James Roday Rodriguez

Early life

Rodriguez was born in San Antonio, Texas, as James David Rodriguez. He attended Taft High School in San Antonio. His father, James "Jim" Rodriguez, is of Mexican descent, and his mother, Deborah Collins, is of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Rodriguez's father is a retired Air Force master sergeant.

At New York University's Experimental Theatre Wing, Rodriguez studied theatre and earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts.

Career

At the age of 22, he selected the professional name James Roday. In a July 2020 interview, Rodriguez explained the decision was mainly driven by producers and casting directors feeling his appearance clashed with his Latino family name. The characters he read for up until that point were not written with a Latino background in mind. In order to book his first job, he legally changed his middle name, David, to Roday (from an Anton Chekhov play), and omitted Rodriguez from his screen name. In the same interview, he stated regret that he "sold out [his] heritage in about 15 seconds." In 2020, he announced that going forward he would use his full legal name of James Roday Rodriguez.

Rodriguez started his acting career starring in various theatrical productions, including Three Sisters, A Respectable Wedding, and Severity's Mistress. He took on leading roles in Sexual Perversity in Chicago and Extinction which he produced with his theatre company Red Dog Squadron. For RDS he also directed the play Greedy, and wrote and directed the one-act play Sustenance.

1999-2005 Big screen and television

His big screen debut was in the 1999 film Coming Soon alongside Gaby Hoffmann and Bonnie Root.

Other early film credits include the 2003 film Rolling Kansas and the 2005 film adaptation of The Dukes of Hazzard. Behind the scenes, he and writing partners Todd Harthan and James DeMonaco wrote the screenplay for the 2006 film Skinwalkers. The team also worked on an unused script for the film adaptation of the video game Driver.

Rodriguez's television credits include starring roles in 2001's First Years and NBC's Miss Match in 2003.

2006-2016: ''Psych'' franchise

His big break came on July 7, 2006, with the series premiere of USA Network's original series Psych. Airing following the season premiere of USA's other comedic success, Monk, it was the highest-rated scripted basic cable TV show premiere of 2006. Psych ran for eight seasons until 2014.

In 2017, Rodriguez returned to his most famous role as he starred in and executive produced Psych: The Movie, which he also co-wrote with Psychs series creator Steve Franks. It aired on USA Network in December 2017.

A sequel, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home was officially announced on February 14, 2019. It was filmed in Vancouver in March and April of that year and debuted July 15, 2020 on NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock. Lassie Come Home was the first project that featured his full legal name, James Roday Rodriguez. He once again served as co-writer and executive producer.

Psych 3: This Is Gus was filmed in June 2021 and released on Peacock on November 18, 2021. As of May 2023, a fourth Psych movie is rumored to be in the making.

2017-Present: Post-''Psych''

After Psych the series ended, Rodriguez starred in various pilots and independent films, most notably Pushing Dead by independent filmmaker Tom E. Brown, which accumulated a number of awards at film festivals in the US and elsewhere.

At the same time, Rodriguez began focusing on his work behind the camera as a director, writer and producer. He has since directed episodes for Battle Creek, Rush Hour, Rosewood, Blood Drive and The Resident and developed, wrote, and directed the pilots Shoot the Moon for USA and Quest for Truth for E!.

Rodriguez directed his first feature film, Gravy, in 2015, co-written by him and Todd Harthan. He co-wrote (once again with Todd Harthan) and directed his second film Treehouse as part of Hulu's monthly horror movie anthology Into the Dark, which aired in March 2019.

Rodriguez returned to theater in December 2016, when he starred in the New York production of White Rabbit Red Rabbit by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour.

Rodriguez branched out into voice acting in the 2021 animated feature Night of the Animated Dead, an adaptation of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. In 2022, Rodriguez directed two episodes of the LeBron James-produced series The Crossover for Disney+, which premiered on April 5, 2023.

In 2023, Rodriguez produced the world premiere of Laurence Davis's play Masters of Puppets for the Legacy Theatre in Branford, Connecticut. The play starred Amanda Detmer, Kurt Fuller, Dana Ashbrook, and The Residents Michael Hogan. He also became a member of the theater's board of trustees.

More recently, Rodriguez starred as Gary Mendez on ABC's dramedy A Million Little Things. He co-wrote the series' final episode, "One Big Thing", with series creator DJ Nash.

Personal life

Rodriguez is the co-artistic director of Red Dog Squadron, a non-profit Los Angeles theater company he co-founded with Brad Raider. In 2012, Rodriguez and, at the time, Black Dahlia artistic director Matt Shakman bought El Centro Theatre and started a long process of renovations with the intent of reopening it under its original name Circle Theatre. In a newsletter from August 2018, Raider and Rodriguez announced that they had to resell the theatre in early 2018.

Rodriguez dated his Psych co-star Maggie Lawson from 2006 to 2014, coinciding with the series run.

Filmography

Actor

Director

Writer

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. Hernandez, Lee. (October 12, 2011). "EXCLUSIVE: 'Psych' Star James Roday Explains Why He Changed His Latino Last Name for Hollywood".
2. Martinez, Kiko. "Psych out". Hispanic Magazine.
3. Hernandez, Lee. "EXCLUSIVE: 'Psych' Star James Roday Explains Why He Changed His Latino Last Name for Hollywood". Latina.
4. (2012-02-29). "'Psych' star James Roday on life, family in Waxahachie". Waxahachietx.com.
5. Roberts, Robin (August 9, 2007). [https://www.tvguide.com/news/psych-roday-hill-37531.aspx "''Psych'''s Two Sleuths Reveal Their Poker Faces"] {{Webarchive. link. (2011-08-09 . ''[[TV Guide]]''.)
6. (July 14, 2020). "James Roday Details 'Deeply Personal' Decision to Reclaim Birth Name Rodriguez: 'I Want to Be the Most Honest Ally for My Community'".
7. (July 11, 2006). "Psych premiere sets basic cable mark". TV.com.
8. "'Psych: The Movie 2' Confirmed on USA for Late 2019".
9. (14 February 2019). "Psych: The Movie 2 Is Coming to USA Network Later This Year! - Blog".
10. (9 October 2021). "'Psych 3: This Is Gus' Gets Premiere Date and Trailer (New York Comic Con Roundup)". Variety.
11. "Psych 4 Update: 'The Script Is Done'". TVLine.
12. "Pushing Dead (2016) - Awards - IMDb".
13. (October 24, 2016). "Psych Tony Nominee Micah Stock and PSYCH's James Roday Headed to WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT".
14. "Masters of Puppets".
15. "Meet the Team".
16. "A Million Little Things, Cast, Characters and Stars".
17. "Red Dog Squadron: About". Red Dog Squadron.
18. Lufkin, Bryan. (July 7, 2010). "James Roday, Steve Franks Promise "Twin Peaks" Episode of ''Psych''". Starpulse.com.
19. "Roday, Raider, & Red Dog's Return".
20. (17 January 2014). "Maggie Lawson Lists Eco-Friendly Los Feliz Home".
21. Graff, Michael. (22 June 2018). "10 Iconic Sitcom Stars Who Got Together (And 10 Who Are Just Friends)". [[Screen Rant]].
22. "About the Rookie".
23. (29 October 2014). "James Roday Signs with ICM Partners".
24. Dare, Johnny. (June 25, 2009). "Interview: James Roday". freejohnnydare.com.
25. "Psych, James Roday | Emmys Snubbed Your Comedy Faves? Vote 'em a EWwy!".
26. Foundation, Imagen. "Imagen Awards".
27. (25 July 2010). "NOMINEES FOR 41st NAACP IMAGE AWARDS ANNOUNCED LIVE AT PRESS CONFERENCE BY TAYE DIGGS, MICHAEL STRAHAN, WANDA SYKES, KYLE MASSEY, CHRIS MASSEY, TATYANA ALI AND NAACP EXECUTIVES – Press Room – NAACP".
28. (2012). "Awards list".
29. (2023). "Hollywood Critics Association Announces the 2023 HCA TV Awards nominations for Broadcast Networks & Cable".
30. (2023). "The 2023 Humanitas Prize Nominees".