wilmer valderrama biography
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Dark and handsome with just the right touch of humor, Wilmer Valderrama first caught the audience’s attention as the loveable foreign exchange student Fez on FOX’s popular long-running sitcom, “That 70’s Show” (1998-2006). Raised in Venezuela until he was a teenager, Valderrama achieved success beyond his wildest expectations in Hollywood before he even graduated from high school.
Born Wilmer Antonio Valderrama on Jan. 30, 1980 in Miami FL to Balvino and Sobeida Valderrama, the attractive Latino actor moved back to his family’s native Venezuela at the age of three. Valderrama’s family returned to the U.S. 10 years later, when he was 13, this time settling down in Los Angeles, CA. Not knowing a word of English, Valderrama was forced to pick up the language quickly. While attending William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, he began to show an interest in acting. Actively involved in the drama and theater department at his school, he performed in a number of plays, including “The Impossible Years,” “Never Been Kissed,” and “Rumors.”
Landing professional work while still a teenager, Valderrama made his acting debut in a Spanish Pacific Bell TV commercial. His television debut came in 1998 on The Disney Channel series “Omba Makomba” (1997). That same year, the young actor landed a role on FOX’s new sitcom “That 70’s Show.” Portraying Fez, a foreign student trying to fit into 1970’s suburban Wisconsin, Valderrama rounded out an ensemble cast on the instantly popular series. While working on the series, Valderrama graduated form Taft High School in 1999.
With the success of “70’s,” Valderrama’s resume began to fill out. He made his film debut in the 2001 baseball flick “Summer Catch” alongside Freddie Prinze Jr., followed by his role as DJ Keoki in the club-kid pic “Party Monster” (2003) with Macaulay Culkin.
Playing the part of entrepreneur in real life, Valderrama opened the Hollywood hotspot restaurant Dolce in 2003, followed by Geisha House in 2005 – both of which were in partnership with fellow “70’s” co-stars Danny Masterson and Ashton Kutcher. Following the media attention that followed his relationship with pop-princess Mandy Moore, Valderrama soon earned a reputation as a young Hollywood lothario. Linked with both Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ashlee Simpson at one time, it was Valderrama’s year-long romance with the newly minted teen star Lindsay Lohan that put him in the brightest spotlight in 2004. To the chagrin of ex-girls Moore and Lohan, Valderrama would later boast of his sexual conquests publicly to Howard Stern in March of 2006.
Taking trash-talking to a new level in 2006, Valderrama pitched the show “Yo Momma” to MTV. As host and executive producer of the series, Valderrama went out across America to find the best free-style trash-talkers around. Shifting gears back to theater, Valderrama appeared in the Los Angeles Times critic’s choice play “Blackout,” as well as performed alongside Anjelica Huston and Sir Ben Kingsley in the Actors Fund of America all-star performance of the screenplay “Sunset Boulevard.” Also that year, Valderrama appeared in Richard Linklater’s adaptation of “Fast Food Nation” and was cast as Francis “Ponch” Poncherello in the film adaptation of “CHiPs” (2007), a role made famous in the 1970’s by Erik Estrada. Surprising some, due to his playboy past, Valderrama also took on a new role – that of the title character in the Disney Channel’s show, “Handy Manny” (2006- ), a tune-filled cartoon for preschoolers about a repairman and his talking tools who introduce tots to the concept of teamwork. Valderrama admitted he took the role because of his close relationship to his 20-years younger brother, Christian.
- Born:
on 01/30/1980 in Miami, Florida
- Job Titles:
Actor
Family
- Brother: Christian Valderrama. born c. 2000
- Father: Balvino Valderrama. Venezuelan; owns a farm equipment rental firm; moved to L.A. in 1994
- Mother: Sobeida Valderrama.
- Sister: Marilyn Valderrama. born c. 1981
- Sister: Stephanie Valderrama. born c. 1988
Significant Others
- Companion: Ashlee Simpson. rumored to have briefly dated in 2005
- Companion: Lindsay Lohan. dated for a year in 2004
- Companion: Jennifer Love Hewitt. dated briefly
- Companion: Mandy Moore. met at a photo shoot; dated from July 25, 2000 to early 2002
Education
- William Howard Taft High School, Woodland Hills, California, 1999
Milestones
- 1983 With family, returned to their native Venezuela
- 1994 Moved to Los Angeles with family
- 1998 Co-starred as Fez on “That ’70s Show” (Fox)
- 1998 Appeared in the series “Omba Makomba” on The Disney Channel
- 2001 Feature film acting debut, “Summer Catch”
- 2003 Played DJ Keoki in “Party Monster,” opposite Macaulay Culkin
- 2003 With Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson opened LA’s hip hot spot, Dolce
- 2006 Hosted the MTV series “Yo Momma,” a trash-talking competition where comics compete for bragging rights and a cash prize
- 2006 Played a Mexican immigrant in Richard Linklater’s “Fast Food Nation”
- 2006 Played an airport official in the teen comedy, “Unaccompanied Minors”
- Born in Miami, Florida
- Will star as motorcycle cop Ponch in a big-screen version of “CHiPs”








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