Nineteen_year_old Wilmer Valderrama is living an immigrant's dream of success in America. The recent high school graduate is the only Latino cast member of the popular Fox sitcom That 70's Show. The retro comedy features a group of teenagers growing up in Wisconsin, and Valderrama plays a foreign exchange student of nebulous origin. Along with the show's great ratings, Valderrama is enjoying enough success to allow him to purchase a house for his parents in Los Angeles. Here he tells us how he got his break in Hollywood, his plans for the future, and more about the mysterious Fez.
Maria Zate: Where is Fez from?
Wilmer Valderrama: Nobody knows where he's from; that's the mystery about him. It's intentional. That's how we can get away with so much. [Fez] is not even his real name. Fez stands for "foreign exchange student," and they just put a "z" at the end to throw people off. As far as they're concerned, I could be either Indian, Latino, Italian ... nobody knows.
MZ: When did you come to the United States?
WV: I came here five years ago, when I was 14. I was born in Miami and raised in Venezuela. I lived in Miami only three or four years and then we moved back to Venezuela.
MZ: How did you feel about coming to this country?
WV: I was petrified because I couldn't even say "hi." School was a nightmare. My sister and I had to repeat the 7th grade, for obvious reasons. We had two bilingual classes and the other four were in English. We were forced to hang out with each other, which is cool because it brought us closer. [We] are best friends.
MZ: What got you interested in acting?
WV: I decided to get into a drama class to improve my speaking skills and become more outgoing. I was very shy when it came to interacting with North Americans. I met a teacher who had started her own acting academy. She taught me everything I know. Through her, I met an agent and started auditioning.
MZ: Did they tell you what role you were auditioning for on That 70's Show?
WV: I never got to read the whole script. I read my lines [and] as you know, my character does not have two normal lines. So that pretty much told me a little about him. The first time I went in, I auditioned using my own accent. The woman from the network said, "I want to bring you to [the] producers tomorrow. Why don't you make your accent a little stronger?" That night, I came home and I was joking around with my little sister and I made this voice. I thought, "Hey, wait a minute." I combined a bunch of accents and the voice ended up becoming Fez. The greatest thing with all these accents put together is that it's really hard to presume where I'm from. I went in the next day [and] the people were on the floor laughing.
MZ: My favorite episode is when the gang goes to the disco.
WV: That's my favorite, too. That's the first time the writers ever trusted me with something big. It was such a responsibility, because my part was going to be the highlight of the episode. After that came the episode where I danced with Gloria Gaynor. The great thing about those episodes is that my character has become bigger. It started small. [He's] grown so much that next season they're going to be trusting him with [more] story lines. They're also bringing in a love interest for him.
MZ: What's in the future for you as an actor?
WV: Hopefully this show will be on for a while. Film is definitely where I'm heading. [I'm] negotiating a contract right now. I can't tell you too much about it, unfortunately. All I can say is, it's a lead role, and it would normally be played by a non_Latino. [It's] a spoof on a horror movie.
MZ: What do you do when you're not working?
WV: I live with my parents. I'm buying a house in L.A. and giving it to them. It's the best thing you can do for your parents. I play soccer with my dad and take my mom and sisters shopping. I spend time with my three best friends ... I'm not too Hollywood.
MZ: Do you plan to do anything in Spanish?
WV: I've been focusing a lot on English stuff because it's real important for us to make a big impact on the English market. This way, we can show our people that we're putting our name up there. It's a great thing that these days more Latinos are getting into the picture. For now, I'm very flattered to be the only Latino on my show ... I think I may be the only Latino on Fox's primetime schedule. I'm flattered, but it's sad at the same time. At least there's one of us.