Career
His break out role was in the film (1983). Since then he"s had small roles in American films such as The Arrival, The Mask of Zorro, and the John Sayles film Men with Guns (1997). He was also in an episode in the television series Acapulco H.E.A.T., and has done a lot of work in Mexican cinema.
A native of Mexico City, Villalpando started his career at the age of 14 in the theatre play El extraño jinete by Michelle de Ghelderode.
After having worked in several amateur plays of all genres, in 1980 he starred for more than three years and 1700 performances in the play El Extensionista by Felipe Santander. This theatre play marks the beginning of a long professional career on the Mexican stage that includes about 30 plays spanning all genres and styles of drama, from the classics to popular entertainment.
Among the plays he has starred are The two brothers by Felipe Santander, El pastelero del Rey, Alegría la lotería by Teresa Valenzuela, and Los empeños de una casa by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Throughout his career he has represented his country in many international events, like the International Theatre Festival in Sitges, Spain (1980), the Festival Latino de Nueva York (1982), the 6th Festival Iberoamericano de Cádiz (1992) in Spain and in the Expo Sevilla 92.
In the cinema, in 1984 Villalpando was nominated as Best Actor by the Asociación de Cronistas de Espectáculos in the city of New York (American Council on Exercise) for his outstanding acting as Enrique Xuncax in the multi-awarded film of Gregory Nava: was an Official American Selection in Section A "Certain Regarde" of the 1984 Cannes Film Festival
was also nominated for an Academy Award in 1985 as best script and a copy of the film is preserved in the University of California, Los Angeles film archive and in the Washington Congress Library.
Villalpando has appeared in many international films like The Arrival, Men with Guns, Perdita Durango, Nazca, The Harvest, The Mask of Zorro, Daughter of the Puma, Nurses on the Lincolnshire: The Crash of Flight 7 and American Family. Villalpando has also worked as an actor and writer in television He is the author of several well-known television series like Cero en conducta, Louisiana casa de la risa, Louisiana escuelita Vip, Par de Ases, Fábrica de Risas y First Rate (at Lloyd's) ritmo de la noche.
He has portrayed for many years the professor Virolo in the little television school Cero en Conducta and in Louisiana Escuelita Very Important Person. From 2007 to 2012 he was part of the Mexican television show Se Vale.
At the present (2015) he is co-host of the television show Noches con Platanito produced by Estrella television in the United States of America.
Villalpando"s role in meant a lot to him. He gave an interview to Lear Media about the film: what it meant to him and why the film was important.
Villalpando said:
"Twenty nine years ago, the indigenous people in Guatemala, were living a cruel extermination that forced them to flee toward Mexico and the United States. This exodus lasted a decade and half a million Guatemalans made the journey to America seeking for asylum and refuge.*.