Danny Trejo: His Best Roles

Born on May 16th, 1944 in Los Angeles, California, Danny Trejo has come a long way from his early beginnings. Before his successful career in the film industry, Trejo actually worked in construction and was in and out of both jail and prison throughout the '60s. He credits the 12-step program in helping him overcome drug addiction.Today, the 80-year old Trejo has been in over 250 films and television roles! Let's take a look at his most prominent roles...

Danny Trejo has been in several Robert Rodriguez films, but we'll start out with the first movie that Trejo worked with him in - Desperado. Desperado is actually the second film of the so-called Mexico Trilogy developed by Rodriguez, which includes El Mariachi and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. It stars Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, with Trejo's character, "Navajas" hired as a hitman set to kill Banderas' character. Quick fun fact: Trejo and Rodriguez found out on set that they were related to each other: second cousins!

In 1997, Trejo starred in the action film Con-Air, alongside Nicholas Cage, John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, and Dave Chappelle. The film grossed $224 million against a $75 million budget!

Danny's next Robert Rodriguez movie trio would be in 1997's From Dusk till Dawn. The film was not only written by, but also starred Quentin Tarantino. There were additionally two other films -  From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money and  From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter, in which Trejo was the only actor to star in all 3 films. Additionally, he also starred in the TV show created afterwards, From Dusk till Dawn: The Series, which aired from 2014-2016.

In true Danny Trejo fashion, the actor starred in the next Rodriguez film series: Spy Kids (2001). This includes: Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (2002), Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003), and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011). Trejo's character "Isador "Machete" Cortez" would become a household name for Rodriguez, as the "Machete" character would be used for many more of Trejo's roles...

...like for the double feature film Grindhouse. This double feature includes Planet Terror, directed by Rodriguez and Death Proof, directed by Tarantino. Trejo starred in the fictional trailer titled Machete, which would later be turned into a full feature film.

The third part and final part of Rodriguez's Mexico Trilogy is Once Upon a Time in Mexico, once again starring Banderas and Hayek. This time, Johnny Depp was added to the cast of this contemporary western. The film grossed nearly $100 million against a $29 million budget!

Robert Rodriguez had actually come up with the character idea of "Machete" while filming Desperado, and knew Trejo would be the perfect fit for the role. "I thought this guy should be like the Mexican Jean-Claude Van Damme or Charles Bronson," Rodriguez had once stated. Trejo stars in the main role of Machete (2010) as a Mexican Federal, as well the sequel, 2013's Machete Kills. 

Let's not forget that Danny Trejo also stars and dubs voices in various TV shows. For season 4 of the motorcycle crime series, Sons of Anarchy, Trejo portrayed "Romero "Romeo" Parada". He's also appeared in shows like Brooklyn Nine Nine, King of the Hill and NCIS: Los Angeles, to name a few. 

What's next for Danny Trejo? Well, for starters, he's already appeared in three different show in the last couple of years: the re-boot of 'Dynasty', the cartoon series 'Victor and Valentino', and the sci-fi series 'Paragon'. On top of that, he also did more voice acting in the 'Minion' movie, 'Minions: The Rise of Gru'. Danny Trejo: a man of many trades!