For Danny Trejo, age is just a number.

“I ain’t ready to cash in my chips yet,” the 82-year-old Machete star declared over a recent Zoom call. “One of the most important things is staying active."

That youthful lust for life became one of the driving factors behind Trejo’s newly-announced role as brand ambassador for Opella’s pain relief ointment Aspercreme (one of the leading lidocaine brands in the United States).

“When you live hard, you’re gonna get sore—I don’t care how old you are,” he explained. "I’m still doing action movies at 82, so believe me, I feel it. But a tough guy can’t be walking around smelling like a medicine cabinet. That’s why I use Aspercreme—it really works to target my pain, and there’s no weird smell. You can wear it under a suit, and I do a lot of public appearances. I’ve used it for events and nobody knows. When they reached out to my agent, she even said, ‘He uses that!’"

Through his role as celebrity spokesman, Trejo leads the “KO Boomer" campaign, which—as its name suggests—seeks to deliver a knockout blow against the “OK Boomer" put-down so often used by millennials and Gen Z.

There’s even a Change.org petition aimed at redefining the term “Boomer.”

“We’re taking that stereotype off the internet and proving this generation is still in the game,” Trejo continued. "'Boomer’ is what [people call you] when they want to [say] you’re no longer relevant,” Trejo continued. “And it’s like, ‘Wait a minute! Hold on!’ I still box. I still ride a motorcycle. I’m still working and I refuse to be a Boomer.”

“Age isn’t an insult—it’s a badge of honor,” he added. “It means you’ve lived through things, learned from them, and you’re still standing, and that’s a gift. So instead of throwing around a dumb meme, come sign the petition at KOBoomer.com to redefine Boomer!"

Known for playing surly badasses, Trejo boasts nearly 500 credits across film, television, gaming, and music, making him one the most prolific names in Hollywood today. He even holds the unofficial world record for onscreen deaths.

His philosophy is simple: “Just keep going."

Someone once asked him and Nick Nolte on the set of the 2015 Adam Sandler film The Ridiculous 6 when they planned on retiring. “And I’ll never forget," Trejo recalled, “Nolte said, ‘From what? We’re playing cowboys, homes. We’re not pouring cement.’ I’ll never forget that. Retire? From what? I’m talking about Aspercreme and if I get sore, I put some Aspercreme on."

Trejo’s notable projects include numerous collaborations with writer-director Robert Rodriguez, who also happens to be the actor’s cousin.

“We work really well together because I know what he wants and he knows what I want,” Trejo said. “So there’s never a problem. He’s an amazing director.”

The pair have worked on 10 movies together, with Trejo’s personal favorite being the Machete duology. The titular protagonist of Isador Machete Cortez enjoys a bizarre history, originating in the first Spy Kids movie before taking center stage in a faux trailer created for Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s exploitation throwback, Grindhouse. That ersatz advertisement became real in 2010’s Machete (which reunited Trejo with Heat co-star Robert De Niro) and its 2013 sequel, Machete Kills.

Trejo hopes to one day complete the trilogy with the teased Machete Kills Again...In Space, “but we’re waiting,” he shared.

When it comes to small screen achievements, Trejo cemented his place in TV history as Breaking Bad’s Tortuga. His Season 2 appearance was intended as a one-off, but the cartel member turned DEA informant turned severed head rigged to detonate atop a tortoise proved to be a massive hit with viewers, prompting a flashback return the following season.

“I remember my agent called me up and said, ‘Hey, we got another Breaking Bad! And good news, they have to do another contract,’” he remembered. “Because I got wrapped. I was gone. So we did really good.”

Beyond his acting career, Trejo is also an entrepreneur, having launched a namesake restaurant chain, non-alcoholic tequila, and music label.

“No matter what you do, you gotta have a good team,” he stressed. “Surround yourself with people who know what they’re doing and are loyal, because loyalty is the bottom line in business and knowledge.”

His next venture is a five-issue graphic novel series entitled Year of the Devil, co-created with Keith Arem (Call of Duty, Spider-Man, Ascend), and writer Chris Yates (Marcus Walker: Kingslayer Protocol).

Described as a mashup of “Aztec mythology, biblical prophecy, supernatural horror, and relentless action” the book follows Diego, an immortal warrior reincarnated in different centuries to battle Satan and and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse “in a brutal grindhouse saga of faith, revenge, and destiny.”

“Don’t stop,” Trejo concluded. Don’t stop and give thanks every morning you wake up, just for waking up."