There was a “specific moment” in Wilmer Valderrama‘s career where he knew he had to transform into the muscular hunk we know now. On this morning’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the actor revealed that his That ’70s Show character inspired him to get to the gym.
Valderrama, who stars in NCIS these days, first rose to fame while playing foreign exchange student Fez in the hit sitcom. After host Drew Barrymore pulled up a clip of Valderrama doing pushups — a stark difference from his somewhat scrawny character in That ’70s Show — she asked him when he decided to start working out.
“There was a very specific moment in my career,” he said, to which Barrymore replied. “Really? I’m so interested because I’m waiting for the day that I wake up and I’m like, ‘I am going to work out today.’ It happens occasionally but my consistency sucks.”
According to Valderrama, playing Fez was a “defining moment” in his career — but he knew the gig wouldn’t last forever.
“I knew that I had to have a life after That ‘70s Show,” he explained. “I knew that I had to figure out what my next chapter was gonna be as an actor.”
He continued, “And in order to do that at a time where television and film could be very stereotypical and if you play that character, that’s the only thing you play, I knew that I had to transform and put myself into a place where I look, or at least have the presence, of somebody that can play something else.”
Valderrama began hitting the weights when his good friend, who was also an inspirational speaker, told him, “Hey, man. I got a gym in my garage. Let’s get Fez buff.”
The actor added, “He kind of put me through this transformative process where I was really working out for the next chapter of my career. So when I changed my body, something else happened. It untapped a million possibilities of the, ‘Why not me?’”
The Drew Barrymore Show airs on weekdays on CBS. You can check the website for local airtimes.
