John Leguizamo’s trying something new.

For 20 years, the celebrated actor and playwright, now 39, has been dividing his time between playing the Hollywood game (starring in more than 20 films including “Romeo & Juliet” in 1996, Spike Lee’s “Summer of Sam” [1999] and Baz Luhrmann’s “Moulin Rouge” [2001]) and, after Tinseltown has sucked his soul dry, turning himself over to the stage to perform one of his hit one-man shows.

In those live monologue performances, Leguizamo has plumbed the depths of his culture (“Spic-O-
Rama”), family (“Freak”) and relationships (the most recent, “Sexaholix”). But when he comes to Arizona State University’s Gammage Auditorium Monday night, part of a short string of dates across the country, he’ll be talking about something else — Hollywood.

“I won’t be doing that in L.A. or New York, but I can do it everywhere else,” he says. “I mined the whole family thing until there was nothing dry. Then I did the sex thing, because I was intrigued by the war of the sexes and the evolution of a man from a horny man to a loving man, back to a horny man. (Laughs). So what’s left is the work I’ve done and the people I’ve worked with. But, you know, loved ones, your family, they may leave you after you talk about them, but they won’t sue you.”

Leguizamo promises he’ll dish on his celebrity coworkers and talk about his film experiences, from dressing up as a woman for 1995’s cross-dressing picture “To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar” to playing Sid the Sloth for the 2002 animated film “Ice Age.”

But first, Leguizamo talked to us about his show, his career and the “death wish” he calls live performances.

Q: What is it about Hollywood that makes you have to escape from it periodically?
A: It’s just a big business. It’s a big mall. Just tons of product and none of it is extremely satisfying. When you’re live, people keep you honest.

Q: And what do you get from being on stage?
A: I like being adrenalized. I like the thrill. It’s a death wish, I guess. To die on stage. (Laughs). But it’s so exciting, the rewards and the fear, it keeps me alive. But, you know, it’s changed. So many actors go back to the theater — Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, it’s a whole different thing now. They’re rediscovering the theater again.

Q: Talk about your roles in Hollywood. You seem to fill this slot as the “surprise supporting actor,” delivering these knockout smaller roles, performances nobody expected.
A: It’s a fun niche to have. When you play supporting actor, you always have a chance to shine, and you don’t have the burdens of being the lead guy, so you can just be everything you are.

Q: What’s the fallout of being known for doing voice work on an animated movie like “Ice Age?”
A: The only fallout is that you have too much money. (Laughs). “Ice Age” bought us our new penthouse in New York City. To be honest, I’ve always loved cartoons. Mel Blanc was the Marlin Brando of cartoons. I learned a lot of my comedic timing from him. Now I’m doing “Ice Age 2.” It’s like going home and doing my characters I used to do as a kid.

Q: You’ve developed this rich, varied body of work. How tempting is it to pretend you didn’t do “Super Mario Bros.” (1993) or some of the less successful projects, like your TV show, (1995’s) “House of Buggin’,” which only lasted 10 episodes on Fox?
A: I like all those things. I’m not ashamed of that. The successes and the failures are what make you. My failures were fun, too. I enjoy failure. I knelt on the ground and kissed failure. That’s how I got where I am today.

Q: Which was harder to get dressed up for — “To Wong Foo” or the bad guy in (1997’s) “Spawn?”
A: That’s a toss-up. Between the plucking and the tucking and the hiding — and that was just “Spawn.” (Laughs). The woman thing was painful, but “Spawn” was worse. The problem was that I had to have prosthetics covering every part of my face, so to make it come to life I had to move extra. I ended up getting tons of blisters on my face, like pus blisters.

Q: You worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger on “Collateral Damage” (2002). What was that like? A: He let me use his gym, you know he travels with this gym everywhere he goes. But I couldn’t even change the weights. There would be, like, 300 pounds on them. (Laughs). But he’s a great guy.

Q: You find a lot of your fellow actors perform to feed the ego. But your shows are less about ego than, I guess, a form of therapy. Therapy that, in the end, you get paid for.
A: Yeah. These shows, they’re amazing for me because they allow me to make fun of myself, make fun of everybody, and it’s OK. You don’t feel like you have to live off your ego. You can drop your drawers and people can laugh.