AARP Hearing Center
Edward James Olmos shares insights on his career, health and family.
Key takeaways
- Embrace cultural authenticity with roles that enrich storytelling and break industry stereotypes.
- Prioritize passion and meaningful work over monetary gain for sustained career fulfillment.
- Maintain physical wellness through diet and exercise to support longevity and vitality.
Summary
Edward James Olmos exemplifies how embracing culture and craft can sustain a vibrant career well into one’s later years. By choosing roles that authentically represent his heritage and creating characters imbued with life beyond the script, Olmos demonstrates the power of storytelling to transcend stereotypes and enrich meaningful representation on-screen. His commitment to health through diet and exercise further underscores how maintaining physical wellness is key to longevity and continuing to inspire across generations.
Celebrated for his iconic work from Zoot Suit to Battlestar Galactica and Stand and Deliver, Olmos highlights the importance of passion over monetary gain, focusing on roles that resonate deeply. His reflections on aging reveal it as a gift — an opportunity to support family and stay engaged with culture while breaking barriers in the entertainment industry. Through authenticity and dedication, Edward James Olmos offers a blueprint for thriving both professionally and personally over a lifetime.
The key takeaways and summary were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.
Full Transcript:
[00:00:00] I had my 79th birthday on February 24 of this year. I’m now living my 80th year.
[00:00:06] The key is to remember that the year that you’re living after your birthday, you’re not that old, you’re the next year old.
[00:00:19] I would attribute my ability to work into my 80s by the things that I’ve chosen to do.
[00:00:25] If the character was one that was, you know, stereotypical character, I wouldn’t do it. When it’s the only one you see, then you’re really, you- you're- you're
[00:00:34] not really understanding the culture. I was very fortunate being able to, uh, take on the responsibility
[00:00:51] of doing that character. I was a Mexican American doing a role of a Mexican American.
[00:00:57] After doing Zoot Suit, I got to work with, uh, Ridley Scott, Michael Wadleigh, along
[00:01:04] with Robert Young, very strong directors. I created the character in everything I’ve done, and not that
[00:01:12] the director and the writer weren’t paramount, but I augmented it. I brought a life to it.
[00:01:18] I mean, no one wrote Lieutenant Martin Castillo. I’ve never worked for money. I was a storyteller.
[00:01:40] Battlestar Galactica was a tremendous story. Really enjoyed that. I loved Stand and Deliver, and I loved Selena.
[00:01:58] I was very fortunate to work with Jennifer again. Her and Brett Goldstein are the leads.
[00:02:05] I play her father. You know, the father thinks that he’s helping, but you find out real quick she’s helped me more than I’ve helped her, and it’s sweet, but it’s- it's adult, though.
[00:02:14] Don’t take your kids to see this one. The amount of diabetic disease that’s in- in my culture, every male
[00:02:33] in my family has died of diabetes. Every single one. The key to the whole thing of diabetes is diet and exercise,
[00:02:42] so I exercise really well. I’m holding up, you know? Still feel strong. So to me, aging is a gift.
[00:02:51] I’m so grateful. I’d like to be around to help my grandchildren when they have their children, and if I can do that, then I’ve won.
[00:02:59] I won the game.
