# That '70s Show - Where was Fez from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2020, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536 "2020-04-10T23:13:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/1 "2020-04-10T23:13:27Z")
Yes, I know it was a running gag throughout the entire series that it was never revealed where Fez was from. But don’t all the clues suggest Aruba more than any other place? Can anyone make an argument for any place other than Aruba? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/2 "2020-04-10T23:35:26Z")
Fez is from overseas. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/3 "2020-04-10T23:50:26Z")
What was in the briefcase? What was the Noodle Incident? What was Jacob’s brother’s (the Man in Black) real name? What happened to the Russian? (All kidding aside, Fez seemed vaguely South American. But his name suggested Middle Eastern ethnicity…) ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/4 "2020-04-11T00:17:44Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > (All kidding aside, Fez seemed vaguely South American. But his name suggested Middle Eastern ethnicity…) Another joke was that the gang never found out his name. Fez (fes) stood for foreign exchange student. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/5 "2020-04-11T00:22:06Z")
I assumed it was the same country that Balki Bartokomous and Latka Gravas were from. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/6 "2020-04-11T00:27:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I assumed it was the same country that Balki Bartokomous and Latka Gravas were from. Moldavistan. Yes, I’ll settle for Moldavistan. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/7 "2020-04-11T01:02:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I assumed it was the same country that Balki Bartokomous and Latka Gravas were from. Balki doesn’t fit here. His homeland, unlike Fez or Latka’s, was actually named - Mypos, a fictional Mediterranean island. It’s culture was also fairly consistently Greek-inspired - even if it was a funhouse mirror version of Greece, it was a bit more constrained than ‘whatever absurdist thing would be funny, here’ which the other two had. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/8 "2020-04-13T19:54:42Z")
Well the actual actor Wilmer Valderrama was born in Miami but moved to Venezuela when he was 3, and is of Colombian and Venezuelan descent. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/9 "2020-04-13T21:10:57Z")
He was from France. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/10 "2020-04-13T22:55:02Z")
I thought he was from Milwaukee, like everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/11 "2020-04-14T03:14:58Z")
Mepos. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/12 "2020-04-15T01:50:51Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Well the actual actor Wilmer Valderrama was born in Miami but moved to Venezuela when he was 3, and is of Colombian and Venezuelan descent. Which fits what I assumed, that it was at least from one of the “softer speaking” Latino countries to the south of the US. Also, isn’t his name spelled Fes, and stands for Foreign Exchange Student, because they couldn’t say his real name? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-where-was-fez-from/851536/13 "2020-04-15T03:55:27Z")
Legend has it that Wilmer Valderramawas reciting the rest of the cast’s names while being interrupted by the school bell when asked by Hyde what his name was before being dubbed “Fez.”