These days, our knowledge of celebrities too often originates with paparazzi images and snarky quotes by anonymous "insiders." After a while, it's easy to forget that stars are real people. That's why HuffPost Celebrity decided to launch its all-new #nofilter quick-fire question-and-answer series. Because how well do you know someone until they've shared their guiltiest pleasures?
Wilmer Valderrama stole our hearts as Fez in the sitcom "That '70s Show," but it was just announced that the 33-year-old actor will entertain us once again in "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series."
Hooray!
Valderrama was ready and willing to give fans a sneak peek into his personal life when
he agreed to take HuffPost Celebrity's #nofilter challenge -- revealing everything from his biggest fear to his hatred of the word "twerk."
When's the last time you cried?
I kind of got a little teary-eyed during “Captain Phillips.” I don’t want to give anything away, but the movie has been out, right? [Laughs] But Tom Hanks’ performance in one scene just completely broke my heart. It’s amazing. I have no shame and I cry in movies.
What's your guiltiest pleasure?
I’m pretty proud of all my pleasures, so I’m not too guilty about it. [Laughs] You know what? I sometimes watch Spanish Telenovela with my mom. And I actually kind of enjoy it.
What's the silliest thing you've ever lied about?
Saying that the pair of pants my mom got me actually fit when they didn’t and I had to wear them an entire day with her. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I should have just been honest, like, ‘Ah, they’re too small!’ But she was so excited to see them on! I just got to say, I’m known for having a little bit of a badonkadonk, you know what I’m saying? So that was pretty embarrassing.
If you could commit a crime and get away with it, what would it be?
I’d want to break into NASA and play with all the astronaut stuff.
What's one thing you do when you're alone that you wouldn't do in front of someone else?
To be honest, squat workouts. I do take martial arts, so I don’t want people to necessarily see me doing all different types of squat workouts.
What happens in your recurring dream?
It’s the one where you’re running as hard as you possibly can in your dream and people are passing you and you know that you’re faster than them. It’s that really frustrating dream, when you’re swimming super slow when you know you can be swimming faster. I have no idea what it means! It’s so frustrating. I don’t know if it’s because I move really fast throughout the day –- I have a lot of meetings, I put my hands in everything -- I’m producing, I’m directing and developing and acting and I’m on set and I have multiple entrepreneurial meetings and so I really multitask. So I feel like my worst nightmare is to probably be slower than I really want to be.
What’s the working title of your autobiography?
"Wilmer Valderrama: The Man Behind The Accent." (
FYI: This one stumped him for a while).
Is it okay to recline your seat on an airplane?
Absolutely! That’s why you pay for that seat. I think the only thing I’m not okay with is when they put things underneath their seat. It bothers my seat. Like, they know that the flight attendant is going to say, "I’m sorry, Sir or Ma’am, there’s only two items, one in the overhead compartment and the other one in front of you." And they’re always bringing three things. One on top, one in front of them and then they’ll put their purse or something hidden underneath their chair and that’s my leg room, you know?
When do you feel most anxious?
I have a production company, so I’m producing and developing multiple things, so to be honest, when I’m on the plane and the plane doesn’t have Wi-Fi. I have an anxiety attack when I’m flying across country and it’s the middle of the workday. That’s why I try to fly on the red eye.
What or who is overrated right now?
I think the growing obsession with the word “twerk” is really pissing me off. Like everyone is using that like it’s cool, like I was talking to some executives and they were like, “Oh my God, I know what you’ll be doing this weekend, you’re going to be twerking!” And I was like, “WHY? Why are you doing this! Stop with that word.”
And by the way, this is in no shape or form in relation to Miley Cyrus at all. I’ll make that very clear. I’m pretty sure she’s way over it. But I think this obsession with everyone thinking the word “twerk” should be in the dictionary now is actually physically causing me to be angry.
Is a good friend hard to come by?
I would say yes, if you don’t love yourself. I think if you don’t have a good conception of how you are and who you are, I think it could be easy to make the wrong friends. But if you appreciate who you are and you learn to love yourself, then you will attract the right friendships. I think sometimes you’re in it for a number of different reasons or you’re somehow insecure about a couple of things, you embrace the wrong friendships and therefore it’s difficult to find a true partnership with a friend. But if you create priorities about what’s the right thing for your life, I think that you’ll attract the right group of friends.
Describe one time you thought "This is harder than it looks."
Unicycling. If you ask me what my hidden talent is, that’s it. I know how to unicycle and I thought, “How hard can it be?” And well, I got a lot of bruises.
Tell us a joke.
[If he’s only] got four fingers, he’s talking about give me five. It’s simple. An homage to something that I was a part of for a while.
What are you most afraid of?
I’m afraid of dying before accomplishing everything I dream to achieve. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m afraid of dying before I’m done with what I’m supposed to do.
When do you feel most at peace?
When I’m on set, when I’m performing, when I’m creating characters, when I'm working with fellow actors -- that’s the most fun and the most at peace that I feel.
What's the most unusual thing you have in your wallet?
I have a clover. My aunt gave it to me for good luck.
What technology do you hope will be invented in the next 10 years?
Right now, we are at the breaking of the most technologically advanced generation. I mean, we are going to have a number of things that are going to make life easier, but I also fear that with that also comes the problem that things are going to get so easy that maybe we’re going to become lazy. But that’s a whole different conversation. If we simplify the question, what would I like to be invented in the future, I would say I’ve been dying for flying cars. I can’t wait to have a flying car.
What sense would you most be afraid to lose?
My sense of humor. That’s honestly, my Achilles' heel. That’s my main blessing and one of the most beautiful things that I was able to walk away with from my mom and my dad. I’m able to laugh and make light of the most dramatic and difficult situations. Psychologically being able to buy myself time to figure out how to fix certain things has come from the ability to see the humor in things and if I were to lose that, I think I’d probably lose everything.
Wilmer Valderrama has partnered with Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) to launch its Secrets of the Season campaign, offering expert advice and multi-benefit product solutions to help consumers navigate this busy time of year. Valderrama shared his survival secrets with HuffPost on how to successfully get through the season, beginning with Thanksgiving and leading through to the December holidays.
"My family has gotten me every variation of underwear and socks that I could get, so now we give each other actual gifts that will assist us throughout the holidays," Valderrama told us. "The thought is, if we’re going to give each other something, let's be thoughtful enough to think about what will make our holidays easier. What will make the journey of getting through the holidays a lot more productive and a lot more efficient. That’s why I’m stoked to partner up with Procter & Gamble because I would buy things like the Old Spice Gift Pack (in Fiji), the CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss and the Lacoste L.12.12 Noir fragrance for my family."
For more on the Secrets of the Season campaign, head over to pg.com.
