Post by jessielee on Dec 22, 2019 14:33:17 GMT
Drinking Tequila With Wilmer Valderrama: Talking About ‘That ’70s Show,’ Immigration And The America Dream
On That ’70s Show, Wilmer Valderrama played Fez, a foreign kid from an unnamed country, trying to fit in with American friends. Valderrama, himself, grew up in Venezuela, moved to the United States as a teenager, and has a lot to say about what it means to be an immigrant pursuing the American dream. Over glasses of tequila at the newly-opened West Hollywood EDITION Hotel, the ‘NCIS’ star discussed his activism, career and his first shot of whiskey with Ashton Kutcher.
What made you want to be an actor?
My first idol was Desi Arnaz. I used to watch I Love Lucy in Spanish in Venezuela, and when I came to the United States I watched it in English, and that’s when I realized he had an accent. I’m watching this funny leading man, who dresses sharp, and that made me feel this is normal. At the time, even if there was a Latin character, you never heard an accent unless they were the bad guy, which is so not me. For the first ten years of my career, I had no real examples of someone like me in a leading role.
You grew up in Venezuela, then moved back to the U.S. as a teenager. What perspective do you think living overseas gave you?
I look back at the twenty two years since I’ve been in the game, and if I ask myself what was the thread that kept me together, instead of tearing into the many pieces I was asked to become, I think it was coming from a world where none of this stuff is possible. Where no one in the neighborhood could dream louder than the four-block radius we lived in. And being able to come to this country was an honor. It was, more than anything, a privilege. We came here to work. It was an incredible sacrifice my parents made. But my culture also gave me the tools that I wouldn't have had if I had grown up here.
What were those tools?
When we first got here we were always two months late in rent. We used to eat dinner every other night. It was great pressure for a family. We went to the 99 cent stores to to do the groceries—(laughing) so it wasn’t Coca Cola, it was just Cola. It wasn’t Captain Crunch, it was just Crunch, and the guy on the box didn’t have a captain’s hat. But to us, it tasted the same. I feel like Latin people, through all that stress, instead of complaining, we ‘turn the music up a little louder.’ And that’s why I feel at the worst moments, when I could have fallen apart, I had the sound of my culture to kick me back in gear.
Today In: Lifestyle
When did appreciation for your culture turn to activism?
I did a film called Fast Food Nation with Richard Linkletter, where I play an undocumented worker that crosses the border and takes a job at a slaughterhouse. It’s one of the most dangerous jobs in America, and one of the most disposable ones too. Without insurance, they get hurt, they get thrown out and new people are brought in. People get attacked for taking these jobs, that we’ve been trained to look the other way from, like they’re being done magically. You’re having a conversation at dinner, and someone puts a plate in front of you, but there’s an ecosystem of workers you don’t see that cleaned that plate and prepared what goes on it.
And I got very passionate over this immigrant America, and that morphed into fifteen years or more of activism. I’ve done almost forty USO show around the world — I’m very passionate about our troops. But I’m also concerned with how we welcome our immigrants. The people that protect us and the people that come here with a dream go hand in hand.
You’ve made a point of spending time at the border.
You hear all these stories about crime and danger in the border towns, and so much of it is just perception based on what position or laws you want to support. I wanted to research this and what I found is a different story — there are some beautiful things happening. I walked into a bar in Brownsville, Texas, and there were three Mexican guys and two white guys laughing and drinking tequila together. And I saw this everywhere. These border towns have integrated culturally. I wish it was happening in all of America. They have an understanding of their mutual contributions.
Then I went to Tijuana and saw the caravans. And whatever your thoughts are about what's happening, what I saw was a humanitarian crisis. Whether you are Republican or Democrat or independent, you have the right to liberty, to believe, to preach — but when it comes to humans, there’s not a flag. There’s not a political party. There's just people dying because they don't have their basic needs.
What steps have you taken to create change?
I’m one of the founders, along with America Ferrera, of Harness. We want to educate Americans about what is actually happening. My passion is nonpartisan. It’s human-driven. Immigrant stories aren’t political. It’s about exposing young women and men, who are going to be the most influential voters in the next couple of elections, to have a bridge to the right information.
And now, I’m on NCIS, but I’ve been developing projects and sold three shows to multiple networks. I’m not going to star in them, just go out and get some amazing new faces, and tell more stories about minorities, with minorities behind the scenes as well. The writer’s room will be an amazing team that reflects who’s going to be on screen. The agenda is not that we need to have this many Latinos — if you’re talented and white, come lead the show. I’m only biased to talent. But I am going to try and fracture the mold a little bit, and if you can fracture it, one day it will break. It can’t happen overnight, but we can get it closer to where it should be.
Looking back on That ’70s Show, how do you think they handled the character Fez being a foreigner in America?
I’ve reflected on that a lot over the years, and I think that we got a lot right. The celebration of friendship and how Fez was treated as an equal. He was one of the gang. They had a lot of fun with the “fish out of water” in Wisconsin, but they also had a lot of fun with the bitchy girl and the dorky straight white guy. The writers were very open to my thoughts — I was like ‘anything to make people laugh,’ but I was also empowered to have an opinion.
The character Red Forman was snarky, but he knew what he was fighting for, what he went to war for. Today it’s very blurry. We’re not celebrating our differences, we’re just retelling them. Entertainment amplifies what is happening culturally, so now you’re seeing things that aren’t as playful, because wounds are open again. Minorities are being seen as minorities, even though all of them combined are the majority of this country.
I’ll tell you who had it right: The boys from the Rat Pack. They didn’t care what was popular because they were the cool kids. Frank Sintra and Dean Martin, they were Italian guys who grabbed Sammy Davis Jr. and said this guy’s awesome, let’s go. The industry had to catch up to that. So who had it right, the artist who sees the visionary in the person, or the industry that is feeling threatened? Evolution is the big monster for the institution.
When did tequila become your drink of choice?
When I was like thirteen, my dad decided we were going to America, and he gave me a tiny shot of Aguardiente — it’s like between a sake and licorice. And that was super smart, because I hated it, and didn’t drink again until I was twenty-one. That year, my ’70s Show costars took me out for my birthday, and Ashton Kutcher gave me my first shot of whiskey. Socially, I would have the worst drinks, like cranberry and a splash of vodka, but then I was going to nicer places and introduced to different things. The first time I had tequila — I had the best time of my life. Why am I hugging everyone and having so much fun? Other liquors drive you to reflect, to isolate. Tequila enhances your mood. If you’re down, it tells you it’s not going to be that bad. If you're in a good mood, it says we should probably get on a table. Maybe we should take our shirts off.
www.forbes.com/sites/adammorganstern/2019/12/19/drinking-tequila-with-wilmer-valderrama-talking-about-that-70s-show-immigration-and-the-american-dream/
On That ’70s Show, Wilmer Valderrama played Fez, a foreign kid from an unnamed country, trying to fit in with American friends. Valderrama, himself, grew up in Venezuela, moved to the United States as a teenager, and has a lot to say about what it means to be an immigrant pursuing the American dream. Over glasses of tequila at the newly-opened West Hollywood EDITION Hotel, the ‘NCIS’ star discussed his activism, career and his first shot of whiskey with Ashton Kutcher.
What made you want to be an actor?
My first idol was Desi Arnaz. I used to watch I Love Lucy in Spanish in Venezuela, and when I came to the United States I watched it in English, and that’s when I realized he had an accent. I’m watching this funny leading man, who dresses sharp, and that made me feel this is normal. At the time, even if there was a Latin character, you never heard an accent unless they were the bad guy, which is so not me. For the first ten years of my career, I had no real examples of someone like me in a leading role.
You grew up in Venezuela, then moved back to the U.S. as a teenager. What perspective do you think living overseas gave you?
I look back at the twenty two years since I’ve been in the game, and if I ask myself what was the thread that kept me together, instead of tearing into the many pieces I was asked to become, I think it was coming from a world where none of this stuff is possible. Where no one in the neighborhood could dream louder than the four-block radius we lived in. And being able to come to this country was an honor. It was, more than anything, a privilege. We came here to work. It was an incredible sacrifice my parents made. But my culture also gave me the tools that I wouldn't have had if I had grown up here.
What were those tools?
When we first got here we were always two months late in rent. We used to eat dinner every other night. It was great pressure for a family. We went to the 99 cent stores to to do the groceries—(laughing) so it wasn’t Coca Cola, it was just Cola. It wasn’t Captain Crunch, it was just Crunch, and the guy on the box didn’t have a captain’s hat. But to us, it tasted the same. I feel like Latin people, through all that stress, instead of complaining, we ‘turn the music up a little louder.’ And that’s why I feel at the worst moments, when I could have fallen apart, I had the sound of my culture to kick me back in gear.
Today In: Lifestyle
When did appreciation for your culture turn to activism?
I did a film called Fast Food Nation with Richard Linkletter, where I play an undocumented worker that crosses the border and takes a job at a slaughterhouse. It’s one of the most dangerous jobs in America, and one of the most disposable ones too. Without insurance, they get hurt, they get thrown out and new people are brought in. People get attacked for taking these jobs, that we’ve been trained to look the other way from, like they’re being done magically. You’re having a conversation at dinner, and someone puts a plate in front of you, but there’s an ecosystem of workers you don’t see that cleaned that plate and prepared what goes on it.
And I got very passionate over this immigrant America, and that morphed into fifteen years or more of activism. I’ve done almost forty USO show around the world — I’m very passionate about our troops. But I’m also concerned with how we welcome our immigrants. The people that protect us and the people that come here with a dream go hand in hand.
You’ve made a point of spending time at the border.
You hear all these stories about crime and danger in the border towns, and so much of it is just perception based on what position or laws you want to support. I wanted to research this and what I found is a different story — there are some beautiful things happening. I walked into a bar in Brownsville, Texas, and there were three Mexican guys and two white guys laughing and drinking tequila together. And I saw this everywhere. These border towns have integrated culturally. I wish it was happening in all of America. They have an understanding of their mutual contributions.
Then I went to Tijuana and saw the caravans. And whatever your thoughts are about what's happening, what I saw was a humanitarian crisis. Whether you are Republican or Democrat or independent, you have the right to liberty, to believe, to preach — but when it comes to humans, there’s not a flag. There’s not a political party. There's just people dying because they don't have their basic needs.
What steps have you taken to create change?
I’m one of the founders, along with America Ferrera, of Harness. We want to educate Americans about what is actually happening. My passion is nonpartisan. It’s human-driven. Immigrant stories aren’t political. It’s about exposing young women and men, who are going to be the most influential voters in the next couple of elections, to have a bridge to the right information.
And now, I’m on NCIS, but I’ve been developing projects and sold three shows to multiple networks. I’m not going to star in them, just go out and get some amazing new faces, and tell more stories about minorities, with minorities behind the scenes as well. The writer’s room will be an amazing team that reflects who’s going to be on screen. The agenda is not that we need to have this many Latinos — if you’re talented and white, come lead the show. I’m only biased to talent. But I am going to try and fracture the mold a little bit, and if you can fracture it, one day it will break. It can’t happen overnight, but we can get it closer to where it should be.
Looking back on That ’70s Show, how do you think they handled the character Fez being a foreigner in America?
I’ve reflected on that a lot over the years, and I think that we got a lot right. The celebration of friendship and how Fez was treated as an equal. He was one of the gang. They had a lot of fun with the “fish out of water” in Wisconsin, but they also had a lot of fun with the bitchy girl and the dorky straight white guy. The writers were very open to my thoughts — I was like ‘anything to make people laugh,’ but I was also empowered to have an opinion.
The character Red Forman was snarky, but he knew what he was fighting for, what he went to war for. Today it’s very blurry. We’re not celebrating our differences, we’re just retelling them. Entertainment amplifies what is happening culturally, so now you’re seeing things that aren’t as playful, because wounds are open again. Minorities are being seen as minorities, even though all of them combined are the majority of this country.
I’ll tell you who had it right: The boys from the Rat Pack. They didn’t care what was popular because they were the cool kids. Frank Sintra and Dean Martin, they were Italian guys who grabbed Sammy Davis Jr. and said this guy’s awesome, let’s go. The industry had to catch up to that. So who had it right, the artist who sees the visionary in the person, or the industry that is feeling threatened? Evolution is the big monster for the institution.
When did tequila become your drink of choice?
When I was like thirteen, my dad decided we were going to America, and he gave me a tiny shot of Aguardiente — it’s like between a sake and licorice. And that was super smart, because I hated it, and didn’t drink again until I was twenty-one. That year, my ’70s Show costars took me out for my birthday, and Ashton Kutcher gave me my first shot of whiskey. Socially, I would have the worst drinks, like cranberry and a splash of vodka, but then I was going to nicer places and introduced to different things. The first time I had tequila — I had the best time of my life. Why am I hugging everyone and having so much fun? Other liquors drive you to reflect, to isolate. Tequila enhances your mood. If you’re down, it tells you it’s not going to be that bad. If you're in a good mood, it says we should probably get on a table. Maybe we should take our shirts off.
www.forbes.com/sites/adammorganstern/2019/12/19/drinking-tequila-with-wilmer-valderrama-talking-about-that-70s-show-immigration-and-the-american-dream/