happens to your blood sugar content, and the ability of the body to function correctly. Every male in my family has died of diabetes. The key is diet and exercise. I’m holding up. I still feel strong.

The circle of life and work

I’ve been working with [director] Luis Valdez for three years on getting his play Valley of the Heart to the big screen. It’s a love story between a Mexican American boy and a Japanese American girl who work in their fathers’ fields during the Second World War. After Pearl Harbor is hit, it’s a whole different world for them. Working with Luis is full circle, from Zoot Suit to now. It’s truly a beautiful story, and it goes all the way back to where I started, because my closest friends for the last 76 years have been a Japanese American family that I’m traveling to Europe with in a couple weeks. They were put in the Manzanar internment camp.

edward james olmos in a scene from stand and deliver

Olmos earned a best actor Oscar nomination for his role in “Stand and Deliver.”

Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection

This age is a blessing

When you’re my age, you can do what you want to do, and you really know who you are. People say to me, “What do you most want out of life?” and I always say I want to be able to live to at least 120, because I want to take care of my great-grandchildren like my great-grandfather took care of me. If I can do that, then I’ve won the game. Like that stop sign.

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