by Lynn Barker
Source Teen Hollywood
URL Link
Date March 22, 2005

He's that hot and brooding Latin cop Danny Taylor in the hit TV series "Without A Trace". Enrique Murciano was raised in Miami and was once headed for a law career but a two day gig on the film Traffic encouraged him to pursue a career in L.A. He was in Black Hawk Down, Speed 2: Cruise Control and now co-stars with Sandra Bullock as a cute, well-meaning but bumbling Las Vegas cop in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous.

The motorcycle and guitar enthusiast sat down with us in Beverly Hills to yak about his bike, his Cuban roots, his trouble dating, his love of working with Sandy and his regret at getting pneumonia from shooting too long in the pirate ship pool at Vegas' Treasure Island resort. Colorful/casual in bright rust hoodie and black and white thin stripe jacket, Enrique sits down and asks us for a Tic Tac. "I wasn't expecting to be this close to you". Fine by us, move closer! We weren't expecting him to be funny. Check out the fun exchange"

TeenHollywood: What was the biggest surprise to you about working with Sandy?

Enrique: That I got the job.

TeenHollywood: Why? What was the process for you?

Enrique: I went in and I think I did an okay job. They say when a certain job is meant for you, you just get it and the other ones you struggle and have to jump through a hundred different hoops and then they tell you "Eh, we decided to go with whoever. We're gonna make you an African-American woman'. That's not me! But, this one was pretty easy. I was in and I was out, they told me I got the job. The hardest thing was juggling my show ("Without a Trace") and this other movie I was doing at the same time.

TeenHollywood: What was great about working with Sandy on a personal level?

Enrique: Working with Sandy is like if you're a basketball player and you get to play ball with Michael Jordan. You know you're working with a legend while you're doing it. You realize every moment of the day that you are working with today's Lucille Ball. I guarantee, 40 years from now, there will be an Academy Awards where they'll be giving her a lifetime achievement award and there will be so many different clips of the movies she's done and I'll be in the background of one of those clips like drinking a coffee or something. It's a real treat.

TeenHollywood: Did she give you any advice that stuck with you?

Enrique: I think she's too smart to sit me down and give advice. She would never be like 'hey, come here. Let me talk to you. Comedy is mathematical'. She would never do that. I think the advice she gives is more through example. She's an honest person. The reason you love watching Sandra Bullock movies and the reason why she has such a huge following is every time you pay those eight bucks to go to a theater and see one of her movies, you're getting a little piece of Sandy. She never sent me notes like 'hey, this is the way to make a funny moment work'. I had a front row ticket to that. It was fantastic. I'm very grateful for the opportunity

TeenHollywood: Your bio says you are a motorcycle enthusiast. Did you have a chance to meet her boyfriend (Jesse James of "Monster Garage?)?

Enrique: No, I didn't. I was dying to. He's the end all be all in the motorcycle world. He was on set one day but I think but he's a private guy. He's not the type of man sitting at the craft services going 'hey, want a twizler?' I don't think he's that kind of guy. When he was on our set, he was there to see his girlfriend and that was it. But, he's someone that I respect a lot. The way that he manages to marry the shape of his bikes with the amount of horsepower and engine and level of craftsmanship he achieves, it's an art form. It really is.

TeenHollywood: Did he show up on a great bike?

Enrique: I never saw him. I know all the teamsters and crew on our movie were like 'Jesse's here, Jesse's here!' He's such a big name in that world. Most of the guys on that movie all rode motorcycles. I had my motorcycle shipped out to Vegas and all the guys had their Harleys shipped out. So, it was great. It was like one big biker extravaganza. It was cool.

TeenHollywood: So you rode your motorcycle a lot while there?

Enrique: I was so surprised because I grew up Yeah, I did. We had this whole motorcycle

gang going. It was awesome. I used to ride to work every day, which is a dream for a biker. 'I'm just gonna ride to work on the Strip'. We were doing night shoots and I'm driving home at six A.M. (makes rrrrrrrr bike noise) and I'd see landmark hotels going by and I was like 'I don't think it gets any better than this'. And then I pulled up and noticed that everyone was drunk around me. Six A.M. in Vegas and everyone's bombed on their way home. I thought 'this may not be the right place to be riding a motorcycle'

TeenHollywood What else did you do in Las Vegas?

Enrique: Honestly, I didn't do much. I'm not a gambler and I'm not a big drinker. I'm not the Vegas type. I don't think I could have done my job on this movie and gone out to clubs every night.

TeenHollywood: Were you staying at The Venetian with the rest of the cast?

Enrique: No. Here's my thing. I have a problem with hotels. In Vegas, you check into these hotels and you have to walk about seven or eight miles through (makes lots of slot machine noises) and people saying 'Yeaaa! I'm a winner' or 'I'm a loser'. It's too emotional for me. I stayed at this little cute apartment. I went to Costco and bought three months worth of Chef Boyardee.

TeenHollywood: All your friends are eating at five star restaurants.

Enrique: You know, that's fine. I'm fine with the Chef Boyardee.

TeenHollywood: William Shatner is so funny in this film. What was it like working with him?

Enrique: I remember watching him as Captain Kirk. I was expecting him to give me some deep star stuff. He's a funny man. He is a gem and he deserves all the success that he's had in recent months with the "Boston Legal? show. He loves to talk to you about horses for hours. I hope, when I'm his age, I still have that same love for what I do that he has. He was a treat but I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting him to beam down from the Starship Enterprise.

TeenHollywood: Was it fun for you to play a rather goofy character for a change? Aren't you kind of stalwart in your other roles?

Enrique: Brooding is the word. I'm the strong, silent type. When I read the script, it wasn't written that way (goofy) and I wanted to do something different, something fun. I'm the guy that cries in every scene. Every time there's a kid missing (on "Without a Trace?). I love that I got to be goofy and not have all the answers and play an All-American, small town, aw shucks, na�ve, wide-eyed kind of guy. It was fun. I'm glad I got a chance to get a crack at that kind of a character.

TeenHollywood: How nasty was that water you jumped into (at the Treasure Island pirate ship)? Was it freezing?

Enrique: I was number three on the call sheet. Sandy was number one. This is when you feel the difference. I jumped in at five A.M. and the water was 27 degrees. I had a wet suit on and caught pneumonia and took antibiotics for three weeks. Sandy did it in a warm tank at Warner Brothers studios. I did it there (in Vegas). The reason I did it there, is they gave me the choice, 'do you want to do it here? Then you don't have to do it three weeks from now at Warner Brothers'. I had to get on a plane for the Dominican Republic to finish The Lost City so I said, 'you know what? I'll take the pneumonia and I'm outta here'.

TeenHollywood: Are you a confirmed bachelor now? (Enrique used to live with model Molly Simms)

Enrique: Yes. You can confirm that. 'He is a confirmed bachelor'.

TeenHollywood: Do you do all your own cooking?

Enrique: I'm actually a fantastic cook. Lately I've managed to perfect my (Sounds like: Green lip) mussels in a light garlic wine sauce.

TeenHollywood: You're more sophisticated than you led us to believe.

Enrique: I know. It's this whole routine I've got. It's the boy next door until you come over and I'm having truffles.

TeenHollywood: You play guitar too?

Enrique: Yeah, I play guitar, piano, everything. I love every kind of music. I listen to everything and play everything from The Beatles.. a lot of "Hey Jude? in my house, to older Cuban stuff, Israel Lopez, that kind of thing.

TeenHollywood: Are you Cuban originally?

Enrique: My family is Cuban. I was born in Miami, moved to Mexico when I was one day old, lived in Mexico until I was five, moved back to Miami. From there I moved to Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore to Miami, Miami to El Paso, Texas. El Paso back to Miami, Miami to New York, New York to Boston.

TeenHollywood: That's a lot of moving. Was the military involved in this? Or was your dad on the run?

Enrique: (laughs). No. My dad was a medical student. He had me when he was very young. My dad was 19, my mom was 18. When I was born, literally, my first house was a dorm. I remember being three years old or so and my parents couldn't afford a TV so I'd go next door to my dad's suitemate to watch The Pink Panther in Mexico. The Mexican Pink Panther is very different. And, everybody smoked in front of kids, you teach the kids to smoke. This roommate used to let me light cigarettes for him when I was three. I was three years old smoking and watching The Pink Panther in Spanish. And then they ask why I'm this way.

TeenHollywood: What would you want to do on an ideal date?

Enrique: I can't go on dates. I'm not good with dates.

TeenHollywood: How do you meet anybody?

Enrique: I don't. That's the whole thing. It's hard to meet girls, especially in this town. First of all, I work all the time. I don't know how to date. Some of these guys are so good at it, my friends go 'Oh, I went last night to El Tramazino and she was cool. She was okay. We got along'. I can't do that, the small talk thing. I immediately get sweaty palms and I just want to go home. I'm not a small talk kind of guy.

TeenHollywood: What if you're just going to go out by yourself. Would you just ride the bike?

Enrique: I love riding my bikes. I like to dance. I like going out dancing. I love music. I love Funk. I love the Neville Brothers. I love that kind of stuff. I love salsa too. Anything with a beat that I can dance along to, I'm into it.

TeenHollywood: Do you play guitar well?

Enrique: No. That's another big frustration in my life. I'm single. I'm alone and I don't play music well, although I wish I could. It's bad, man. It's bad. I'm a real catch (we laugh). I play the guitar but I made the mistake of not focusing on the guitar. I play the ukulele, I play the piano, I play the organ. A lot of "Proud Mary? at my house. But, hopefully, one day I'll meet a girl and she'll be a guitar teacher and teach me how to play. She'll like Chef Boyardee.

TeenHollywood: Talk about Lost City, the film you made with Andy Garcia.

Enrique: We finished that two months ago. It's a dream come true. For me, growing up as an actor, I always looked up to Andy Garcia and he's always been a mentor to me and to have him ask me to come on board and play his brother, play one of the lead roles in his movie opposite Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray and him is just fantastic.

TeenHollywood: Tell us a little about the film.

Enrique: It's a '50's period piece taking place in Havana in 1958. Expect beautiful costumes, expect beautiful cinematography, blue oceans, blue skies, gorgeous pinks and greens in the architecture. Old, gorgeous cars Alpha-Romeos, and 1955 Chevy Impalas, just gorgeous. It basically, spoon feeds you the history of the Cuban people but it's just the story of one family and how difficult it was for Cubans at that point in their lives. A lot of people write Cuba off to a beautiful island where you could go and spend a couple of days drinking rum and smoking cigars. There's a lot more to it than that. At least for me, as an actor, it's fun to play comedies and fun to play cops on TV but it's a whole other experience when you could educate people on who you are. Thirty or forty years down the line when my kids see that movie I'll still be proud of it.