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Tough-guy actor Danny Trejo, known for his campy “Machete” films and hilarious Marcia Brady portrayal in that Snickers Super Bowl commercial, said he can’t wait to hang out with family in San Antonio this week.
While here, he’ll also give an inspirational talk at a luncheon and shoot scenes for a movie filming in the Alamo City.
“I love, love San Antonio,” he said in a phone chat.
His support of the Spurs already has been documented, but Trejo gravitates toward the city for other reasons, too.
“I love the food. I’m going to try to put a restaurant in San Antonio,” he said. He already owns two taco restaurants and a truck in Los Angeles.
Trejo’s first order of business here? Giving a hug to his beloved cousin Sonny Cantu, who, along with other relatives, lives in San Antonio.
He said he’s also pumped about talking at the Alpha Home event on Thursday. A reformed addict, Trejo was in and out of prison before becoming a sought-after Hollywood actor. He’ll talk about his recovery at Alpha’s 11th annual Doorways of Hope luncheon. It’s scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Omni San Antonio Hotel at the Colonnade. (For more information, go to alphahome.org.)
“What I try to tell people is this: I’d rather shoot for the moon and miss than aim for the gutter and make it,” said the actor, who has reached his 48th year of sobriety. “A lot of drug addicts and alcoholics are kind of geared for aiming for the gutter. But I say, ‘Don’t let people tell you you can’t (give up drugs or alcohol).
“The only failure in life is not trying,” he added. “Any problem you have will only get worse when you use or drink and better when you stop.”
His talk will focus on his transition from imprisonment to his life as a devoted father of three and an intervention counselor — both of which bring him huge satisfaction, he said.
He also credits sobriety for the seemingly endless energy that keeps him, at 72, in demand for roles.
“When you take alcohol and drugs out of your life, and stop smoking, you stop aging so quickly,” he said.
Besides, a night of drinking leads to a puffy face. “You can’t perform 100 percent with a hangover.”
His dependability, enthusiasm and distinctive looks have led to more than 300 movies and television shows.
His first motion picture was in 1985. As is the case with much of his success, he said, his acting career was launched as “the direct result of helping someone else.”
“I was trying to be an extra, and some kid called from a set and said, ‘I’m down here and I want your support. I’m trying to get clean,’” Trejo recalled.
The movie was “Runaway Train,” starring Jon Voight and Eric Roberts. While helping the young man, he ran across a friend who was working on the set. “He asked, ‘Are you still boxing, Danny?’ I told him, ‘I’m training. I’m 40 years old, so I damn sure don’t want to get hit in the face anymore.’”
He then was asked if he’d train one of the actors.
When informed how much it would pay — $320 a day — “I asked, ‘How bad do you want this guy beat up?’”
Even when warned that he had to to be careful because the actor — Roberts — was high-strung and might sock him, Trejo said he wasn’t dissuaded. “But Eric was scared of me, so he’d do anything I’d tell him.”
That led to director Andrei Konchalovsky hiring Trejo to play a boxer in the movie.
From there, he got jobs playing “inmate No. 1” or “bad guy No. 1.”
“Someone asked me if I feared being typecast,” he said. “‘You’re always playing the mean Chicano guy with tattoos.’
“I thought about it and replied, ‘I am the mean Chicano guy with tattoos.’”
Of all his films, Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete,” which represented his first experience as a leading man, is Trejo’s favorite. In it, he plays a federale from Mexico who gets hired to do hatchet jobs in the United States. And true to his nickname, his weapon of choice is a machete.
“I would have loved ‘Machete’ even if I wasn’t in it,” he said.
One reason was co-star Robert De Niro, whom he greatly admires. In the movie, De Niro plays a theatrical politician whose primary platform is to send illegal immigrants back to Mexico.
Sound like someone we know?
“Robert Rodriguez is psychic,” Trejo said.
Trejo said he can’t wait to make a third “Machete” movie. “Robert has to hurry up and do ‘Machete Kills in Space.’ I keep texting him that now’s the time.”
He also treasures roles that were small but memorable, such as the 2014 “Muppets Most Wanted” with Tina Fey, in which he danced and sang as an inmate; and his role in season two of “Breaking Bad.” In the hit TV drama, he played a DEA informant named Tortuga, who ended up as a severed head atop the shell of a live turtle.
“Everyone in the world saw that and remembers it,” he said. “What can I say? God blessed me with a memorable mug.”
That mug also landed him what he referred to as the Holy Grail for an actor: a Super Bowl commercial.
“Those are watched by more people than the Oscars,” he said. “I went from being Machete, one of the toughest guys in the world, to being ‘Oh Marcia,’” he said.
Women especially loved it, he added, saying many still approach him and will “be like brushing their hair.”
While in San Antonio, Trejo said he’ll add another entry to his filmography. He’s playing a college dean in “The Margarita Man,” a movie from San Antonio native Danny Ramos (“Selena”) about a young man who works his way through college by selling margaritas.
As for where Trejo will be between gigs, you likely won’t find him on the River Walk. “The problem — I get swamped on the River Walk; it’s really hard to walk,” he said.
Don’t misunderstand, Trejo said. He’s thrilled when recognized and loves to accommodate fans with photos and autographs.
“In the morning when I say my prayers, I say, ‘let me sign every autograph, let me take ever picture, let me smile at everyone I see,” Trejo said. “I’ve heard a lot of movie stars say they don’t do autographs. But I say, ‘what a blessing it is to make somebody’s day that way.’”
When in the mood to kick back and relax, however, he prefers to go somewhere less-traveled.
One place he likes is Flying Saucer Draught Emporium. “I don’t drink. But it’s a great place to hang out.”
Trejo loves his craft, but said he gets the most satisfaction from helping others.
“My friends and I drive around with thermal underwear and socks in the trunks of our cars, so when we see homeless people, we can hand them out,” the actor said.
“It’s really nothing, but it makes us feel good — and they get to sleep warm that night.”
Jeanne Jakle’s column appears Wednesdays and Sundays in mySA.
jjakle@express-news.net
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