In the new drama “Windows on the World,” Edward James Olmos plays an undocumented busboy working at the restaurant that was destroyed on 9/11. The moving immigration story, which debuted for free this week on the Latino-focused streaming site Vix, is just the latest turn in a storied career that includes an Oscar nomination for Olmos’s work in “Stand and Deliver” (1988), making him one of the few American-born Latino actors ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Outspoken on the issue of representation in Hollywood, Olmos believes the industry doesn’t understand the distinct worldviews of Latinos born and raised in the United States vs. those from Latin America. Quarantining alone in Los Angeles, Olmos has been binge-watching, reading screenplays and promoting the virtual version of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. In two recent conversations, he spoke about Hollywood’s treatment of Latino actors, telling the stories of undocumented immigrants and why his most fulfilling enterprise at the moment involves teaching. Here are edited excerpts from our discussions.

In the history of the Academy Awards, only a handful of U.S.-born Latino actors have been nominated or have won. However, Latin American performers have been recognized more frequently. Why do you believe that’s been the case?