Showbiz

Wilmer Valderrama: 'I'll always be an actor'

Published Wednesday, Jun 22 2011, 23:59 BST | By Jennifer Still | 1 comment

Wilmer Valderrama has insisted that he will always pursue acting projects.

The former That '70s Show star told PopEater that he was anxious to return to the spotlight in bigger roles after working "behind-the-scenes" and on independent projects for several years following the sitcom's end.

"I love [behind-the-scenes work] but once an actor, always an actor. I took a nice break after eight years and 200 episodes," Valderrama explained.

"I did independent films over the past few years that have been festival darlings but that is stuff a lot of fans haven't heard about and this year I decided to return to the camera starting with Larry Crowne and a couple episodes of Royal Pains just for fun."

Valderrama revealed that despite much of his recent work being unseen by the mass public, he has spent the time building other aspects of his career.

"I launched a production company with scripted and non-scripted development and I have been helping the company grow for the past couple of years," he added.

"I have a number of projects in development with the Discovery networks and a couple of animated series for the Disney channel. I am telling you, it is an exciting time."

Valderrama was recently cast in Kyle Killen's NBC drama pilot REM.