10 Unbelievable Details Surrounding Danny Trejo, Who Went From Starting Prison Riots To Hollywood Star

6 /10 Honest Living

Trejo started his post-prison life as a labor foreman in Saul Pick, where he helped build the Cinerama Dome.

He co-owned a lawn care business and continued his work as a counselor, increasing his scope to help handle the heavy substance abuse issues growing in Hollywood at the time.

He helped operate sober living houses in San Fernando valley.

5 /10 First Gig

One of the boys in Trejo’s care asked him to come to a film set to reach out to some of the extras that were having problems while working as an extra.

He got to earn easy money blending into the background while he talked to anyone he could counsel or help behind the scenes.

He happened to meet Edward Bunker; a former convict Trejo served time with, who had since become an author and screenwriter for the film Runaway Train.

He helped Trejo secure a role as a boxing instructor and a speaking role as a brutal prison guy in Penitentiary III.

4 /10 Breakout Roles

Danny Trejo worked non-stop, upgrading his roles from speaking extra to named functions starting with Death Wish 4: The Crackdown and Marked for Death.

He collaborated with many famous actors and directors who valued him for his, admittedly, type-cast appearance as a rough and vicious Mexican tough guy.

His most significant break was meeting many of his lifelong acting friends during the filming of 1997’s Con Air starring Nicholas Cage, with who he continued to act within future projects.

3 /10 Man Named Machete

One of the most unexpected roles for Trejo came in the early 2000s with the Robert Rodriguez directed Spy Kids, a children’s movie featuring a diverse cast and a cartoonishly over-the-top spy story.

He had previously worked with Rodriguez – his second cousin – on several 90s movies, including Desperado and From Dusk Til Dawn, and knew him as an action director first.

They later took his character to another level and created the Machete series of movies where he was the top-billed actor in the leading role.

2 /10 Health Scare

In 1999, Trejo’s drug-filled past caught up with him, as he was diagnosed with an aggressive Hepatitis C that chewed away at him rapidly.

He continued filming movies, finishing up Reindeer Games before moving on to Spy Kids and Bubble Boy in 2001, when his deterioration became more noticeable.

He kept his diagnosis a secret and dealt with it privately until he was given a clean bill of health in 2002. He appeared in 10 movies from 2002 to 2008 – just six years, in named roles from minor to major.

1 /10 Overcoming Together

Trejo has continued acting and forging solid relationships throughout Hollywood to this day, branching out into television and reality TV shows as well.

The entire time he has maintained his sobriety and his good-heartedness toward others. He believes that all the good he received in his life responds to him doing good by others first.