Danny Trejo filmography

Trejo in 2024

Danny Trejo is an American actor. His filmography consists of about 250 film and television roles.[1] His prominence in the B movie scene has resulted in disparate media sources referring to Trejo as an "iconic actor" and a "film legend", among other titles.[2][3]

Trejo's film career began in 1985, when he "accidentally" landed a role in Runaway Train, playing a boxer for a daily fee of $320. Prior to that, Trejo had served time in prison on multiple occasions and worked as a drug counsellor after his release. Trejo credits the first film in which he was given a proper credited role as Art Sanella in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown.[4] He went on to star in a multitude of other films, including Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, Con Air, Reindeer Games, and Grindhouse, among others.[5]

From 2001 to 2003, Trejo appeared in the Robert Rodriguez-directed Spy Kids franchise as Isador "Machete" Cortez, in the films Spy Kids, Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. He also voiced Uncle Machete in the video game Spy Kids: Mega Mission Zone. In 2007, Trejo reprised his role in a fictional trailer in Grindhouse, also directed by Rodriguez; subsequently, in 2010, Trejo reprised his role as Machete in a spin-off exploitation film of the same name as the protagonist, also directed by Rodriguez. The character is cited as his "first major film role".[6] Subsequently, Trejo reprised his role as Machete in Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, with the success of Machete also resulting in a direct sequel, Machete Kills, with Trejo once again reprising his role.[1] Trejo has been cast in many television programmes, including Baywatch, where he portrayed different characters for different episodes.[7] Outside of film and television appearances, Trejo has also been featured in a handful of music videos, including the video for Dustin Tavella's "Everybody Knows (Douchebag)".[8] He voiced the characters Umberto Robina for the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, himself in Def Jam: Fight for NY (2004), Raul Tejada in Fallout: New Vegas, Trainer Duke in The Fight: Lights Out, himself in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of The Dead and Call of Duty Black Ops 4: Blackout and also himself in Far Cry 6: Danny and Dani vs. Everybody, and SCUM, among others.[7]

  1. ^ a b Wood, Jennifer (October 8, 2013). "The Most Badass Moments from Danny Trejo's Actual Life". Complex.
  2. ^ Hasan, Zaki (October 8, 2013). "The MovieFilm Podcast: Falling For Gravity, Plus Danny Trejo Talks Machete". Huffington Post.
  3. ^ Hasan, Zaki (October 11, 2013). "Interview: Danny Trejo on Machete Kills, Life After Prison, and Working With Robert Rodriguez". Huffington Post.
  4. ^ Marks, Lisa (December 6, 2012). "Danny Trejo: 'I went to the hole looking at three gas-chamber offences'". Theguardian.com.
  5. ^ Jim Brown (2008). Folsom Prison. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 111–. ISBN 978-0-7385-5921-6.
  6. ^ Ken Knight (2012). Midnight Grind: A Tribute to "Exploitation" Films of the 70s, 80s, and Beyond. AuthorHouse. pp. 133–. ISBN 978-1-4685-4789-4.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Gale2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Fernandez, Celia (June 28, 2013). "WATCH: Danny Trejo Stars In Hysterical "Douchebag" Music Video". Latina.