Danny Trejo didn’t get all those recognizable scars from a bike accident. The well-known 77-year-old Mexican-American actor and restaurateur who has appeared in more than 300 films and TV shows, including “Blood In, Blood Out,” “Con Air,” “Spy Kids,” and “Machete,” knows firsthand what it’s like to be the criminal he so frequently portrays.
Trejo, a Los Angeles native born in 1944, overcame more hardship than almost all of his characters. He was active in street life and violence, used and sold potent drugs, engaged in fist and gun fights with rival gangs, endured a difficult prison sentence, and even spent time on death row before being set free due to a procedural error. After that, he cleaned up his act, struck it rich and landed a Hollywood role in the 1980s, and he never looked back.
However, getting there wasn’t simple, and things haven’t exactly gone according to plan ever since. These are the awful specifics, Danny Trejo.
TREJO’S UNCLE FOUND HIM IN DRUGS AND CRIME.
Much like many other stories, Danny Trejo’s terrible tale starts with an abusive upbringing. The documentary “Inmate 1: The Rise of Danny Trejo” claims that the “Machete” and “Breaking Bad” actor was severely abused by his father and grandparents when he was a young child. He grew more dependent on his Uncle Gilbert as a result, who at least showed him some love and care.
Unfortunately, when Trejo was growing up, his uncle wasn’t exactly a good example. He was exposed to drugs, and with the help of his uncle, he developed a drug addiction. And that extends past merely the sporadic consumption of LSD and marijuana.
When he was 8 years old, he started smoking marijuana, and by the time he was 13 he was a full-fledged heroin addict. Trejo was also introduced to crime by Uncle Gilbert.
He reportedly told a crowd the following tale: “I remember giving my uncle a ride in my mom’s car… Stop here, let me get some cigarettes, he would say. He yells as he leaves, “Go, go, go!”. I would scream, “You motherf*! I’m in my mother’s car right now. If he had $5,000 in his pocket, he could rob a bar for $80. “.
Gilbert brutally beat Trejo, forcing him to stay upright or, in Trejo’s words, “get my head beat in,” and in the process, he also turned Trejo into a fighter. Trejo, even as a young teen, had an incredibly close-knit and knowledgeable relationship with crime and street life.
If you think that you or someone you know might be a victim of child abuse, please contact Childhelp’s National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or use their live chat services.
Trejo engaged in a lot of combat.
According to Grantland, Uncle Gilbert allegedly taught Trejo to be tough by routinely ambushing the child, forcing him to maintain his guard and learn how to defend himself lest he wanted a split lip. Trejo later admitted, “I was essentially his punching bag. “.
Despite how brutal the training was, it did prepare Trejo for a life of crime and imprisonment (and, eventually, a career in acting). Additionally, it helped him get ready for the violent turf wars between rival street gangs that took place in Mission Park and other areas in his Los Angeles neighborhood.
Trejo learned there that while everyone is tough, not everyone is terrifying. People are not scared of tough guys, he proclaimed.
“Crazy men make people very afraid.
“.
Trejo and champion kickboxer Benny “the Jet” Urquidez occasionally engaged in combat during this period. Danny never caved in, he said. He was a professional.
Both his heart and jaw were strong.
“.
In an interview with Tony Gonzalez, Trejo recalls the constant physical pressures and strains of growing up in Los Angeles’ Echo Park, which he describes as being “basically a ghetto.”.
He asserts that “it was problematic.”. “We were from Echo Park (EP), and the Temple Street gang and we frequently fought. Everything was constantly in a chaotic state. There were fights on the way to and from school, so we had to keep people away from our neighborhood. “.
Given his drug use, drug dealing, street fighting, and other criminal behavior, Danny Trejo’s only options were death or prison. Fortunately, it was the latter, though at first he didn’t realize how lucky he was.
According to Texas Monthly, Trejo was incarcerated for a total of 11 years in various prisons in the southwest. He was imprisoned for robbery and drug trafficking in 1962 for a brief period of time. Although he was quickly released, by 1965 he was back in jail—this time permanently—after selling four ounces of heroin (he claims it was sugar, per the story) to a federal agent posing as a drug addict.
After going through the difficult experience, he would eventually grow into the man he is today, but it didn’t happen right away. He remained a hardened criminal who was challenging to intimidate.
This was going to alter, though. In 1968, he was moved from Soledad to San Quentin, a facility infamous for its execution chambers. According to the tale, Trejo’s upbeat demeanor abruptly changed when the topic of his first encounter with the location came up.
Two lights are visible above the North Block as you draw near San Quentin. There are two lights: one red and one green. An individual is being killed when the red light is on. The first thing you notice about this place tells you it’s a death house because people come in and don’t leave.
TREJO HAS NOT HAD THE BEST OF LUCK IN HIS WEDDINGS.
It’s possible that Danny Trejo doesn’t resemble Brad Pitt. The fact that he is known as a multimillionaire Hollywood bad boy with a good heart hasn’t stopped him from attracting women over the years, though. Both being a good husband and being attractive to women require completely different skill sets.
On HITC, you can find details about Trejo’s previous relationships, such as which of his five children each partner is responsible for fathering. His marriage to fellow actor Debbie Shreve, who starred in “High Hopes” and “Tennis, Anyone?” from 1997 to 2009 (a very long time for Hollywood), produced Danielle and Gilbert.
There isn’t much information about the various ex-girlfriends of Danny Boy, Esmeralda, and Jose that is readily accessible to the general public aside from the fact that one of the women was named Maeve.
