Emmy-nominated 'American Crime' star talks gangs, prison and redemption

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Richard Cabral turned his life around, but he's not turning his back on his past.

The "American Crime" star was born and raised in East Los Angeles. He found his way to a better life, but it was a hard road getting there.

"This is the society that I belonged to and that's all I knew," Cabral said. "Broken home, no father figure so I do what my family has been doing for generations and I end up getting involved in gangs and drugs, and my family had been involved in gangs since the 1970s. I started going to jail and then turning into hard drugs and it was just 12, 13 years old -- that's when the incarceration started and it didn't stop until I was like 25."

Cabral would end up serving less than three years of a five-year sentence for attempted murder.

"I was guilty, I was guilty, I was there, but it was another gang crime, like so many," he said.

When he got out of prison, he found a place at Homeboy Industries, which provides hope, training and support to those who've been "in the life" and need new direction.

Father Greg Boyle helped Cabral find his way out.

"He gets up and he folds me in his arms and he tells me, 'I believe in you, Richard,'" Cabral said in tears.

Cabral now believes in himself. Four and a half years after he decided to try acting full time, he's up for a Supporting Actor Emmy for the caliber of his work on "American Crime."

He's a husband and father of three kids, and he's letting them in on something he was never told as a child.

"I'm teaching them that they could really be whatever they want to be, and like that's a strong message for me because I'm doing, I'm attempting to do it," he said.

Some would argue he's already succeeded.

"My mom was there when I was incarcerated. She was the only one that would visit me, so to come from that, to like, seeing your son in a prison cell to then seeing your son on television, you know, possibly holding an Emmy. I don't think you could even write a story as great as that," he said.