Wilmer Valderrama & the United Service Organizations

Wilmer Valderrama is today's guest and he calls in from his home in California to chat with Kevin about growing up as a first generation kid in Florida, his lifelong passion for philanthropic work, and why he got involved with the United Service Organizations. They are joined by Jennifer Wahlquist – Vice President, Global Entertainment, USO - as she shares the power of theater and performance for our service men and women, why she got involved with this work, and how celebrities can get involved to bring their talents to US military bases around the world.

To learn more and get involved with the United Service Organizations, head to USO.org. To support more initiatives like this program, text 'BACON' to 707070 or head to SixDegrees.Org to learn more.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody. Now, you may know today's guest from a
certain long running, very long running TV show or some
film that you've seen him in, But what you may
not know is that he actually lives in Chuck Norris's
old house. Now, there's probably a certain portion of my
listeners who are young enough to be saying, who's Chuck Norris?

(00:23):
But trust me, living in Chuck Norris's old house is
kind of hard to beat. Wil marvald Ram is a
really nice guy, and I was really impressed by how
much work he does in the nonprofit sector, help being
across so many different issues. I haven't seen him for years,
not since we did a movie together. Gosh, I don't

(00:44):
even I've lost track of time. But this was a
great conversation. I really enjoyed it. I hope you do too,
So lean in. I'm glad you're here. Here we are
with Wilma Valderrama. I'm so happy to have you here

(01:08):
talking with us. I mean, I want to. My parents
stuck me with two terrible names, the first one being
Kevin and the second one being Bacon, both names that
I just I despise. Bacon because it's a breakfast food

(01:28):
and Kevin, because it's you know, has become sort of
like the male version of a Karen, and you have
one of the greatest names in Hollywood history. But my
question is, was there ever a moment when somebody said
to you, we're gonna have to change that name.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Oh yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. I mean you
could imagine. I mean I think that. I mean, we've
been doing this for quite a while, and I think
I'm going to almost thirty years now and thirty years ago. Uh,
if you were of a certain descent, how they we
needed that name to resemble, you know, to resemble the ethnicity,
you know. And for some reason, Wilmer Valderama, which in

(02:12):
Spanish will be will Met vald Rama, right, but in
English Wilmaer Valdorama doesn't sound Latino. For some reason, you know,
they just did so. So I had a couple of
casting directors basically tell me, hey, you know, you might
you might consider changing your name because it doesn't sound
like Latino enough.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
And that's that's But that's interesting because they actually asked
you to change your name to sound more Latino.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, and I know. And then
I also know some friends who who also at that
time came from the generation of like, you know, in
America you only speak English, so that you know, so
then they changed their last name as well and all that.
So it's it's it's you know, it's really interesting because
to me, you know, your name is like the two
best worlds. You know, everybody loves bacon, okay, and then

(02:57):
everyone knows the great Kevin, you know what I mean.
So and you've made Kevin's look pretty good for the
history of time. So don't you know, don't don't understand
yourself there. But I for sure feel like valde Rama
and Wilmer was just not common, like just like and
Ali was like, what is Wilmer? Like how do you even?
I mean, I asked my mom. I literally asked my mom,
like why you know, and she was like she was like,

(03:21):
I don't know, as your dad, And then I asked
my dad, and my Dad's like, you know, it's like
a mixture of like Walter and Edward. And I was like,
that doesn't even make sense, father. So none of that
explained anything. But but Wilmer is a name that you
kind of do here in South America.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Really, I see, I'd never heard before. That's I think
that's that's that's really interesting. So speaking of South America,
I'm really really fascinated what little I know about your
journey because you were not born in America, is that correct?
Or you were born you were born in America. You
were born in Miami and yeah, moved to Venezuela.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
That's right, right, Yeah, it's too interesting, kier and I
I when I tell this story, a lot of people
feel like it's almost backwards, you know, like most people
just moved to America, you know what I mean. And
my my mom and my dad met in Miami and
they had my sister and me. I'm a year older
than than my sister Maryland.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
How many in your so we're three?

Speaker 2 (04:21):
So we're three. So it's me, uh, and then a
year younger my sister Maryland, and then Stephanie, who is
a couple of years summers. You know, she's now in
her thirties and and you know, so it was just
the three of us, you know, but having my but
but but my mom and dad had Maryland and and
me and Miami and then at three years old, I'm

(04:44):
talking about nineteen eighty three, you know, the Bolivad and
the dollar were almost one in one, because if you remember,
the economy in Venezuela was booming, I mean like oil
was the They're the number one reserved and the third
largest producer. So it was like Venezuela was thriving, and
now resources were a very very exciting frontier for a

(05:05):
lot of different commerce, imports and extporting and all that.
So so my dad decided that he wanted to you know,
fly back to Venezuela and go back to you know,
where the work was. So he decided that he wanted
to go back into the agriculture industry. And and we
went back to Venezuela at two and three years old.
They didn't even know how to speak English obviously, you know.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
And how long had they been in the States. How
long had your parents been in the States.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Well, my dad and so my mom was visiting Miami,
you know, from Colombia, from my mother's from Colombia. Okay,
my mother's Colombia. And then my father was kind of
traveling from New York, you know, to Miami, and he
was like a young man traveling the world, you know,
And and they met in Miami and then they got married,
and I had the tool was in Miami, and then
they moved to Venezuela. And you know, my dad had

(05:51):
his family in Venezuela and all that, but we moved
four hours south of Kanakas, which is where most of
the agriculture industry, you know, close to the Amazons and
the Tropical four and all that.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
And were they raising what were they grown?

Speaker 2 (06:03):
So my dad had like one of those farms that
it was like a one size fits all type of situation,
you know, where like he would do corn on the side,
he would do rice on this side, he would do
chickens and like pigs and like cows. And then and
then he had a bunch of acres. So you know,
he had this you know, the Amazonian trees like the
size of you know, you know, a two story building,

(06:26):
you know what I mean. And so you went one tree,
you produce so much wood, you know that. He also
would sell some wood to wood makers and constructure workers
and stuff like that. So and then the summers were
so long. I'm sorry that the winters were so long
and the summers were so short because it was so
moisture so most over there that that you could only

(06:48):
cultivate the land for a certain amount of time, and
so my dad started buying machinery to start renting them
for leveling the land and all that. So like it
was like a hustler's you know, like like farm and
but that's I grew up. I grew up in the
farm riding horses and you know, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
Wow, well we have that in common. You know. I'm
most looking for connections. That's a that's a that's a
that's the the six degrees thing. I'm on our farm
right now and uh looking right out at our horses.
Do you still ride?

Speaker 2 (07:19):
I do, but not as often as I did. You know,
you when you live in in Los Angeles is kind
of tough, but you know, but also in a weird
way accessible, like man, just go.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
I don't know if I'm not going to say that,
I was going to say, never mind, you can ride.
It is possible to find a horse.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
No, no, for sure. I mean like from from like
Burbank to tulokal leg to like Topanga Canyon to like
you know, Malu Canyon like all this, there's a lot
of stables, you know. So but for some reason, when
I moved to Los Angeles, I didn't feel like I
didn't I had the actual accessibility for it, because you know,
you came to the city and you kind of the
last thing you think, it's Los Angeles horses, you know.
So I didn't come out exposed with the community and

(08:01):
the way way later. But riding horses is like something
that I grew up with. I love riding horses. I've
been waiting in my career to ride horses.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
You know.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
I think I'm gonna get get a chance to do
it next year, which is.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Great me too. I never I never get it. It's
it's the only thing I know how to do, and
it's the thing that I never get. It's the part
I never get, you know what I mean. It's like always,
you know, I always got to learn to, I don't
know whatever, operate a spaceship or something.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
And you know what I mean, you're always saving the
world somehow, you know, I know.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Be a doctor. Yeah, a marine. You know. I always
joke about I wouldn't last played like four Marines and
I wouldn't last two minutes in boot camp. You know,
we're we're walking delicately, the fact that we were on strike,
we walked delicately around right, No, I uh, you know,
I mean I feel like it's possible to talk about

(08:54):
being an actor without specifically mentioning the names of past work.
But I will say, and I hope it'll get in
trouble with this, that my wife's horse, Woody, came from
Los Angeles and he actually appeared in Django Unchained. So
if I'm going to get in trouble for that, we
can cut that out. I just want to say that I'm.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Not I think it's related. I mean, I don't think
the horses are in the Union, so.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
I think, right, he is non Union. That's true. Yes, yeah, yeah,
Well that's really interesting. And so at what age did
you make it back to the States and why did
you had you end up in this gig?

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, So, I mean, I'll tell you it's very interesting
because I mean, there was no notion that we at
some point we had to come back to United States
at all. But at that time, I'm just sure she
remember kind of in the early nineties, a young general
by the name of Hugo Chavis. He tried to take
the governing power by force. He tried, he did a

(09:57):
national coup on the Venezuelan you know government. He didn't succeed, right,
So his forces fell back and they couldn't they couldn't
take over, and it was a very interesting you know,
it was a very interesting time for Venezuela because it
was telegraphing at this stabilization something. Then you know, Hugo
Chavis decides that he's going to launch himself as a

(10:19):
presidential candidate and wins it, and he wins the presidency
and then takes over the whole country and becomes a
you know, the stabilization, the corruption, a lot of stuff
just can't amplify us. Right and right before any of
that starts turning, my dad realized that it was probably
time to, you know, to come back to in other states.

(10:39):
My dad also wanted us to you know, to come
back and you know and be back at a place
where we were born, you know, and and you know,
so in nineteen ninety at the end of ninety the
middle of nineteen ninety three, my father said, I was
thirteen years old, and he's like, okay, so we're going
to America. And I was like, what like when they

(11:00):
speak English over there, and.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Like had you been speaking had you had you been
speaking English at all?

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Not at all? Wow, I mean not at all. I
didn't even know how to count the three. Like I
and I've always said this in areviews, but I but
the only word I knew how to say was monkey
and didn't That didn't help me when I got here,
you know, but I definitely think it was. It was
a very very transformative process for us. I mean to
think about that we had to kind of back up
and sell everything we had and then eventually come back

(11:25):
to the Under States was a really scary time. And
we you know, come to the United States, no one
knows how to speak English. It was like the first
time that we had to kind of like my first
job was to really learn rapidly how to answer the phone,
read the menus and the manuals, you know, like it
really really, you know, answer the door when it's somebody
that obviously looks like does not speak Spanish, you know,

(11:48):
you know, and that was our first job and just
trying to make sure that we learned how to speak English.
And so did you come back to So we went
to Miami for a couple of weeks and there was
nothing more for us in Miami, but my dad had
a brother here you're in Los Angeles, So we drove
across country, you know, and we came to Los Angeles
and then we you know, my dad was helping his
brother with this car rental plays that he had, and

(12:10):
you know, and then you know, we had to kind
of move out on our own after that, and we
started from scratch, you know what I mean. And you know,
like every other immigrant family, we had, you know, we
had the very lows and then the lows and then
like the medium lows, and you know, and you started
kind of thinking like what, you know, what was it
going to be? And you know, my because I told
you my first job was to learn how to speak English.

(12:30):
In school, I was going to ESL classes. So I
went back to like school activities. So it was like
I was always dancing, singing and actings. That was six
years old back in Venezuela. And when I came here,
I figured like this was the one thing that I
could do. The scene kind of universal that like I
didn't have to learn how to speak English to do,
you know. And then the more I did theater, the
more it would force me to read, it would force
me to speak aloud, It forced me to you know,

(12:52):
kind of carry on these little fake conversations on stage
that I didn't have the courage to have outside of
the stage.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
I thought, really interesting, Well, I'm sorry to stop you there,
but I I I think that, uh, for me, I've
always felt like being in a theater class because I
got at the theater class. And but around the same time,
we're very very young. Always was an opportunity to do

(13:19):
things that you know, I was either embarrassed to do
outside of the class or or would never get an
opportunity to. And and that's really interesting to me that
you were you had a I mean, does it's It
sounds like it was a safe space to kind of
mess up English and if you wanted to and not

(13:42):
get embarrassed or or whatever, bullied or whatever else would happen.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
It was definitely a centuary for many things, you know.
It was where people you know, I just also feel
like when you embraced that mentality and that philosophy of
the centuary that we speak of, you kind of realize
that this is where you got to make the mistakes.
This is where you are to me bold, this is
where you got to throw yourself out there. And I
was very fortunate that my classmates, you know, were just

(14:09):
as wondrous as I was, and was just as like,
you know, theater, you know theater doorgs with me, you know,
and like we would and we would just have fun
and do these acting exercises that really started opening me
up and in a world where you know, I thought,
I thought I knew what life was when I was
in Venezuela, and that was a very RealD reality, right
like where I was exposed to things that young kids

(14:31):
in America just wouldn't be And when I got here,
it was like the happiest place on earth. Right So,
I mean for me, America was like the happiest place
on earth because all the things that I grew up
watching all the way after thirteen or seeing and with
my own eyes at although after thirteen, coming to the
United States was like, oh my god, this is unbelievable.
Like you were watch the six o'clock news and be like,

(14:53):
oh that's it. It's a good day, you know. And
so when I went to school, finding myself in the
perform in arts and being so shy because I couldn't communicate,
but being on that stage it just like opened it
all up and let it all float out. And and
then the more I did it, the I mean the
faster that I learned how to speak English, Like I

(15:13):
learned how to speak English in months, you know, And
I was just like full sentences and all the gesist
part about it, Karen, is that I was listening. I
was I was also watching I Love Lucy, you know,
and watching you know, and and Dancy had an accent,
so I and I had an accent. So I was like, oh,
this is cool.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
You know, that's a surprise that you were watching I
Love Lucy that but I Love Lucy was made like
thirty years before before.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
But I'll tell you why. Because I used to watch
all these iconic shows in Spanish and in Venezuela. So
when I came to the United States, I gravitateds to
what I knew because I didn't know the new stuff,
you know. And therefore, once I discover that, oh this

(15:58):
is still on TV, you know, I kind of felt familiar.
It felt comfortable, kind of brought me back to Venezuelan
in a weird way, you know. And then all of
a sudden I started piecing it together, like, oh, man,
looking at it, this's like I'm listening to them speaking English,
and now all of a sudden, I'm understanding what they're saying,
you know, and I didn't know I did. I had

(16:19):
no idea that he had an accent. I go to America,
you know what I mean. But yeah, so so that,
but that's kind of how it all started. And you know,
I the teacher said to me, hey, you you know
have an interesting look. You know, you you're kind of funny.
You should maybe try to do commercials. And imagine telling
you dad, you know, it was like working his ass off,

(16:41):
you know, I heard that I could do commercials.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
Like what was his reaction?

Speaker 2 (16:46):
My dad? You know, my dad is incredibly supportive. My
mom was too, But they were supportive because my report
card was pretty good, you know, like I had a's
and b's. So he's like, oh, he wants to do this,
We'll let him do this because it's like report Cary
is good. So they thought it was like taking me
to soccer practice, you know. But to me, it felt

(17:09):
like he had given me permission to really give it
a shot, you know. And and I just I just
went forth throughout all that. I was like, I just fell
in love with making people laugh and making people feel things,
and and and then just just taking people for for
a journey, you know, and I just had so much fun.
You know, as soon as you you you you feel

(17:29):
that energy, especially when you're the theater. It's just there's
just nothing like it.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
Nothing like it. Do your parents live with you? I
heard I heard that maybe your parents are living under
the same roof as.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
You and not technically the same river, but that's for
the same property. So I love it. I love it.
I Mean, here's the thing, man, you know, I in
our culture, you know, a family is you know, it's sanity,
is safe is you know, it's grounding, you know, and

(18:07):
it's humbleness, right, And I think when I think about
my family and the sacrifices they made to bring us
to the United States, you know, and everything they give up,
because man, like it's tough for people to comprehend how
much an immigrant couple gives up, you know, to bring
their kids to a place where they can have a
better future. And you know, had been born here, you know,

(18:30):
they you know, they meaning like Marilyn and I have
been born here. Give an opportunity for us to kind
of be here and pay it forward was really important.
But you know, I was very much aware at thirteen
fourteen fifteen years old. I was incredibly aware of what
was happening at home, the struggles, you know, the ups

(18:52):
and downs, the you know, the soft Christmases, you know,
the dinner every other night or every other two nights.
And it just fired me up to really pay it
forward to them. And and you know, and I just
I could never imagine. I couldn't fathom that some you know,
my mom and my dad would give up so much,

(19:13):
and that I would just be far away from them somehow,
not being able to be around to pay it back
and continue to pay. I mean and forever grateful, you know,
so so beck At towards the end some of my
first you know, jobs, I was like, I don't know
when else I'm going to make this money again, so
I might as well buy something, something that would last me.
And and I was in Tarzana and Chuck Norris was

(19:34):
selling his property. He had a couple of acres in
you know, in the valley, and uh and I just
you know, and he wanted out, man, he wanted to back,
wanted to go back to the ranch, right, he wanted
to go back to Texas, you know. And and I
went in and made him an offer. He sold it,
you know, to me, and I remodeled it and expanded
and then, you know, thank the Lord, I was able

(19:56):
to buy the neighbor at some point many years later,
and I expanded the property and I gave my mom
the house next door. So obviously they live in the
same property. You know, my my dad is in a
by the way, my mom and my dad are like
no longer hanging out. They just don't want to hang out.
They're fine, but I make them be in the same
property like like a Spanish soap opera, you know, but
they but my dad lives in an apartment here the house.

(20:19):
My mom has the house next door, which is literally
separated by like bushes and trees and my little side door, and.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
Even Chuck Norris's old house, and it's Chuck Norris's old house,
which is like they couldn't and also think about who body,
it's like the most random exchange of property in the
history of property. That's kind of amazing. Yeah, that's kind
of amazing. Wow, And and it's also totally fascinating to
me that, you know, the bond is so strong that

(20:47):
even when they don't want to hang out, they're still
going to be on the same property. You know. That's
that's that's really that's really interesting. You have kids of
your own.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, I have a two and a half year old daughter.
Her name is nakano Oceana, and she is I mean,
she just brought, you know, so much sunshine to the
house and and also gave my parents crazy purpose, right,
Like I mean they literally you could imagine, right, I mean,
put my my mom, you know, we had already adults,

(21:17):
and we were you know, we're already doing our thing,
you know. And and when she was born, my mom
just like got twenty years younger. And she picks her
up at like nine in the morning and cooks her
like the Venezuelan and Colombian soups and all that stuff,
and like stufs her up, puts her down for a nap,
and it's like half the day suspends work her abuela,

(21:37):
you know. And it's very very beautiful to see that,
and and honestly, it makes me feel so good, man,
because it's it's about making sure that your parents still
want to swing, you know, and they still want to
wanna dance, and and that that also really gave them
new fire.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
That's so beautiful. I mean I love that that three
generation uh in the in the same spot. That's yeah,
that's pretty cool. You do a lot of stuff on
social media. I have kind of come to it, I
would say, over the years, I've come to embrace it,
but I think that I came to it somewhat reluctantly.

(22:17):
I'm curious, you know, what what your feelings are about it,
and uh, you know what what the pitfalls can be
and whether or not it's it's it's a satisfying thing
to you or or how you've chosen to use it. Uh,
you know, what's it like for you?

Speaker 2 (22:34):
I mean, it's it's It's an interesting question because I've
I feel like we're both young enough and old enough
to understand where we were in entertainment, where it started
evolving from, you know, most importantly, what it what it
became right now. And then you know, we also are
you know, young enough to recognize that it's, uh, there

(22:58):
is a content revolution happening and that the evolution needs
new mediums, you know, for it to survive and uh
and to thrive. And the world got a lot smaller
when you know when all these multi window uh, you know,
multi window platforms of storytelling and awareness you know, became

(23:18):
available to the next generation of storytellers. So I believe
that is a compliment to where we're going next in content,
you know. I think technology has definitely given us the
scope to make stories bigger, you know. I don't think
it often is necessary to go that big with storytelling.
I feel like we should focus a little bit more
on you know, great scripts, you know, and great stories.

(23:43):
But nonetheless, you know, we're seeing some of the things
that we grew up with become, you know, come to
life on levels that they couldn't twenty years ago, you know.
So so to see the generation taking taking the baton
of storytelling and and evolving it into what it is
and things interesting now when you talk about social media,

(24:04):
I think it's an interesting tool for awareness, you know, uh,
and most importantly for uh, the cultivation of certain communities
and certain audiences that that used to find themselves at
a convention, used to find themselves that you know, at
a genre in the movie, you know, and now they
can be connected to their dislikes and interest and so

(24:25):
so I choose to look at it that way because
there's obviously another side of it, that is, you know,
that it's a little you know, it's a little bit
more straight and and and mysterious and and also bizarre
sometimes and you know I have and and pretty dangerous,
you know. And i'd say, you know, i'd say that

(24:46):
for me particularly, I think it's an you know, it's
an exciting complement on the things that we're up to
in doing, you know. And and you know, you kind
of want to live with the audiences. You want to
be able to communicate to them directly. And before it
used to be a that are they used to answer
back with the headshow and as a signature. Now you
can comment on their you know, n their tributes to

(25:06):
to your work or anything like that. So so you know,
I have an interesting relationship with it, right like I
I you know, I use it in a way that
I feel, you know, could uh, you know, could mostly
feel like a grounding moment for me and my fans
and the people that support me, you know, and then
I ampuify for things that I that I believe in.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
You know.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
I think that's the other thing that I feel. Social
media has given me a platform for to continue to
talk about the things that are important to me, you know,
like the many organizations that we work on and well.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
That's a good segue. So tell me what what are
the organizations that you've been working with.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
Yeah, no, for sure, I you know, I I started,
I started voting registration for a really long time, right
like I did. Rossara Dawson and I you know, were
at the first chapter of both the Latina where we
were educating Latinos across the United States to to you know,
to get involved in the political process and going out
there and voting. Know, and this was a non partisan,

(26:01):
uh you know approach to it. We wanted Latinos to
just understand that, you know, they are also part of
this system. They're also part of this national community, and
that you get in the game and and vote their
interest in vote their you know, their future, you know.
And and for many years, we're talking about seventeen years now,
so we you know, so so what to Latino has
been incredibly influential and amazing for that, you know. And

(26:24):
then you know, and then throughout the years, I've been
able to be part of multiple things like the Congressional
Hispanic cauguists and I created a Ready to Lead program,
which you know, helps you know, high school students want
to have leader job leadership jobs. And then you know,
work worked a lot with different other foundations, you know,
helped a lot of the darker students, and that was
really exciting, you know. And and you know, and as

(26:46):
as time starts evolving and start realizing that certain communities
need a place and a place to to convene. So
then America for and I created Hardness, which was, you know,
a place where a lot of our community leaders can
meet and workshop their thoughts and ideas and raise awareness
for the community's interest in the moment. So that was
really exciting. So Hardness is a really fun place for us.

(27:07):
And and then you know, and one of the things
that I one of the organizations that I've been i
mean just incredibly inspired by has been the USO. Right,
So I worked with the USO for many, many, many years.
I know that you have a lot of experience with
you so as well. And and it's it's been something
that's really not only touched my heart, but it's gave
me a reason, not a reason, but a way, you know,

(27:29):
in a path to actually pay forward, you know, what
this country's giving me in So that that was another
organization that I became incredibly passionate about. But you know,
it's like, yeah, I'm giving your portfolio things that I've
been over so many years, you know, stuff.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's mind blowing. I mean,
it's it's it's uh, you know, I mean, I I
big props for for that. I mean, because that's a
those are a lot of organizations to not only be
part of generated and and uh and I mean, you know,
I'm i' I always find it very inspiring with people

(28:05):
in our industry, you know, start to find a way
to give back, I mean, in your words, give back.
And that's really what this podcast is all about. And
since you are the US Global Ambassador, I think we
should bring in Jennifer Walquist, who is the I want

(28:27):
to make sure that I get Jennifer's title vice President
in charge of Global Entertainment at the us SO. I
hope I got that right, Jennifer, you did.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
You did, That's right, That is right. Thank you Kevin
for having me today. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
I'm so happy to have you here. Why don't you
start by telling me a little bit of the history
of the us SO, because it's it's kind of a
fascinating history. It's been around very long time.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
Yes, yeah, absolutely, I appreciate the question too. So we're
eighty two years young, you know, next February we'll be
a very young eighty three years old. And what sets
us apart, I think in terms of legacy and length,
is that we're actually chartered, you know, by President Roosevelt
just before the start of World War Two. And on

(29:15):
top of that, you know, entertainment clearly has always been
in the DNA of the organization. Actually, the very first
USO show was with Laurel and Hardy in nineteen forty one,
just prior to President Roosevelt, you know, invoking that Congressional
Charter and making us the organization that we are today.
And really the mission has been the same since that time,
which is we are by the side of those currently

(29:37):
serving our active duty, our National Guard, and allso our
reservists around the world. So today, as we said, as
an organization, we're you know, seven hundred employees strong, we're
across two hundred and fifty USO sites around the world,
We're in twenty eight countries. And I think that's one
of the most beautiful things about our scale and our
capability is that we really can be a where around

(30:00):
the world in a single day. But we also live
in and amongst the military too. We have so many
colleagues in the field. You know, when we go to
Iraq and Afghanistan, we're seeing our service members, but we're
also seeing our colleagues too that are really there every
single day, you know, operating in that center and giving
them that lounge like environment and just time to pick
a break from their day to day life as well.

(30:22):
So it's an incredibly exciting time to be at the
USO and inspire programming and keep meeting the needs of
our military community around the world.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Why do you think that entertainment is so important for
people who are serving, Well.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
You think about I think COVID probably gave most of
us who are outside of the military, the other ninety
nine percent of the US population, really the first glimpse
of life. You know, what it's like to be separated
from your family, you know, you think about it. Wilma
and I have been on trips together, and you know,

(30:57):
we talk to men and women it's their twelve thirteenth, fourteenth,
a year away from being home with their family for Christmas,
for Thanksgiving, for Easter, for birthdays, you know. So I
think that connection specifically with our program, it really just
kind of sets them back. It's an equalizer. It gives
them the chance just to relax the same way that

(31:19):
they feel when they walk into the center. You know,
their rank doesn't matter at that point. They just get
to be themselves and laugh. Quite frankly, that's a lot
of it, I think is laugh and take their mental state,
you know, away from their day to day life. So
if you're in Poland and you're there for two years,
that's where you are. You know, the environments around you

(31:40):
is what you wake up and see every single day.
And that's why, in particular, when we visit in person,
it goes such a long way to their resiliency. You know,
it is a memory that they keep for a lifetime.
And I think he and I can both agree the
validation that we feel and the satisfaction that we feel,
and knowing that when we walk away from that visit,
you know they're going to remember it forever. But we

(32:02):
just gave them energy to keep going at least for
the next six to nine months, to get through that
mission and then hopefully get home from there.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
You mentioned their mental state Over the last few years,
we've gotten more and more focused and more and more
aware of the fact that they're you know, being at
war or probably even serving and being away from your
family or being at risk can take a tremendous toll

(32:32):
on people mentally. You know a lot of our veterans
are suffering with PTSD, etc. And I'm wondering if you
could address that visa v. The USO and what you're
feeling is about that.

Speaker 3 (32:49):
Yeah, I think that gets back to the criticality of
our mission. Why day to day it's so vital for
us to be doing the work that we're doing where
they are right next to them. You know, when we
become we're the counselor we're the hugger, we're the friend,
we're the constant sort of companion with them, whether it's
an actual dog that we have in our center, a

(33:12):
therapy dog and a companion dog to visit with them,
or it's just our colleagues as well. And I think
we firmly believe at the USO, you know, we're a
military support organization that, through all of our programs, if
we're working actively every single day to acknowledge them, whether
it's in an airport and just spend time with them,

(33:33):
talk to them, hear them. Like I said, give them
a hug and maybe a cup of coffee. It's going
to hopefully build the foundation for them to have a
better transition on the way out. And I think one
of the other answers to that too, specifically hitting on
that veteran space is the is the evolution of our
transition program that was started about four or five years ago.

(33:54):
So we have the fantastic Yeah, we have this fantastic
program now that's actually building a plan for you. So
when you decide whether it's in five years or two
weeks that you're ready to transition out and you're ready
to go through that civilian life, you can go to
any USO center in the world. They will assign a
transition specialist with you that's going to help you build

(34:15):
the tools and skills that you need. You know, they
if you haven't thought about getting a bank account, or
writing your resume, or how do I even apply for
a job anymore, or use LinkedIn, They're going to take
you on your own individual path to help set you
out for success whenever you leave. So I think all
those programs and elements even the entertainment focused. You know,

(34:36):
we believe that through the well the positivity and encouragement
and preparation. Quite frankly, you know we're going to do
our part to help their transition be a little bit better.

Speaker 4 (34:52):
If you are inspired by today's episode, please join us
in supporting six degrees dot org by texting the word
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Once again, text b a c N to seven zero

(35:17):
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Speaker 1 (35:24):
Wilmer, you've done some incredible amount of USO tours, am
I right?

Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yeah, I got some miles. I will always come out.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Is he a record holder? How many times? How many
times have you?

Speaker 2 (35:38):
How many times? I mean, let me see, I think
there's a couple, probably a couple of bands, got me
on a bunch of tours. I mean I would say,
I know I'm on forty plus shows, right is something
that forty plus shows and so walk us here?

Speaker 1 (35:54):
That is like what will walk us through just one
show or how one show of function that and what
what the whole logistics are of that and what you
do in the show and get there and the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
I love that you asked that. I don't know who
was to go over. The reason why I'm smiling is
because we always have the the idea of the plan,
and the plan always gets made. We're in there, we're like,
how is this show gonna go? You know? But but
but really, like I was just from my personal experience,

(36:30):
and I love for Jennifer to Wayne in here. It's
always really fun because the USO always allows us to
to have this blank canvas we go and then empowers
the artists to really tailor their strengths within the appearance
and the and the h and the performance or the
show or or the you know or the handshake tour,

(36:50):
you know. And the idea is to find the things
that we feel our men and women of our uniform
are going to be excited about, whether it's like a
character or like just the photo ops or or you know,
the speech or the talk or the exercise so the
you know, the sketch or or the music number. So
it's always a great collaboration to figure that one out.

(37:11):
That being said, when I first uh, when I first
joined the USO, which I was like thinking my mid twenties,
and I was like, uh, I had I bumped into
a couple of you know, uh young men in uniform
and the new work and I'm walking by and you
know this, these young guys come up to me and

(37:32):
they're like, hey, uh, mister Rodrama, a little bit of
permission to talk to you. And I was like, yeah, yeah, granted,
go for ithead then he's like, I just want to
let you know man, that like what you do, you know,
really helps us. We change the DVDs of your work,
you know, in the base and and you know, after
a long day of doing what we do, you know,
it's it's just nice to to get a laugh.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
You know.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
And and I and I really really touched me, and
I said, oh wow, like like some of my work
is actually being broadcast at the basis around the world.
And so I called my agents and I was like, hey,
you know, it'll be cool if like if I just
went out there then like and like I'm thinking like
and I also remembering, you know, Bob Hope in some
ads because he really inspire me to get involved. I

(38:15):
felt like this. I couldn't wear a uniform when I
was you know, growing up, you know, so I felt
like this was the next best thing to serve, you know,
was to just like get out there and like, you know,
have like an experience with them. So you know, look,
story short, I called the USO and went then literally
by the way, and this is like a really big,
you know, statement of awareness for every single one of

(38:36):
our colleagues out there, from actors, musicians, to athletes, to poets,
you know, to you know, to just personalities out there.
To know how incredibly available and easy is this experience
for you to embark in. USO makes it incredibly easy
for you to visit, you know, the right experience for
you and and works around your time too, So that's

(38:56):
that's always that's always great. But I was like, you know,
what if I did, like what if I did like,
you know, a battle of your mama soa fat jokes
you know and like, and they were like, what, I
don't know about this, but we ended up taking like
an eight mile you know, like snaps off, you know
what I mean. Back in the day. That was really
really a funny you know, choke thing, and so we

(39:19):
will bring it and put them on stage and then
you know, I remember seeing the generals in the front
like it was like what did we just bring here?
But but everybody was going crazy. It was there on
a great time. So we realized that we could really
tailor it ull. So that's like the first version. That
was like chapter one of like what we were doing.
And then after that we started realizing a lot of
the stage performances could have a more complicity you know,

(39:41):
inspiration music, you know, uh and you know comedy, you know.
And I think the USO has done a great job
of curating every one of these shows, you know, with
enough talent that could fulfill these categorical you know, uh
segments on an actual stage show. And then you load
that stage show uh into a C seventeen or C

(40:02):
one thirty and you go to the next base, you know,
and then you literally go, you know, from base to base.
But then I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
How long would you how long were your tours have
that been normally?

Speaker 2 (40:14):
So it varies, So it varies like if you sometimes
you can just go to like one base and you
do a stay and you do a tour and you
shake hands, you take you know, pictures, you say a
couple of words, You basit some individuals who probably can't
get off post, you know, to come and do the
show that night, and you know, it's like some beautiful
exchange of love. And then you go home. And then
there's tours, tours where you're going to like five to

(40:35):
six countries in about six days, you know, and those
are a little bit more elaborate. That's when you know,
calling back to like not not showering for six days.
I think that that's when that's when it gets really fun.
But that touring kid lasts about uh yeah, it's about
five to six days of traveling. You know. Sometimes you
do about ten shows in six days. It doesn't feel

(40:57):
like that, right because you're just like in the addrest
enough having such a blasting exchange your glove. I mean,
you know, you perform for them, and you understand like
that energy that the men and women of uniform when
you're on a base and they're excited to see you
there and I'm excited to get a little entertainment. That's
when you start realizing, wow, man, like this is this
is this is a very special exchange of appreciation for

(41:19):
both the artists and the audience.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
And Jennifer, can you can you share if you have
I mean sometimes I get when I'm on the side
of the microphone. I think it always throws me when
somebody asks me for something anecdotal, but I'm going to
do it anyway. Can you share something anecdotal about a
moment that a service person was either inspired or touched

(41:47):
or anything specific that happened. It doesn't have to be Wilmer,
anything that came from you know specifically, you know a
USO moment basically what I'm looking for.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
Absolutely, I think there's too many to probably choose from,
so you start when you want to. The first one
I can think of is so the trip one of
the trips that Wilmer and I did together was back
in twenty eighteen, and long story short, Sean White was
with us too fantastic of course, Olynthian and human beings.

(42:20):
So about a year later, Sean and I are at
in events together in New York and Sean walks in
the door and he hadn't even been there three seconds,
and immediately this marine walks up to him in full
uniform and looks them straight in the eye and says, Sewn,
you were there with me last Christmas Eve in Afghanistan

(42:42):
and you came to visit us. And I can't tell
you what that meant to me to have you be
there and actually show up and just show me that
you care and help me get that through that holiday
time frame. And I mean, my whole body just went
into chills. And the look on Shawn's face was just incredible.
And I think that really is at the heart of
what our program is about. You know, you were making

(43:04):
a connection for someone that maybe you'll get the benefit
of learning about at some point in your life, like
that moment. But we're doing that, you know. On the
entertainment side, by the thousands and another one I can
think of. I really feel like the shows are fantastic
and they are always a lot of fun. But I
really feel like the moment that anyone that works with

(43:26):
US starts to understand is in those one on one conversations.
And it was recently down at the Texas border, you know,
visiting the National Guard down there, and we had a
gal that was speaking to a National Guard number and
they talked for probably forty five minutes, you know, and
they were just in this very in depth conversation, and

(43:50):
she walked away and said, you know, that conversation changed
my life. And that also happened to us as well
in Germany on a different trip that Womer wasn't with
us on. But this young gentleman, you know, he was
very quiet and very shy, and he was just starting
out in the army, you know, for I think EWE
or A E two, which is on the Newish side,

(44:11):
and he was a songwriter and when he went back
to his room at night, he was writing songs, he
was writing lyrics, he was trying to put together music.
And so the musicians that we had on that tour,
you know, stat with him for an hour and we're
giving him tips and talking about you know, because he's
already thinking about life after the military too, you know,
all of those things, what can I do? Where can

(44:34):
I you know, get my music be seen and heard?
And there's just countless examples examples of that. And I
do want to mention too that you know, we have
this fantastic in person program and touring in person, but
we really took COVID I think the Bull by the
Horns and evolved this program in a major way, and
we now have a very robust digital platform too, so

(44:56):
we can provide enter cement program to them anywhere they
are in the world, whether that's on demand content through
the USO app or actual virtual live connections here too.
So we'll have guests come on to our MVP series
and actually visit with the military around the world. So
in fact, we have Brian Cranston joining us next week.

(45:17):
We had a lot of folks on and it really
is I think an easy dip going back to the
time component of it all and scheduling and this and that.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
That's fantastic. Yeah, I didn't I didn't know that you
were doing that. You know. It's funny because normally we
have a you know, a call to action on this
show that's that's for people. But this is this is
the one example where if there's any celebrities watching, there's
also a call to action to celebrities to reach out
to entertainers, you know, musicians. During the Iraq and Afghanistan war,

(45:54):
I went multiple times to well to read uh which
was always really hard. But as you you know, you
mentioned Wilmer that there's a it goes both ways.

Speaker 2 (46:11):
You know, you get a lot back absolutely.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
I mean from these moments, so I think it's I
think it's great. I think it's great that this organization,
you know, has been doing what it's been doing for
as long as it's been doing it. It's really just
uh spectacular. I have a question for both of you,
which is, you know, I like to I'd like to

(46:37):
focus in this podcast on what it is that you
think about, either your up upbringing or your life that
has inspired you to become someone that wants to step
outside of yourself and and do something positive for the world.

(47:00):
And we could start with you, Jennifer.

Speaker 3 (47:02):
Yeah, that for me is a very it's a personal
I think, so long story short, when I was in
my mid twenties, my mom got diagnosed with an incurable
cancer and I was at the very kind of onset
of my career. So that for me very much shaped

(47:23):
my perspective on work. It shaped my perspective on how
I'm going to value my time, but also got me
thinking about the way I want to contribute back into
the world. And I wasn't quite ready at that point.
I have been in entertainment my entire career, you know,
behind the camera if you will, But by the time

(47:43):
I had my daughter, which was in twenty sixteen, I
really was thinking very hard about that legacy. You know,
my mom had passed, and I kept thinking, what do
I want to leave for her in this world? What
do I want to tell her about my choices, who
I was, what I did. And I think a lot
of it for me was just luck and timing and

(48:05):
a little bit of perseverance, and I found my way
to the USO. I had no military background whatsoever, but
I just knew that at that point in my career,
I wanted to stay in entertainment, but I really wanted
to give back something bigger than myself. And and you know,
when I came there not really understanding the life of
the military, but really got into it. Over the first

(48:27):
couple of months, I was just incredibly humbled by it,
by their by their passion, their commitment to their job,
their thankfulness. They're so good at giving thank you notes.
It's unbelievable. I thought my mom was good, good at
sending thank you notes, and they take it. And so
it really just became I think this very fortunate situation

(48:48):
for me that that over time I felt to growing
in myself and then I just happened through through career
and experience to find myself here.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Yeah, yeah, I think you kind of touched on it
a little bit before.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
But yeah, a little bit, you know, but I always
say that I would even actually make it a little
bit more detail for me, you know, when I I
grew up watching my dad being way too generous, you know,
like to the point where like he rather emptied the
back account and making sure that everybody was fed, you know,
before he even saved any money. You know, he was

(49:24):
very generous with how he hosted. He loved people. I
love people. I loved talking to strangers. I love getting
to know different worlds and different people. And I think
that comes from him, you know, the ability to keep
the light, you know, keep the door unlocked, you know,
and everyone's welcomed type of thing. I think it's a
very cultural thing for me as well. And when I
came to America, which I've always heard about this American dream,

(49:48):
you know, and you know, with sparing, you like the
American dream story, you know, which I'm sure some other
point I think, Karen, you're he and I can talk about.
But you know, when that happened for me, When I
would say when this country, would say, I, well, to
give me the ability to take care of my family
at a time where, like I said, we were laid
in rent and you know, we were paying you know,

(50:09):
we were eating dinner every other night. And then all
of a sudden, you know, I gave my big break
and I'm able to now take care of my entire family.
I said, Wow, this, this is a wonder. I mean
that this country is unbelievable. And you know, at the
risk of sounding like too much cassel, I will say
that that that was one of those big moments where

(50:31):
I realized I had to give it back, you know,
I had to pay it back. I had to give
it back. Every time I will get a blessing, I
had to somehow find a way to filter it through
or like say, way through and to out away from
my hands again. And then I started joining different task
force and I realized that I had purpose. And first

(50:51):
it was like, oh, entertainment is so fun. It seems
like I'm doing something. And then I realized I had
to pay it forward to this country, you know. And
and when I joined the USO at that my early twenties,
I mean I was always doing it since that was
my early twenties, I was doing a lot of different stuff.
But when I joined the USA, it gave me such

(51:11):
a purpose. It gave me I felt like I was
a part of it, and I was a part of
the you know, the task force that was allowing all
of us in America to have the freedom. And so
I always thank God for all those stories. And you know,
ken you talk about going to wall to read, I
got to go to Lambstone Hospital a bunch of times
in Germany, and that's like a major er room, you know,

(51:35):
like that's like a whole hospital was an er room,
you know, are many women come in and get there,
they get conditions so they can make it home for
real treatment. And I got to tour that the humility,
you know, the gracefulness, the bravery of everyone that I
met there. I mean, I specifically to tell you the

(51:55):
moment that I got I was like, I gotta, I
gotta sign on to every US sold I could possibly do.
Was a moment where I walk into a room a
young man had just arrived from you know, the night before.
They had experienced some contact having his team. Fortunately he
was one of the few survivors and he didn't know

(52:15):
yet and he was opening his eyes to you know,
to the first time for the first time too, you know,
to me and uh in the chair and the vice
chairman at the time of the Joint chiefs, and they
are warned as that he might wake up, you know,
during this moment, and he opened his eyes and he
looked at the Vice Chairman and immediately recognized him and

(52:35):
wanted to salute. And he's like got ease at ease,
and then he turns over to me and and he's
just like what like he literally thought like he was
in a different place. It was like like I wake up,
I see the chair, the Vice chairman, and then like
Wilmer is here, Like what's going on?

Speaker 3 (52:51):
You know?

Speaker 2 (52:52):
And in that that moment, that smile, that moment, in
the most you know, in the most critical moment of
this man's life, made me feel like that's I was
built to be, to be sent there, you know. And
so every USO tour did I go, I discover so
much of my myself and I connect so much to

(53:14):
the men and women of military. And that's why I
keep going to every USO tour oll r and over again,
because it's that moment where I feel like, Oh, this
is what I'm here for. This little thing, this little smile,
you know, that's what That's what I'm here for me.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
And I'm kind of hooked to that amazing story.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
And if I could, I could add one thing to
that too. I haven't thought about this in a long time,
But before I came to the USO, I worked on
the television network side, and so one of my jobs
is I would get requests for talent and I would
you know, work to see if we can fulfill those.
We got a request once for Bell Bear Girls talking
about Walter Reed and this it was this email from

(53:50):
the family that said, Hey, our son is has served,
He's dying of cancer. Is there any way that we
can watch Bear show at the time, which aired overseas,
didn't air in the date. So I sat in that
and again not having really any military experience, and went
to our production team. You know, we ultimately went to Bear.
Long story short, they made the season for this gentleman.

(54:14):
Bear shot him a personal video and you know, delivered
it to the hospital and I think he was he
was fairly close, you know, to passing, but they played
it for him and then all of a sudden, one day,
I was at work and they're like, hey, someone's downstairs
for you, And I go downstairs to the lobby and
it's his whole family and they're showing up. They brought

(54:36):
me flowers and a card. And I'm even getting a
little emotional thinking about it, and just said, you know,
we can't tell you what that meant to us, that
you took the time not only to read it, but
you actually took the time to care and make it happen.
And so I think, even before I knew I was
destined to join for the USO, that exposure I think

(54:57):
speaks highly of how the military use you know, this
country and what they do, and the importance of an appreciation,
you know, for anybody that provides them some acknowledgment and
a little bit of care. So it was an amazing
moment in my life. And you know, when we take
Wilmer out too on tour, I think that's what drew

(55:18):
immediately us to him as well, is that sense of gratitude.
It's written all over him. It's not that hard, you know,
to see. And he's usually the last one, you know,
like lumber the chairman is walking. You really got to
go now, you know, we're pulling him out with the hook,
trying to get him away because of that intention, which

(55:38):
is so so important in everything that we do each day.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
So well, it's great. I love it and I'm so
thrilled that you both came on to talk about this.
Is there a is there somewhere the way that people
can reach out and find out about the USO and
help and whatever.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
Absolutely, yeah, please visit our website, which is USO dot org.
You know, of course, there's always ways to financially contribute.
If that's not possible, you know, we we the backbone
of our organization is volunteers. You can volunteer at your airport,
you can volunteer at your local USO center. You know,
we greatly appreciate those volunteer hours. We have over eighteen

(56:20):
thousand volunteers as well around the world, and those are
two fantastic ways to really dial in with us, but
all available at USO dot org.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
Thank you guys, Thank you so much. And you know,
before we go, Walmer, I just realized that, you know,
I when when I heard that you were going to
do this, you know, the silly six degrees thing, I
was thinking, uh, well, we never actually have worked together,
but we've actually been in the same thing, but we

(56:50):
can't say what it is. I know, do you even know?
How do you do we even know what? Do you
even know what it is? I didn't. I literally was
on I was on on your IMDb page and I went,
wait a second.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
So so we man, I wish I could.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
Talk about this, can it?

Speaker 2 (57:14):
But I just want you to note that that day
we wrote in the van to set together and we
had a quick little conversation. You created a character and
I had, you know, I had some experience with something similar,
and we shared. We shared, we shared a tiny little

(57:36):
cameo scene together. I was doing like a quick little
cameo there and and when, and I just want you
don't care. And I was gonna say this way way
away earlier, but then I realized that I don't even
know how to say it without saying in the movie.
But I just want you to know, man, that I've
been such a Kevin Bacon fan like my entire life.
So when I was able to share the screen with

(57:58):
you's as silly and small than as I confess forgettable
at that moment could have been. You know it actually uh,
it was actually one of the coolest things that has
ever happened in my career. So I just want you
to understand that that I just I was so thrilled
that I get to talk to you again that way.
But you were so kind, and I mean, I know, look, I'm.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
Glad I was nice. Phew gone a different way. It
could have gone a different way, but you're.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
Top two, Tom Hanks, and you are the nicest guys
I've ever met in my in my career.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
That's nice. I'm glad to hear it. I'm nicer than Tom.
So anyway, I've loved having you guys here. Thank you
so much and see you down the road. Is kem.

Speaker 2 (58:44):
Thank you for the word.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
Hey guys, thanks for listening to another episode of Six
Degrees with Kevin Bacon. If you want to learn more
about the United Service Organization and how you can donate
and all the great work that they're up to, head
to their website USO dot org. That's USO dot org.
You can find all the links in our show notes,

(59:11):
and if you like what you hear, make sure you
subscribe to the show. Tune into the rest of the episode.
You can find Six Degrees with Kevin Bacon on iHeartRadio,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.