ACTOR · BORN 1944
Danny Trejo
- Born
- 16 May 1944
- Known for
- Dirty Harry (1971), Machete Kills (2013), Bubble Boy (2001), Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002)
14 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
Danny Trejo (born 16 May 1944) is an actor best known for Dirty Harry, Machete Kills and Bubble Boy.
Danny Trejo over the years
14 Interesting Facts About Danny Trejo
Interesting Facts (5)
- #001
Danny Trejo is the only actor to appear in all three 'From Dusk Till Dawn' films, playing the same character from Robert Rodriguez's original through the sequels.
Danny Trejo: a sceneImage: Wikimedia Commons · Toglenn, CC BY-SA 3.0 - #002
In Michael Mann's cult film 'Heat' (1995), Trejo played a character with his own surname, one of the key roles of his career.
- #003
Octavio, a character in the animated series 'King of the Hill,' was designed to look like Danny Trejo.
- #004
Danny Trejo has made five films with Salma Hayek: 'Desperado' (1995), 'From Dusk Till Dawn' (1996), 'Spy Kids 3: Game Over' (2003), 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico' (2003) and 'Muppets Most Wanted' (2014), most of them Robert Rodriguez films.
- #005
Danny Trejo's five favorite films are 'The Searchers' (1956), 'Death Wish' (1974), 'Animal Factory' (2000), 'Dirty Harry' (1971) and 'Once Upon a Time in the West' (1968), a taste for classic westerns and crime dramas.
Characters & Cast (1)
- #006
Trejo's characters in Robert Rodriguez's films are usually named after blades: Navajas in 'Desperado,' Razor Charlie in the 'From Dusk Till Dawn' trilogy, Machete in the 'Spy Kids' films, in the 'Grindhouse' trailer and in 'Machete,' and Cuchillo in 'Predators'; the one exception is Cucuy in 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico.'
Career & Awards (5)
- #007
Danny Trejo and director Robert Rodriguez are second cousins, a connection that led to a long, fruitful collaboration and some of Trejo's most iconic roles.
- #008
Trejo came to film late, making his first feature at 41, but his perseverance quickly earned him a solid place in the industry as one of Hollywood's best-known character actors.
- #009
- #010
Danny Trejo was 33 when he started acting, a late start that's part of his remarkable story of perseverance.
- #011
One of Danny Trejo's films, Spy Kids (2001), has been chosen for the Library of Congress's National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Life & Family (3)
- #012
Danny Trejo volunteers at the Villalobos Pitbull Rescue, which rehabilitates and rehomes pit bulls, showing a soft heart behind his tough image.
- #013
Once, a small child in public began pointing at Trejo and shouting 'That's El Diablo!', and the mortified mother thought her son had insulted him, until Trejo explained that El Diablo was his character in 'The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run' (2020); the mother then said her son had never spoken before and hugged him, a moment Trejo has never forgotten.
- #014
Danny Trejo's surname is often mispronounced by English speakers; it's "TRAY-hoh," and he enjoys teaching fans to say it right.
Related pages
- The Devil's Rejects — Danny Trejo comes up in the facts on that page
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Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
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