Wilmer Calderon was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, and moved to Brandon, Florida, near Tampa at the age of two. He learned to speak Spanish at home from his parents and English from watching Sesamstraße (1969). At the age of five, he started playing baseball, a year-round sport in Florida, and it quickly became his major preoccupation throughout his school years. In his senior year in high school, he set a single-season record for stolen bases. Continuing on to Marshall University, it soon became apparent that another discipline was calling him.
In his spare time, Calderon appeared in several school plays, and eventually he had to choose between following a career in baseball or giving himself full time to acting. He landed three lines in the Florida-filmed feature The Walking Dead (1995), earned his Screen Actors Guild card, and was off and running. He had a recurring role in the TV series Tierisch viel Familie (1996) and appeared in the telefilms Sommer der Angst (1996) and Mord aus Eifersucht - Wenn Schüler töten (1997). Among Calderon's other television credits are guest appearances on Veronica Mars (2004), The Shield: Gesetz der Gewalt (2002), CSI: Miami (2002), 24: Twenty Four (2001), New York Cops: NYPD Blue (1993), Emergency Room: Die Notaufnahme (1994), and Profiler (1996). His feature credits include Wes Craven's Verflucht (2005), and Venice Underground (2005).
Calderon is also active on stage, and has appeared with the Actor's Circle Theatre. His mentor has been another native of Santurce, Benicio Del Toro.
