Suspect Entertainment founder Manny Jimenez

PREMIERE: When did you first get interested in TV and movies?
As a little kid, I was always into watching the old Adam West Batman or George Reeves Superman, and I would put a towel on my back and run around. And I was always in love with it—like man! But for me, it’s like, “Oh that’s for white people that are good looking.” You think of people like Tom Cruise. You just say it ain’t even an option, you know? Our options are welfare, gangs, and hustling on the street, or else get a nine to five. So my thing I chose was hustling on the street.

As someone who has traded in gangbanging for a Hollywood career, are you ever afraid that your past will catch up with you?
I think a lot of us just still watch our backs and gotta be careful and all that. There’s certain areas, certain liquor stores, certain gas stations I will not go at certain times. I mean, there are some places I will just not go period. The time when I’m by myself or with my family, it’s like that’s pretty cool. But when we’re having a Suspect dinner or on a set, that’s when we get the attraction of like, “Oh, who are these fools?” And then the dudes come up, and I’m always the guy to go talk.

What do you say to people who criticize Suspect for reinforcing negative stereotypes about Latinos?
My comment to that is that they’re making honest money and changing their lives. And someone is going to play those roles. Edwards James Olmos, Esai Morales, Jimmy Smits, Cheech Marin, Robert De Niro, Sean Penn— all them guys that I just named have played those types of roles in the beginning of their careers and moved on. And that’s what we’re doing. We’re utilizing what we learned to play those roles, and then we’re moving on. That’s it.

Aside from your professional goals, what has founding Suspect Entertainment meant to you on a more personal level?
The other day I just started crying. I was like, “Man, we’re not supposed to be here.” People like us don’t belong in Hollywood, don’t belong even making it past 30, you know what I mean? I just feel like I’m short, I’m Mexican, I’m a gangster. The more successful I become, I am thinking that it’ll inspire more people. That’s really the biggest thing: to give hope.