Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2025: John Leguizamo in Bob Trevino Likes It

John Leguizamo did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Bob Trevino in Bob Trevino Likes It.

Bob Trevino Likes It follows a struggling young woman Lily (Barbie Ferreira) connects with a man with the same name as her father after struggling to connect with her own. 

John Leguizamo is one of those actors who has been a mainstay of various character parts in so many different films for a particularly long time. I won’t quite say welcome presence as I’ve found him a bit inconsistent as a character actor, though I would say he typically has gotten more consistent as he’s gotten older. This might be a culmination of that trend as Bob Trevino, the Bob who is not the father of Lily, however is the man who happens to get connected with her on social media and as noted by the name likes her posts. Leguizamo’s performance is essential to any success of the film because what he does is convincingly bringing reality to the specificity of the situation. As Leguizamo’s early scenes have quite the wonderful “dad” energy for the lack of a better word where there’s a silly kind of fascination with social media and this humble kind of fun he’s just having. There’s no ulterior motive other than to share some joy with the young lady. Leguizamo manages to really hit this earnest note in a way that doesn’t seem simple but rather a natural realization of the guy’s straightforward goodness. 

When they even meet up Leguizamo finds the right tone in playing against her in each bit, where there’s a degree of shyness, a sense of the awkwardness of the situation between them but also just that direct bit of care for someone else. The connection between them forming just basically in trying to find some joy in life and Leguizamo articulates such a natural empathy in his performance in reaction to every bit of herself she reveals to them. One particularly powerful moment comes as Lily reveals that she accidentally miss handled a dog and was severely reprimanded as a young girl and mistreated by her father for the action. Leguizamo is amazing in the moment in his reaction first of disbelief than of such deep and profound empathy in his modest yet so powerful delivery of the word of reassurance that not only did she not do anything horrible, she also was horribly treated for the behavior. Leguizamo finds the essential sincerity through every interaction but also carefully showing as much as he’s offering such warmth she’s been denied by her own father for so many years, also showing the sense of joy and even confidence building in himself by being recognized for being a good man. 

As we do get brief moments of his Bob outside of the central relationship where we see him with his wife, where Leguizamo is quite effective in managing to the allude the history of the two’s sorrow over their son who died young, yet what Leguizamo is able to articulate is the man who is fighting against the sadness. Importantly shading it all that the sadness is in his eyes, but as a man who pushes through it. Leguizamo doesn’t play into conflict through the relationship with Lily, as his wife is somewhat suspicious of it, but rather presents a convincing certainty of the purity of it when he speaks of it, in a way making it all the more convincing that his wife wouldn’t be more suspicious of it. Leguizamo portrays an interesting change in his character, as Bob is already a good guy, but the relationship in a way presents the power from the acknowledgement of him being a good guy and being appreciated for it. Something he builds up naturally in his reactions to Lily’s appreciation as just finding more and more confidence, earning then the moment where Bob stands up to his boss wanting to use him as a scapegoat. A scene that in itself is well played by Leguizamo in showing Bob’s goodness fully weaponized but even greater is the moment right afterwards when he calls his wife. Leguizamo’s heartbreaking in the moment because you get such a palatable sense of pride as he describes what happens, combined with the physical stress of the moment weighing on him as he comes down afterwards. It’s a beautifully acted moment, just like all of this performance is. One that successfully sells the concept of the movie, that could easily have been far more cloying, totally unbelievable, or just ridiculous. The sincerity Leguizamo brings though delivers instead a genuine poignancy in his depiction of Bob Trevino.