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. He won a special award (Agrupación de Periodistas Teatrales APT) for his acting in this play in 1989. 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 (ACE) for his outstanding acting as Enrique Xuncax in
Gregory Nava's multi-awarded film
El Norte.
El Norte was an Official US Selection in Section Un Certain Regarde in the 1984
Cannes Film Festival El Norte was also nominated for an
Academy Award in 1985 as best script and a copy of the film is preserved in the
UCLA film archive and in the
Library of Congress. 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 Line: 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 TV series like
Cero en conducta,
La casa de la risa,
La escuelita Vip,
Par de Ases,
Fábrica de Risas and
Al ritmo de la noche. For many years he has portrayed Prof. Virolo in the little TV school
Cero en Conducta and in
La Escuelita VIP. From 2007 to 2012 he was part of the Mexican TV show
Se Vale. During the mid-2010s he co-hosted of the TV show
Noches con Platanito produced by
Estrella TV in the USA. As of 2023, he is a director of the Mexican TV series
Una familia de diez, reuniting him with
Jorge Ortiz de Pinedo. ==
El Norte==