You just learn to cope with whatever you have to cope with. I spent my childhood in New York, riding on subways and buses. And you know what you learn if you’re a New Yorker? The world doesn’t owe you a damn thing.

I grew up living in the New York City housing projects with my seven siblings and my mom. I grew up in poverty so sports was something that helped me to go to college and travel the world and become a pro - things that would have never happened for someone like me.

Every young person deserves to grow up in a city with wide open spaces that coax our legs into running—that remind us to breathe deep and look up at the sky.

I lived in many different places as I was growing up. This gave me an awareness of difference, the understanding that security cannot be found in the outside world.

I am Mayor of a city that has more Jews than live in Jerusalem, more Italians than live in Rome, more Irish than live in Dublin, more blacks than live in Nairobi and more Puerto Ricans than live in San Juan. It is a tremendous responsibility, but there is no other job in the world that compares with it. Every day is new. Every day is dangerous. Every day is filled with excitement. Every day has the possibility of accomplishing some major success that will impact positively on the lives of the citizens of the City of New York. Every day I am both humbled and made even more proud than the day before.

Here the question is whether growing up in a poor neighborhood imposes any additional handicaps. The answer is yes.

As my childhood got opportunity to grow up amidst variety of geography and people practicing different cultures, I could experience the very essence of our diversity.

Children grow up and discover that the world is not as it seemed within the four walls of their homes. Humankind as a whole does the same.

Learn what the rest of the world is like. The variety is worthwhile.

New York City was my first introduction to America. It was a beautiful welcome because in the streets I saw people of all colors, wearing different outfits, clearly from different parts of the world. While I was still feeling like a foreigner, an immigrant, an outsider, there were so many people I could point to even as a young child who looked completely different, too.

You know my philosophy is that the world is a big place so if you get the chance to live abroad lessons in life it gives you are like no other. I moved to Cascais when I was one and a half. I do feel very fortunate that I grew up in a Latin culture and learnt another language. When I approach a character or a script I can approach it from different points of view, with maybe a more international perspective.

I ain't paying money to always see one type of person on-screen…Because you see different people from different backgrounds, different cultures, every day. Even if you're a racist, you have to live with that. We can ruffle up some feathers.

Reality is a big IQ test, and it starts with the question, “Do you want to stay where you were born?”

I was born in New York, then I went to the UK, then I went to Brazil, then I went to France, then I studied in Italy. My life was always about being confronted with an environment where you had to adapt.