Wilmer Valderrama’s memoir, “An American Story Everyone’s Invited”, chronicles the journey of his family as Venezuelan immigrants to the United States as well as his own time as a young actor trying to make it big in Hollywood.
LOS ANGELES, CA (AP) – Wilmer Valderrama vowed “never to let his family down,” the night he landed a breakthrough role on “That ’70s Show” as Fez, a foreign exchange student.
“I will not blow this incredible chance. I have been given the opportunity to lift us all.” In his memoir, “An American Story : Everyone’s invited,” he writes that he will give the best performance anyone has ever witnessed.
“Everyone’s invited,” released last month chronicles his family’s journey as Venezuelan migrants in the United States, and a young man’s dream to make his acting dreams a realty while helping his family.
Valderrama, 44, says he has stayed true to the vow he made as a teenager and that he has always felt an urgency to give his family a “happier” life.
“I was a Venezuelan child, so I could understand the situation from the front row. I’m incredibly grateful. “I don‘t think I will ever let my guard down,” said actor and producer.
Valderrama claims he didn’t set out to write a memoir about himself and his career. The story unfolded while Valderrama reflected on his time with the United Service Organizations, which provides entertainment to military personnel away from home.
“I began to realize, ‘Oh, my God, everything in my life is kind of married with that thought'” (of service). “My team was like, Dude, this memoir is a true story'”, he said.
Valderrama said the timing of the release during Hispanic Heritage Month, and in an election-year, was “serendipitous.” Valderrama wanted to use the book as a reminder to the Latino community to own their stories.
“I think our story as a group is so powerful and we must continue to remember where we come from,” he said.
Valderrama is very careful to avoid discussing scandals in his book. He discusses his close relationship with his cast mates from the ’70s with great care. He doesn’t discuss the scandals surrounding his co-star Danny Masterson who was convicted of two counts rape and is currently serving a 30 year prison sentence. Valderrama avoids stories that made him a tabloid sensation. This includes his high profile relationships with Demi Lovato, Lindsay Lohan and other actors.
When asked why Valderrama chose not to mention his past relationships in his book, he replied that he focused on the theme of service when composing it.
The book is about the story of my mother and father. I traveled with USO for many years. All of those stories and those brothers and sisters in uniform taught me a lot about who protects freedoms and everything else. “And that’s that’s what the story is about.”
The only romantic relationship that is mentioned in the book, is his current fiancee Amanda Pacheco.
Valderrama and Pacheco share a daughter, and the actor hopes one day that his daughter will not have to worry about a lack of Latino representation on Hollywood.
“I hope she can understand the fight that many of us had to put in to make these things possible,” he said.
His promise to his family is the same one he made to his culture community: to show off their achievements to audiences who may not have had much contact with Latinos.
“I hope that there will be a lot more conversations that can start with the book, so that we can remember how close we are to each other and how far we have been pushed apart from one another,” Valderrama stated.
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