Movies

You Will Never Guess Danny Trejo's Favorite Video Game

Danny Trejo posing Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images
By Rick Stevenson

When most people think of Danny Trejo, they probably think of action movies and dangerous characters — the kind of street-tough archetype the 80-year-old actor has made a career out of playing. And while that image is more than fair given Trejo's roles in films like "Machete," "Predators," and "From Dusk Till Dawn," the man himself contains multitudes and is far more than a gruff character actor.

In a recent post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Trejo shared a picture of himself playing a game on his Nintendo Switch for National Video Game Day, and it probably isn't the one you'd expect. "What's your favorite video game of all time?" the actor asked in the caption. "Mine... @AnimalCrossing: New Horizons!"

If you're familiar at all with the "Animal Crossing" series, you'll understand why that pick from Trejo might surprise some fans. The games are cute and cozy, placing the player in a colorful town full of animal neighbors. The core gameplay includes fishing, chatting with friends, and decorating the various rooms of your house. It's not quite what you'd expect from an octogenarian action star who just fought off some Fourth of July parade troublemakers without so much as a scratch. At the same time, everybody needs a little respite from time to time, and it's nice to know that Trejo has found it in "Animal Crossing." The game's fandom is surely happy to have him.

Danny Trejo has a long history with video games

animated Danny Trejo holding machete Ubisoft

In addition to playing "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" and other video games, Danny Trejo has frequently worked as an actor in the interactive medium. His video game voice credits include Raul the Ghoul in "Fallout: New Vegas," Umberto Robina in "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories," and a cameo appearance in "Far Cry 6." He voiced a character bearing his last name and likeness in the street-fighting game "Def Jam: Fight for New York" and has popped up a couple of times in the "Call of Duty: Black Ops" series.

Perhaps Trejo's most unique game appearance came in the 2010 PlayStation Move motion-control street-fighting game "The Fight: Lights Out." Rather than simply recording voice lines for the game, the actor filmed a whole series of dimly lit full-motion-video cutscenes in a warehouse, in which he aggressively instructs the player on how to do things like punch and headbutt. It's not exactly a great game, nor is it one of Trejo's best on-screen performances, but it is absolutely one of his strangest.

Nintendo isn't normally the kind of company to give first-party game cameos to major celebrities. There may not be a place for Trejo as an actor in the "Animal Crossing" series (the speech is all gibberish), but if he's still playing "New Horizons" four years after its initial release, it seems he's content simply being a fan. And if Tom Nook comes knocking and asking for more bells, he may meet his match with Machete.

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