The actor became one of the most popular inmates in San Quentin, the oldest prison in California, after winning the boxing championship.
Danny Trejo went from rock bottom to redemption. Once he had overcome the ghosts that had plagued him since childhood, he took a leap toward altruism to support children and young people who suffer from domestic violence. But before he became the Hollywood star he is today, the Mexican-American actor was persecuted by the law: he was in and out of jail more than once in the 1960s.
The son of Mexican workers, the actor was born on May 16, 1944, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. He grew up in an environment surrounded by drugs that led him to live a helpless childhood. He tried marijuana at age 8 and at 12 he started using heroin.
At 78 years old, Danny Trejo has a renowned career in the seventh art, he is even one of the actors who has died the most times on the screen. His success is born after a past of domestic violence, addictions, and a long prison experience.
Why Danny Trejo was in jail
He was 16 years old when he first stepped foot in the United States prison system accused of several armed robberies, later he turned to selling drugs.
That was how in the 1960s the Los Angeles police strove to apprehend Danny Trejo. The actor was one of the best-known inmates at San Quentin, the oldest prison in California. His popularity increased once he became the prison boxing champion.
During the time he was incarcerated, he spent 18 months in a punishment cell. However, what would change the course of his life was a terrible fight in which he was involved with Ray Pacheco and Henry Quijada.
"Several people were hurt and they sent us to the hole, although I think they wanted to send us to the gas chamber. They were very upset because we had burned down their prison. I remember asking God: 'Let me die with dignity and I will say your name every day and I will do everything I can for my neighbor". I thought that at most in a couple of years, they would kill me, but Diosito said: "Okay", and gave me another chance," he said in 2020 during an interview.
Danny Trejo's acting career
He made his film debut in the 1980s after he was hired to give actor Eric Roberts boxing lessons for the film Escape, in which Trejo had a supporting role. Although his rise to fame came with From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Machete (2010) and Machete Kills (2013).
Without a doubt, Danny Trejo's story is worthy of a Hollywood movie, but his fight against his own monsters is even more so. In 2009, the Chicano released his documentary Inmate # 1: The Rise of Danny Trejo, which explores the path through darkness that the actor traveled until his rehabilitation.
