During his lifetime, Danny Trejo has been many things: Boxer, inmate, drug intervention counselor, restaurateur, and of course, really awesome actor.
Trejo has appeared in more than 300 films and television shows such as "Machete," "Heat," and "Spy Kids."
He's now 72 years old now, but he has no plans of retiring any time soon it would seem. His latest quest? To play himself in a movie called "Social Security."
He's launched a campaign to raise money for the project.
He recently got out of his bubble bath and dropped by KPCC to talk about his new movie and his career with Alex Cohen.
Danny's campaign is going strong. If you'd like to contribute, click here.
Interview Highlights
What life was like growing up in Echo Park
“My Uncle Gilbert was a drug addict, and an armed robber, and he always had a lot of money. In our neighborhood — because I moved from Echo Park to Pacoima, and you had two choices: You could be a laborer, or a criminal. And laborers, that was my dad, he worked hard. So I just followed my Uncle Gilbert’s footsteps. It was just the easier route. When I was 8, my uncle’s crime partner, they each gave me 10 one-dollar bills because they had done an armed robbery. So if you’re 8 years old, you got 20 one-dollar bills, all of a sudden you’re like, ‘That’s going to be my career.’”
On his turning point from prison and drugs, to being a drug counselor and actor
“Cinco de Mayo 1968, me, Ray Pacheco and Henry Quijada were involved in very serious prison riot. We committed three gas chamber offenses, and I was sittin’ in the hole and I thought I was gonna go to the gas chamber, and I just kind of said a prayer, ‘God, if you’re there, it’s gonna be alright, and if not, I’m screwed.’ I made a promise, ‘If you let me die with dignity, I’ll say your name every day, and I’ll do whatever I can for my fellow man.’ I thought it was just going to be a couple of years and I was going to die, but he kind of fooled me. So basically I’ve been trying to live up to my promise.”
How he’s a lovable bad guy on-screen
“You know, Eddie Bunker told me something. He said, ‘Danny, your face is gonna let you make it in Hollywood.’ I looked at him and I said, ‘Not ‘cause it’s pretty.” (Laughs) He says, ‘You look like a bad guy, and it should be, it’s got to be, your job to disarm people immediately.’”
About “Social Security,” and what it will be like to play himself
“I’m Danny Trejo, visiting one of my friends in a senior citizen home and I realize what’s going on. He kind of tells me something is going on, I don’t know what, but these guys are like criminals. Like I said, we found out that there was so many senior citizens being abused. And then, we’re trying to get a lot of the elderly actors, the older actors, to come and do this. Because once you’re 50, in Hollywood if you don’t already have a name, you’re out. Thank God I had a name. I turned 50 and I already had a little name. I didn’t change that much so I could still be the bad guy… You know, I’ve been playing me. Eddie said, ‘The first half of your life was a character study,’ (laughs) ‘Now you’re playing them characters.’ So, it’s like second nature. How do you be tough, how do you stand in a prison yard. It’s funny when they say, ‘Where did you study?’ I always say San Quentin Drama Arts (laughs)”