Danny Trejo's life has been insane. reading about his past and how he picked himself off and became the man he is now was nothing short of incredible. Now, while the writing wasn't always the best, the story was compelling and intriguing. I highly recommend reading this book if you have any interest in Danny Trejo as an actor, an individual, or simply reading about someone who managed to change their life for the better, and how these decisions as a young person can affect you for the rest of your life.

Danny Trejo is a successful actor, I’m sure most people have seen something he’s been in, my personal favourite, Sons of Anarchy. Other than the films/shows I watched; I knew nothing about him. When I saw this book on netgalley I couldn’t resist, I love to read more about people in the film industry that are a bit lower key. Danny was raised in a broken, abusive home, struggled with addiction, went to prison several times before finding sobriety and becoming a hero in recovery communities. He laid out everything in these pages, the good, the bad, the terrifying, he includes it all. It’s raw, honest, unfiltered and at points hilarious when he provides commentary now about his prior actions. The way he turned not only his life around but also the lives he’s changed working with recovery communities, is inspiring. I really enjoyed reading about his life, thank you netgalley and Simon and Schuster Canada.

Danny may be one of the most interesting people in to enter Hollywood. After seeing him on Wild doing an excursion I knew I had to read his memoir and learn more about his life. This book will leave you both shocked and amazed at what this man has experienced and make you want to sit down for a long chat!

Oh my goodness. What a life. What an incredible story. It’s inspiring to read about a man who didn’t really hit his peak until his 40s. Who pulled himself out of this horrible situation he was in and changed his whole life. Such and incredible story of strength and determination.

Trejo to his son Gilbert, who asks him if he has any grey hairs: “On my driver’s license, my hair colour is listed as Just for Men.” I’m stealing that line, and using it from here on out. Yeah, after reading his autobiography, I’m a little afraid the author might come after me, but I think he has bigger fish to fry. Trejo’s face may be one of the most interesting, intimidating, and easily recognizable in Hollywood. He comes by those lines honestly, as this memoir proves. His struggle with addiction, and his frustration in seeing the cycle continue with his own children, is offered here in harrowing detail. He works hard to break the chains of his own upbringing on the mean streets of East LA. At time, his proselytizing of his faith can get wearisome, but it is faith that helps him avoid an almost certain early death to find success as a character actor in movies and television shows. An inspiring read.

Danny Trejo is one of my favourite actors to see in a movie, and he’s been in sooo many: Dusk til Dawn (love), Planet Terror (LOVE), Predators (super love!), and of course Machete! I love a good bad guy in books; it’s the same for me with movies, and no one plays a better “good” bad guy that you want to root for than Danny Trejo. You’re probably a Trejo fan without even realizing you’re a Trejo fan!

As with his movies, I found myself rooting for him as I read this book even though I already know that he turned out to a big Hollywood player and a restaurateur. Trejo has lived a dozen lives and has recreated himself over and over for the better, but to hear about Trejo (in his seventies) talk about toxic masculinity and having just recently realized how it has been detrimental in his life blew my mind and gave me hope that more men will come to that realization. This book is a straightforward read, one funny/sad/amazing Trejo story after another. I love the man even more now.

What a great bio to indulge in. A person you wouldn't think of having a biography most definitely showed he deserved to share his life with others. So much learned about Danny Trejo that readers wouldn't get from social media. A relaxing, thoughtfully written read about someone who needs more recognition that he's been given thusfar.

Full disclosure: I have wanted Danny Trejo to write a memoir since I was a teenager and first heard his story. I am an absolute sucker for people who become successful from nothing (Educated, Born a Crime, The Glass Castle, etc) and I am even more of a sucker for people who turn their life around to help others. Danny Trejo has also been in some of my favorite projects ever (Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, Rick and Morty, B-99, Predators, etc) and has been involved in many movies from my childhood nostalgia brain (Spy Kids, Anaconda, Con-Air, etc). Not to mention, I have co-writer and fellow author Donal Logue on FB, where he sometimes shares short stories he's written about his life including, I realized as I finished this, his collaborator's note for this book, and I think he is a wonderful author (I'm hoping the success of this book allows him to write his own). So there was virtually no way I wasn't going to enjoy this. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free copy in exchange for an honest review! I will say that I enjoyed the book so much, I immediately pre-ordered a signed copy after finishing.

<blockquote> "On that day, a warm day on Santa Monica Boulevard, all those years came back- good memories, bad memories. I didn't have many people left who I could kick it about that time in our lives. The homeless man with a broken arm had been a big-time dude in Soledad. He was political, got respect, and now he was living on the streets. I wondered how he'd broken his arm, what had happened all those years since the mid-60's when I'd last seen him; I wondered if he needed help. I wish he hadn't walked away. I wished we could have had a cup of coffee and cut it up. I wish I could have given him a hug." </blockquote>

<blockquote> "I was a bad man on the hardest prison yards, but the most terrifying thing I ever had to face was my own emotions. I'd been taught to harden my soul against all those feelings, and I'd been afraid if I opened that door, it might never close. But now the door was open, and it was painful and scary and uplifting and right." </blockquote>

Danny Trejo had an intense childhood and adolescence. Starting a life of drug dealing and drug-taking before hitting the double digits, the poverty and way of life he had been brought up in dragged him into a life of gangbanging and crime at a very early age. He was in prison multiple times before the age of 25 and developed a reputation for being quite a fighter. He became a boxing champion in prison, got hypnotized by Charles Manson (!!!), and was generally quite a "bad guy". He also treated women extremely poorly and robbed people because he didn't consider them to really be people. He was not swell. But then he found religion, got clean, got out of prison, and devoted himself to getting others clean. The amount of help Trejo has given to others in need throughout his life greatly outweighs the negative he did in his formative years, but what really sets him apart is how he uses those experiences to inform his ability to do good in the now. He uses his acting career as a platform to affect change. One thing he did that I was not aware of until this book is to help change the prison laws to release people on parole who committed felonies in jail before the age of 23, resulting in several hundred inmates who otherwise would still be in jail for crimes they committed in their youth being released. He also negotiated between Mexican mafia heads and film crews to stop violence from erupting on set, which is both crazy and unique position for a person to be in.

<blockquote> "My film career is simply a vessel that helps me amplify a message to help a wider audience. Don't get me wrong, I love movies. Reenacting movies kept me sane in Folsom and Soledad. Movies teach us valuable life lessons. They teach us if we reach deep enough inside ourselves, we can overcome whatever problems we're dealing with, regardless of the odds. But the most important thing to me about my life in the film world is that it helps me carry the message of God to as many people as possible. If people are interested in me because of the films, my hope is that they will dig a little deeper into who I am and what I'm about in a way that helps spread the message of recovery. If you think I walk as I talk, you might be more curious as to what I did to turn my life around. " </blockquote>

Danny ends up becoming an actor by essentially a freak coincidence of right time, right place while trying to help a kid get clean. He shows up on a set to find him and runs into his old jail buddie Eddie Bunker, who gets him working on the movie as Eric Robert's boxing trainer. The director sees Danny's face, decides he wants him to box Roberts in the film, and boom, he's an actor. Now he's been killed in more movies than any other actor (to help show that crime doesn't pay), and has one of the highest IMDB counts ever.

<blockquote> "An interviewer once asked me if I liked working on bad movies. He wasn't trying to be rude, but I didn't love the question. I don't believe there's such a thing as a bad movie. I see every movie and TV role as an opportunity for me to support Maeve, my kids, and the people who depend on me. If my involvement helps a movie get made, it creates jobs for crews that have families of their own to support. How can that be bad? And a bad day on a movie will always be a million times better than your best day in prison." </blockquote>

<blockquote>"The scene was so real, it was uncomfortable. Tears poured out of me like a dam had broken. I thought of all those times I'd looked at death, at a lifetime of imprisonment while waiting in Soledad to see if they were going to charge us with a capital crime. I thought of the deaths of my birth mother, my father, my uncle, my mother. I thought of the women I'd treated badly, the relationships I'd destroyed through ambivalence and selfishness, the fear for my children. All the times I never cried when I should have finally caught up with me. A certain set of rules helped me survive the first chunk of my life, the rules my uncle taught me. Another set of rules kept me going all those years after I got out of the hole. I stayed clean and sober by helping others get clean and sober. But there was a part of me I had never dealt with or accepted that I had to confront." </blockquote>


Honestly, this book was one of my favorite memoirs of all time. The combination of Danny's life story and Donal Logue's lyrical and introspective prose helped really make this book powerful. The last few chapters had me surprisingly emotional and close to tears as Danny helps his son and daughter with crippling drug addiction. He can help hundreds of random people get sober, but can't do anything for his children. It's a horrifying prospect. As the book closes, COVID has just set in, and Danny is headed through his old neighborhood, feeding families that need relief, the day before his 76th birthday. He sees the places he grew up and the stores he's robbed and the houses he lived in, and how his life is so different now. It's a truly wonderful ending.

Please read this book. It's great. I'm going to end it with the quote that actually brought a tear to my eye, an extreme rarity for non-fiction.

<blockquote> "My kids are healthy, I'm healthy, my dogs are healthy. We're all happy. I think, tomorrow I'll be 76 and I still have so much living to do, but in that moment, I'm content to let the world spin and enjoy being at home with my doggies. I ask God one last question: I say, "God, how am I doing?". God replies, <i>Great, Danny. You're almost out of hell. Keep it up.</i> I smile to myself and thank Him for my life." </blockquote>

I struggle to find the words to describe how truly amazing this book is. But it's not just the book, this is Danny Trejo's life. Wow! I wanted to read the book because of seeing Danny in various movies and TV shows, but I had no idea he came from a life of crime and addiction. What he's accomplished in his life is inspirational. The more I read, the more I wanted to read. The book is written in an honest, gracious, and humble way, and it's a privilege to have read Danny's story. Not only does Danny share his successes, but much of the book is about his mistakes as well. Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC. I loved this book so much I pre-ordered a copy for my husband!

TREJO: My Life of Crime, Redemption and Hollywood is the memoir of actor Danny Trejo.

Danny Trejo has been killed on screen over one hundred times and according to his IMDB, he has over three hundred acting credits to his name. This guy just does not stop working. But what about his time before films and movies? I mean, the man didn’t become an actor until he hit forty! Well, it turns out it’s pretty dark.

Raised in a broken home, Danny took to the streets from an early age. Surrounded by friends and family hopelessly addicted to drugs, the die had been cast for how Danny had been expected to turn out. Shooting heroin at twelve years old and robbing shops shortly thereafter, Danny quickly found himself in and out of juvie. This was a path that would lead directly to San Quentin.

Danny’s formative years are the true star of this book. It’s absolutely mind-blowing that he made it out alive given all he did as a criminal and all he experienced behind bars. There were more than a few quotes I highlighted in the book from his time in prison that will stick with me for years to come:

San Quentin is the most Right Now place on earth that isn’t a war zone. If you want to survive, you have no choice but to be in one place, this very moment, and only this moment. Will you live or will you die – today? The first thing you have to do when you get locked up is make peace with the Right Now. It will never be your friend, but you can’t let it be your enemy or you’ll go insane.

When Danny finally got out and put his past behind him, he committed himself to a life of clean and sober living. His work within the community to help those in need should be commended, along with anyone else who selflessly lives a life devoted to helping others. It was through this work that he found himself on a movie set and being offered a role in Runaway Train, a role that would kick-start his career in Hollywood.

From there we get lots of stories about the various films he’s worked on, his reluctance to take a role in a film that would have likely upset the Mexican mafia and story after story of being type cast as a tough dude who looks like he would kill you for flinching. Some of these were interesting while others weren’t, but hearing it through Danny’s voice helped keep me engaged from cover to cover.

I loved the story of how Machete films came to be and the character first being introduced through the Spy Kids movies (something I often forget). When the first stand-alone Machete film was made, it resurrected his career at a time when he was nearly broke and homeless in his sixties.

Danny Trejo lives by his belief that every good thing that has happened to him has happened as a direct result of helping someone else. It’s far from a bad way to live. The man pulled himself out of what could have been a destiny of an early death and lived a rich, full life.

Omg I can’t say enough good things about this book. Wow! What a life he has lead. He is one of my favourite characters from the show!! Please read.

That's is one hell of a biography. Well written and of course Trejo life... what's left to say, if that doesn't get you into it! If you know the name or the man and want to know more, this is the book. I recommend it for those of you who want to know him deeper!