(6 of 7)
Kaija has found that being the wife of a Hispanic-American hero is not an easy role either. Besides managing the household, Kaija helps her husband screen scripts, answer fan mail and deal with a veritable flood of charity requests. "The past two years have been tough on me," she admits. "I get very lonely when he's out of town, and we never have enough time alone." Despite such gripes, Kaija remains "in love with the man, hook, line and sinker." Says she: "Husbands seem to be a disposable commodity in this day and age, but Eddie's like family to me. Like a brother. And you don't divorce your brother."
When not acting or on a speaking tour, Olmos likes to unwind by cruising in his 26-ft. Wellcraft speedboat, listening to music -- from the Doors and Steely Dan to Luciano Pavarotti -- or just driving around in his Porsche. His favorite form of recreation, however, is going on long bike rides with his sons, who are both committed triathletes. Astride his extra-lightweight "Jan Le Grand" racer, which was specially made for him by a Miami bike shop, Olmos cycles with his boys as often as five times a week, when his schedule permits. The three usually limit their tours to 18 or 20 miles, though they have been known to pedal as far as 60 miles in a single day.
Olmos paid homage to a different sort of endurance while speaking last month at a graduation ceremony at California State University, Los Angeles. During his speech, on the value of higher education, he asked the graduating students how many had parents who had never graduated from high school. When some 30% stood up, he congratulated them for "breaking the chain" and said he hopes to return next year to his alma mater to finish his own education. Olmos, who dropped out shortly before graduating, added that he is planning to re-enroll at Cal State with the intention of getting his B.A. and possibly going on for higher degrees.
Whether or not Olmos makes good on his pledge is almost beside the point. Ever the optimist, he shoots high rather than low, striving for the stamina of the long-distance run. "Every morning, I try to say a thanks just for waking up," says Olmos, who neither drinks nor smokes. "I feel so happy, so blessed. This isn't an industry made for faces like mine, yet I'm a matinee idol. Not in the romantic sense, but in the sense that people are paying to see me." |
Thanks in part to the million dollar-plus annual salary he receives for Vice, Olmos has also begun to realize the goal of developing his own films. After Gregorio Cortez, he teamed up with Bob Young to form YOY Productions. YOY has several movies planned, among them The Miracle, about a love relationship between a Central-American revolutionary and a priest, and Birds of Paradise, a psychological drama set in Papua New Guinea that Olmos describes as a "cross between African Queen and Raiders of the Lost Ark." Also in the planning stages: an adaptation of Cervantes' Don Quixote directed by Young and starring Olmos as the man of La Mancha. Says he: "I want to play Don Quixote so bad I can taste it."
Yet Olmos is no impossible dreamer when it comes to Hollywood's new receptivity to Hispanics, which he regards as a direct result of market forces. "The industry is run on economics," Olmos observes. "It knows only one color: green. There's prejudice, sure. But economics makes it go away."