Wilmer Valderrama was born on January 30, 1980 in Miami, Florida. Valderrama was born to Sobeida and Balvino Valderrama, the owners of a farming equipment rental company, and has a brother and two sisters. Valderrama and his family moved to his father’s native Venezuela for ten years when Valderrama was only three, and then headed back to the States (Los Angeles, to be precise) when Valderrama was 13.
Having grown up largely in Venezuela Valderrama did not know how to speak English, though he learned how quickly by attending school and watching television, most notably I Love Lucy. Valderrama has since said that Rob Thomas, of Matchbox Twenty fame, has helped him learn how to speak English.
In school Valderrama began taking drama classes and was soon acting in plays. He made his professional debut in a Spanish language commercial for Pacific Bell. Having done so his drama teacher suggested he hire an agent, which Valderrama did. Soon after Valderrama was cast in Omba Makamba on the Disney Channel and in the miniseries Four Corners on CBS, both in 1998.
In that same year Valderrama snagged his biggest role to date, landing the part of Fez in the successful sitcom That 70’s Show. Playing the part of a slightly buffoonish foreign exchange student from an unknown country, Valderrama proved to be a comedy hit with audiences around the world, and would appear in virtually every episode of the show, usually as an important component of the story. Fez’s strange and unlucky love life would eventually greatly contrast with Valderrama’s own.
Valderrama would play Fez until the series ended in 2006. Valderrama continues to enjoy freidnships with his fellow cast mates from That 70’s Show to this day. While playing Fez Valderrama made a number of guest appearances on other shows and appeared in several movies, beginning with the 2001 Warner Brothers picture Summer Catch. He would continue to appear in, or provide voices for, a number of subsequent movies, including but not limited to, Party Monster (2003), La Torcedura (2004), Beauty Shop (2005) and Longtime Listener (2006).
He has also served as the host for and produced the MTV television series Yo Momma since 2006, and has appeared several times on his friend Ashton Kutcher’s show Punk’d (albeit with being forewarned).Valderrama’s love life has recently come under close scrutiny with his revelation (true or not) on the Howard Stern Radio Show that he stole Mandy Moore’s virginity when they dated for a year and a half between 2000 and 2001.
On the same show he rated Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ashlee Simpson on their supposed sexual prowess, and bragged about the size of his genitalia. Valderrama also dated Lindsay Lohan in 2003 and 2004, and is rumored to have gone out with Christina Milan as well. At current, still working on Yo Mamma, Valderrama is set to appear in a revival of the old television show CHiPs, which he had previously spoofed in an episode of That 70’s Show. He also provides his voice for a children’s show called Handy Manny.