#32: A Life of Crime, Redemption and Hollywood – a Journey from Gangster to Movie Star with Danny Trejo

This time at Unfolding Maps - not a climber, not a cyclist, not a
desert photographer, but: Hollywood's most famous and beloved
villain!


 


Danny Trejo was shot, stabbed, decapitated, blown up, hanged,
flattened by an elevator and lost his life in some even less
appetizing ways that I'd rather leave unmentioned here. He's been
the record holder as the world's most killed actor for years now
- and he's steadily extending his lead.


 


Danny has starred in over 400 films: blockbusters like Machete,
Desperado, Heat, From Dusk till dawn, Con Air and Spy Kids, as
well as countless B-movies and series like Breaking Bad, Sons of
Anarchy and Modern Family. He has the status of a legend in
Hollywood. He owns a chain of taco restaurants, his own beer and
coffee brands, cafes and donut stores. In L.A., where he was born
and lives, he is so popular that there is even an official Danny
Trejo Day here.


 


But those successes aren't why we have invited him to Unfolding
Maps.


 


Occasionally, we take the liberty of broadening our show's range
of topics a bit by not just talking to people who have gotten to
know the world through special journeys and expeditions, but to
people whose LIFE journey is a very special one. And that
definitely applies to Danny Trejo. Because he does not only PLAY
the bad guy over and over again, but he WAS that bad guy: He
spent his early years on a criminal career full of crime and drug
addiction, and he served time in all of California's prisons for
years.


 


Eventually, he battled his demons, and upon his release, earned
unexpected fame in Hollywood as a bad-boy actor with a heart of
gold. Meanwhile, he has worked for decades not only as an actor
but also as a drug counselor. In Los Angeles, he is as well known
for his work in addiction and rehabilitation as he is for his
acting. In the neighborhood of his childhood and youth, which he
once terrorized with armed robberies and sheer violence, murals
of his face now adorn the facades of entire buildings because
people are so proud that he is one of them. It is the ultimate
journey from gangster to movie star, a story about a man who
changes himself and his destiny.


 


Danny, who is now 78 years old, talks about all of this openly in
his autobiography "Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and
Hollywood” – and in this episode of Unfolding Maps.


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