Wilmer Valderrama biography
Date of birth : 1980-01-30
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Miami, Florida, U.S.
Nationality : American
Category : Arts and Entertainment
Last modified : 2011-10-29
Credited as : Actor, That '70s Show, Nickelodeon
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Valderrama was born in Miami, Florida the son of Sobeida (née Arias) and Balbino A. Valderrama, who owned a farm equipment rental company. He is of Colombian and Venezuelan descent.The family moved to Venezuela when he was three years old, then to Los Angeles when he was thirteen. He has two sisters, Marylin and Stephanie, and a brother named Christian. He also attended Taft High School in Woodland Hills, CA.
Valderrama got his start performing in numerous plays, including A Midsummer Night's Dream and Rumors. He made his professional debut in a Spanish-language Pacific Bell commercial. At his drama teacher's suggestion, he got an agent and was immediately cast in the CBS miniseries Four Corners and in Omba Makamba on the Disney Channel. He made his big screen debut starring opposite Freddie Prinze Jr., Brittany Murphy, Matthew Lillard and Jessica Biel in the Warner Brothers film Summer Catch.
Valderrama played Fez on That '70s Show from 1998–2006; he was a junior in high school when the pilot episode was filmed. He also played DJ Keoki in the 2003 film Party Monster alongside Macaulay Culkin, Chloë Sevigny, Wilson Cruz and Seth Green. He produced and hosted the MTV series Yo Momma from 2006 to 2007, and appeared (involuntarily) as many as three times on another MTV mainstay, Punk'd, hosted by fellow That '70s alum Ashton Kutcher.
Valderrama appeared in the Los Angeles Times critic's choice play Blackout, an adaptation of the feature film Drunks, and starred opposite Anjelica Huston and Ben Kingsley in the Actors' Fund of America one-performance only reading of Sunset Boulevard. He filmed the short film La Torcedura in which he played the lead, and appeared in The Darwin Awards, an independent film directed by Finn Taylor, starring Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes.
In animation work, Valderrama voiced Rodrigo in Clifford's Really Big Movie, playing alongside John Ritter, Wayne Brady and Jenna Elfman. He also voices the main character, Manny, in Disney Channel’s Handy Manny series for preschoolers (He even starred in a minisode featuring his acting counterpart).
He had a starring role in El Muerto, an indie film directed by Brian Cox and based on the successful comic book created by Javier Hernandez. In January 2007, Valderrama launched his own men's fashion label called "Calavena".
Currently, he is working on a new sitcom he has created for Nickelodeon, entitled Earth to Pablo. It is about a family that receives a teenage space alien instead of the foreign exchange student they were expecting.
In 2010, Valderrama guest-starred on Disney Channel's series Wizards of Waverly Place playing the role of Theresa Russo's brother, Ernesto. In 2011, he appeared in two episodes of USA Network's Royal Pains as Eric Kassabian, an art dealer.
On May 11, 2011 he converted into Eduardo Fresco with his song The Way I Fiesta. Directed by Akiva Schaffer from the group The Lonely Island. He also appeared in the 2011 video for LMFAO's song Sexy and I Know It.
He codirected Omar Cruz' To The Top featuring Frankie J. He also worked with Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Wisin & Yandel's video Imagínate featuring the rapper T-Pain, as well as Colombian singer Fanny Lu's video "Tu No Eres Para Mi", where he portrays her boyfriend.
