Wilmer Valderrama Biography

Wilmer Eduardo Valderrama (born January 30, 1980) is an American actor and television personality, known for the role of Fez in the sitcom That '70s Show, hosting the MTV series Yo Momma, and voicing the character of Manny in the children's show Handy Manny. He most recently guest starred on Wizards of Waverly Place and starred as Detective Efrem Vega in the 2012 NBC series Awake.

Early life

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, Christian. He attended Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California.

Career

Television and film career

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 senior 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 alumni Ashton Kutcher.

In April and May 2003, Valderrama appeared in the Los Angeles Times critic's choice play Blackout, an adaptation of the feature film Drunks, and on April 4, 2004, 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".

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 three episodes of USA Network's Royal Pains as Eric Kassabian, an art dealer.

In 2012, Valderrama co-hosted Premios Juventud as a superhero on July 19, 2012. In August 2012, he appeared alongside Vanessa Curry and Leighton Meester in house music group Nomads' music video of "Addicted to Love".

On September 27, 2013, Valderrama was honored with an ALMA Award for Outstanding Social Activism.

Music career

On May 11, 2011 he released his song "The Way I Fiesta", which he performed as his alter ego Eduardo Fresco. The video was directed by Akiva Schaffer from the group The Lonely Island. Danny Masterson, Valderrama's co-star from That '70s Show, has a cameo appearance in the video. He appeared in the 2009 music video for Wisin y Yandel's song "Imagínate". He also appeared and produced the 2011 video for LMFAO's song "Sexy and I Know It". At the Billboard Latin Music Awards he said that he is making music which he will release in Spanish and English. On July 27, 2012, he had an interview with Latina and said that he is recording a bunch of amazing tracks and is working with great artists/producers from both the English and the Spanish side. He said he was hoping to release more music in 2013.

Other work

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 Lú's video "Tu No Eres Para Mi", where he portrays her boyfriend. Valderama has guest appeared on Shane Dawson video on September 1.

Filmography

Film

Name	Year	Role	Notes
Summer Catch	2001	Mickey Dominguez
Party Monster	2003	Keoki
Clifford's Really Big Movie	2004	Rodrigo	Voice
Beauty Shop	2005	Corky	Uncredited
The Darwin Awards	2006	Documentary Filmmaker
Zoom		Marksmen
Fast Food Nation		Raul	Nominated " Imagen Foundation Awards Best Actor Film
Unaccompanied Minors		Zach Van Bourke
El Muerto	2007	Diego de la Muerte / El Muerto
The Condor		Tony Valdez	Voice
Save the Date
Columbus Day	2008	Max
Days of Wrath		Daniel
The Dry Land	2010	Raymond Gonzales
A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song	2011
Larry Crowne		Dell Gordo
From Prada to Nada		Bruno	Nominated " Imagen Foundation Awards Best Supporting Actor Film
The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best		Jason
The Girl Is in Trouble	2013	Angel	Completed
School Dance		Flaco	Post-production

Television

Name	Year	Role	Notes
Four Corners	1998	Antonio	Canceled after 4 episodes
That '70s Show	1998"2005	Fez	Main Role; 200 episodes Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Sidekick (2006) Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Sidekick (2005) Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Sidekick (2003) Nominated " Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Sidekick (2004) Nominated " Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Sidekick (2002) Nominated " ALMA Awards Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006) Nominated " Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a TV Series Young Ensemble (1999)
MADtv	2002	Punch	Guest Star; (CHiPs 2002, as Erik Estrada)
Grounded for Life		Eugenio	Episode: Mustang Lilly
Punk'd	2003	Himself	2 episodes
Yo Momma	2006"2008		Creator, executive producer & host
Handy Manny	2006"2013	Manny	Voice
Robot Chicken	2005	Fez	Episode: Gold Dust Gasoline
The Sopranos	2006	Himself	Episode: Luxury Lounge
That's Our Joe	2007	Almerià	Episode: Padre De Joe F.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition	2010	Himself
Wizards of Waverly Place		Uncle Ernesto	Episode: Uncle Ernesto
Cleveland Show	2011	Diego	Episode: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Roberta?
Royal Pains	2011"2012	Eric Kassabian	3 episodes
Awake	2012	Detective Efrem Vega	13 episodes
Minuto Para Ganar		Himself	Guest
Are You There, Chelsea?		Tommy	Episode: Those Damn Yankees
Men at Work		Eri Ricaldo	Episode: Crazy for Milo (uncredited)
Suburgatory	2012-2013	Yoni	2 episodes
Raising Hope		Ricardo Montes	4 episodes

Video games

Year	Name	Role	Notes
2005	Scarface: The World Is Yours	Pablo	Voice

TV commercials

Product	Notes
Heineken "The Tiger"	with Valeska Castillo

Director

Year	Title	Notes
2010	Imagination Movers	Episode: Mouse Day
2013	Salud - SkyBlu feat. Sensato, Reek Rude & Wilmer Valderrama	Music Video

Discography

Singles

Year	Title	Album
2011	"The Way I Fiesta" (feat. Clayton Vice)	Non-album Song

Guest appearances

List of non-single guest appearances, with other performing artists, showing year released and album name

Title	Year	Other artist(s)	Album
"Salud"	2013	SkyBlu, Sensato, Reek Rude	Rebel Music

Music videos

As lead artist

Year	Title	Director	Album
2011	"The Way I Fiesta" (feat. Clayton Vice)	Akiva Schaffer

As featured artist

Year	Title	Director	Album
2013	"Salud" (SkyBlu feat. Sensato, Reek Rude & Wilmer Valderrama)	Himself	Rebel Music

Cameo appearances

• Paula DeAnda " "Easy"
• Omar Cruz Feat. Frankie J " "To The Top"
• Fanny Lú " "Tu No Eres Para Mi"
• Wisin & Yandel Feat. T-Pain " "Imagínate"
• Rob Thomas " "Ever the same"
• LMFAO - "Sexy and I Know It"
• The Jonas Brothers - "First Time"

See also

• Celebrities who have been Punk'd
• Famous Colombians
• Famous Venezuelans