John Leguizamo in THE COUNSELOR and KICK-ASS 2

Colombian-born thesp and comedian John Leguizamo has made a career proving that it is possible to be taken seriously both as a raunchy comic performer and a serious award-winning actor.

Now Deadline reports that Leguizamo’s booking both Ridley Scott‘s The Counselor and the Jeff Wadlow-scripted Kick-Ass 2.

In The Counselor, he’ll play a not-so-nice low level drug dealer, from Cormac McCarthy‘s first ever scripted film that stars Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz.

In Kick-Ass 2, he’ll play Javier, the bodyguard assigned to protect vigilante Red Mist, the role to be reprised by originally auditioned Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz are back along with Nicolas Cage; says filming begins this fall.

In addition, Leguizamo has signed a development deal with ABC to star in the lead role as Derek Trotter in the American remake of the British BBC sitcom ‘Only Fools and Horses.’

PBS recently debuted Tales From a Ghetto Klown, a documentary about Leguizamo’s life and the show’s development, so check out the trailer below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXbrm0t6orU[/youtube]