With Great Conviction –
March 14, 2018 – Actor Danny Trejo came of age in the California prison system, doing time in a juvenile detention center as well as in San Quentin, Folsom and Soledad, on charges relating to drugs. He says that background prepared him well for acting. “Standing on the yard in San Quentin, knowing that there’s a riot coming, you’re absolutely scared to death with every fiber of your body,” Trejo says. “[But] you have to pretend you’re not. You have to stand there and make everybody think you like it.” As an actor, he’s made a name for himself by playing menacing characters on TV shows like Sons Of Anarchy and in movies like Machete. He jokes that he’s perfectly suited for the roles he’s landed: “Somebody finally got it right! They’re not using Marky Wahlberg to play the mean Chicano dude.”
