Wilmer Valderrama

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Wilmer Valderrama

Wilmer Eduardo Valderrama (born January 30, 1980) is an American actor and television personality, best 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.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. 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,[when?] 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.[when?] 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. 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.Valderrama made an appearance in Paula DeAnda's music video for "Easy", 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.

At the conclusion of production of That '70s Show, Valderrama purchased the 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser featured on That '70s Show from Carsey-Werner, the show's production company, for $500 USD. He dated actress/singer Mandy Moore for 18 months between 2000 and 2002 and actress Lindsay Lohan in 2004. Much buzz was generated from a March 2006 radio interview with Howard Stern, where Valderrama claimed to have taken Moore's virginity, and rated the supposed sexual prowess of singer-actresses Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ashlee Simpson. Moore later referred to Valderrama as a "good guy" and a "gentleman", although she has stated that his comments about their relationship were "utterly tacky". Hewitt replied to this rumor saying "I was told that we had all these very steamy encounters and I was like, 'Really? Well, I would have loved to have been there!". In 2008 he used his celebrity status to endorse a New York rescue workers detoxification project charity event held at Geisha House on March 27, 2008 in Hollywood. 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.