Dan Trejo was born in the
Echo Park neighborhood of
Los Angeles, California.
[1][2] He is the son of Alice Rivera and Dan Trejo, a
construction worker.
[3][4] He is of Mexican descent.
[5] He is a second cousin of filmmaker
Robert Rodriguez, though the two were unaware that they were related until the filming of
Desperado.
[6][7]
Throughout the 1960s, Trejo was in and out of jail and prison in California. There are conflicting accounts of his prison chronology. By one account, his final stint in custody ended in 1972;
[2] by another account, he did time in a juvenile offenders' camp and six California prisons between 1959 and 1969.
[8][9] He recalled that his last prison term was five years. While serving in
San Quentin Prison, he became a champion boxer in lightweight and welterweight divisions within that prison.
[2] During this time, Trejo became a member of a
twelve-step program, which he credits with his success in overcoming drug addiction. In 2011, he recalled that he had been sober for 42 years.
[8] Upon his final release he enrolled in
Pitzer College located in
Claremont, California but subsequently left after one semester of attendance.