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John Leguizamo, currently starring on Broadway in Ghetto Klown, will be honored at the sixth annual "Made in NY" awards on Monday June 6 at 7:30 PM at Gracie Mansion. Due to the awards, Ghetto Klown will not have a performance this Monday night; there will be an added performance this Sunday June 5 at 3 PM at the Lyceum Theatre.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment Commissioner Katherine L. Oliver will host the awards which are given to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the City's entertainment and new media industries. The other honorees are Sidney Lumet, whose Lifetime Achievement Award will be accepted by his daughter, Jenny Lumet; Matt Damon, location-based mobile platform foursquare; founder of the Urbanworld Film Festival & CEO of MoviePass Stacy Spikes; commercial Production Company Smuggler; and Lauren Zalaznick, chairman, NBC Universal Entertainment & Digital Networks and Integrated Media.
John Leguizamo was born in Bogota Columbia and moved to Jackson Heights, Queens when he was a child. He attended Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan where he was voted "Most Talkative" by his fellow classmates. He is the author and performer of five autobiographical shows: Mambo Mouth, Spic-O-Rama, Freak (Tony Award nomination), Sexaholix...A Love Story (Tony Award nomination) and Ghetto Klown, which received 2011 Outstanding Solo Performance Awards from both The Drama Desk and The Outer Critics Circle. His films include Carlito's Way; Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge; To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar; Executive Decision; and the three Ice Age films.
The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment consists of the Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, NYC Digital and NYC Media, the official TV, radio and online network of the City of New York. The agency's mission is to streamline government communications by making information accessible, leveraging technology to aid in the transparency of government and by supporting relevant media and entertainment industries in New York City.
Ghetto Klown opened in March and the critics weighed in:
"He has sabor: tasty, textured, and very funny... It adds up to a vivid, generous, irresistible evening of multi-cultural mischief. - New Yorker, John Lahr
"Ferociously funny. He takes us way beyond laughter." Bloomberg, Jeremy Gerard
Leguizamo is "intensely talented...a preternaturally gifted impressionist...He can hold a room rapt...This is after all, a man who bit Lee Strasberg. And he still has more than a few teeth left." - New York Magazine, Scott Brown
4 stars. "Ghetto Klown finds him in fighting trim and eager to take on all comers...It's great fun to watch him up there in the ring where he belongs...A performer of electric charisma." - Time Out New York, Adam Feldman
"Latino dynamo John Leguizamo struts up a storm in a hugely entertaining one-man show." - Time Out New York's Critics' Pick
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