Danny Trejo says his life changed with one word — the first time a director yelled “Action!”

Trejo was 40 years old before he wandered onto his first movie set, Andrei Konchalovsky's 1985 “Runaway Train.” He was working as a youth drug counselor, himself an ex-convict, when he received a call at 11 p.m. one night from a teenaged client who needed help.