All those recognizable scars on Danny Trejo weren’t sustained in a bike accident. The Mexican-American actor and restaurateur, now 77 and a well-known star of more than 300 movies and TV episodes, including “Blood In, Blood Out,” “Con Air,” “Spy Kids,” and “Machete,” understands exactly what it’s like to be the criminal he so frequently portrays.
Trejo, who was born in Los Angeles in 1944, experienced greater adversity than nearly all of his characters. He engaged in street life and combat, consumed and sold strong narcotics, engaged in fist and gun battles with opposing gangs, served a hard time in numerous jails, and even sat on death row before being freed on a technicality. After that, he straightened up, got lucky, and landed a Hollywood part in the 1980s, and he never looked back.
But getting there wasn’t easy, and things haven’t been entirely smooth since. These are Danny Trejo’s terrible details.
