Danny Trejo

Movie appearances

Runaway Train (1986) - This movie is significant because it was Danny's big break into movies. He's only in it for about half a minute (near the 12:00 mark) and he plays a boxer who fights Eric Roberts in prison. He's slimmer and younger-looking than he is in any of his later roles. Don't rent this movie if you want to see Danny kick any ass.

The Hidden (1987) - Danny is one of several prisoners unfortunate enough to be locked up in the jailhouse when the evil alien comes rampaging through. Danny voices the classic line "Hey, man, what kind of dude are you?" before getting blown away with a shotgun. Trivia: moments later, the evil alien demolishes the cellblock with a bazooka.

Desperado (1995) - As I mentioned before, this is probably his best role to date. He plays Navajas, the hit man sent in by the mobs to keep Bucco in line. He starts off slow, dialing a pay phone with the business end of a knife and just generally looking mean. But things really kick into high gear once he catches up to the Mariachi (played by Antonio Banderas, who could never hope to be half the badass that Trejo is.) He greets the Mariachi with a volley of hurled knives, forcing that wimp to flee into an alley. Well, that would have been it for poor Mr. Mariachi, except that Bucco's gang shows up and challenges Trejo. Rather than waste time chatting with these hired thugs, he simply turns and begins hurling knives at them. He kills five or six, gets shot up with a machine gun, kills a few more, then gets totally ventilated. But it was a valiant fight.

Heat (1995) - Here, he plays (!) Trejo, a member of Robert DeNiro's gang. He's really more of a supporting character, though, and ends up getting killed by the treacherous Wangro. All I can say is, DeNiro eventually makes Wangro pay, and big-time.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) - Another good role for him. He plays Razor Charlie, the mean-as-shit bartender at the Titty Twister. He's also a vampire, and once things go to hell in the bar, he runs rampant for a good long while before getting staked by Tom Savini.

Champions (1996, direct-to-video) - I think this was a direct-to-video release (it first appeared in 1998) but that shouldn't hide the fact that this is quite possibly Danny's most involved role to date. He plays the founder/organizer/promoter of a no-holds-barred fighting tournament, and he's mean and nasty and sinister. He really gets a lot of screen time, and a lot of lines, and he appears to be enjoying himself immensely. Of course, he ends up dying at the end, but true Trejo fans understand and expect this.

Con Air (1997) - This was a fairly high-profile role for Danny; he plays Johnny-23, a serial rapist who happens to be on the prisoner transport plane with all the other bad criminals. He acts pretty mean, and tries to rape Rachel Ticotin, but gets the crap beat out of him by Nicholas Cage. Danny makes it through most of this movie before being cut in half by a gigantic propeller blade that breaks loose during the plane crash.

Anaconda (1997) - Poor Danny. He only makes it through five minutes of this movie, and I probably don't have to tell you how he dies. Then again, someone's got to be the first victim, to show the audience the power of the mighty anaconda, and he does it well.

The Replacement Killers (1998) - Perhaps his most survivable role to date - he makes it til the very end of the movie. His role here is that of an assassin - one of two called in to finish the job that Chow-Yun Fat couldn't handle. Of course, this pretty much means that Chow has to kill him, but such is life. Danny has some decent bad-ass moments in this one, at one point gunning down some approaching police officers who should've known better.

Point Blank (1998, direct-to-video) - Danny had a good "bad" role in this one - he played a murderous, violent rapist. He walked around shooting and looting and generally causing lots of pain, and better yet, he lived through most of the movie. You could say he was the main bad guy - he apparently got killed a couple of times, but always came back. An evil role, but a mighty one.

From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (2000, direct-to-video) - This was a prequel to the first movie, and featured Danny as the bartender. He had some good moments, particularly when he helps a tequila-inspired customer decide to start a barfight. Danny lives through this one, but then again, you knew he had to, since the same character returns in From Dusk Till Dawn.

Miscellany

You can read some bio information at this IMDB link.
Here's some fanmail I've gotten.
Here's a picture on one of his cousins' pages.

Here's a blurb from an old People Mazagine online article (they've since removed this link, but I had saved the text.)
PROS AND CONS
Real-life ex-con Danny Trejo (Anaconda, From Dusk till Dawn), who plays one of the prison inmates in the new action thriller Con Air, starring Nicolas Cage, was careful not to get too much into the spirit of things on the set. "The guys would do a lot of contests, like one-arm push-ups and races, but I stayed out of it," says Trejo, 53, who served 11 years in prison on drug and robbery charges. "I've seen those testosterone contests go bad too many times." Still, Trejo is quick to confess that his time behind bars helped him break into acting. "This guy asked me to be an extra [in 1985's Runaway Train]. He wanted me to act like a convict," he says. "It was hilarious to me. I had been in San Quentin and Folsom prisons, and here's a guy saying, `Can you act like a convict?' I said, `Well, I'll try.' "

My page has been linked on the Fansites web page. It has also been awarded a three-star rating at Starpages.

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NOTE: I am not Danny Trejo! I just made a fan page about him.