RICHARD CABRAL

There are many things in common with my life and my character in 'American Crime.' My upbringing has definitely helped me out in this role.

I think 98% of gang members in Los Angeles would agree that being a gang is just like being part of a community.

I spent my life behind bars, and what people don't know is getting out of prison is really nerve-racking - you're not used to society; you're not used to the world going by so fast - so to step on that lot was quite overwhelming.

The agricultural fields throughout the Southwest, those jobs needed to be filled, and who were the ones to do it? It was the Mexicans.

It's about being a voice in the community. There's so many ways to be a voice, and that's what I'm figuring out.

I was one step away from getting my life taken away, whether it was life in prison or being dead on the streets. But I was saved.

If you grow up on the good side of the tracks, you're going to belong to something over there. If you grow up on the bad side of the tracks, you're going to belong to something over there. It's not rocket science.

The lifestyle that I grew up in, it was passed on to me. I didn't know there was another world.

The true meaning of an artist/actor is opening my heart to the audience and, at the same time, opening their heart.

No one cares about you when you're in jail.

Majority of minds are warped into the belief of the only person worth helping is themself.

Audiences are more drawn in to what they can relate to, so it would be stupid not to have great Latino films for the Latino audience.

In this society, you have to belong to something, I feel, and all we have in the neighborhood is a gang.

There's comes a point when people who have lived a life of crime get tired and want to change.

Being an artist, being an actor, it's about telling stories that could heal, that could open up discussion that could make the community better.

I remember my first thing was 'CSI: Miami.' I played a Cuban gangster. And that was it. I was like, 'Wow, I don't have to clean toilets.' I could actually dress up and get paid equivalent to that. So that was my introduction into the Hollywood industry.

Just like the rest of the world, I became a product of my environment, and this environment was gang culture.

Your only true obligation in a gang is to be committed and be there when your brothers need you.

When you're in a gang, you go through life like any other individual. You have certain obligations, but you are not forced to do anything.

I didn't grow up with any brothers, but I have my cousins, and I had my good friends, so I know what it is to have that bro relationship.

I really embrace the person and the life that I came from because that made me who I am today.

Nobody succeeds on their own. Someone has to be there to show them the way, and if you give that experience to a person on the street - a gang member, a prisoner - he might succeed. That's how it was for me.

In society, you are taught to belong. You have to belong to something.

I grew up in East Los Angeles, which is the biggest population of Mexican-Americans in America. I was born and raised there.

As an actor, I draw from myself.