James Roday Rodriguez

American actor

James Roday Rodriguez (born James David Rodriguez, April 4, 1976) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for starring on the USA Network series Psych as Shawn Spencer, a hyper observant consultant detective and fake psychic. He also stars in A Million Little Things which debuted in 2018, playing Javier "Gary" Mendez.

Rodriguez was born in San Antonio, Texas, as James David Rodriguez. 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. 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" and announced that going forward he was going to 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. His most recent foray onto the stage was in December 2016, when he starred in the New York production of White Rabbit Red Rabbit by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour.

His big screen debut was in the 1999 film Coming Soon alongside Ryan Reynolds and Ashton Kutcher. 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.

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.

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 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.

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 the 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.

Year Title Role Notes 1999 Coming Soon Chad Ryan Caulfield: Year One Vic Series regular 2000 Believe Bruce Arm / Agent Johnny ShortGet Real Trent Sykes 2001 First Years Edgar Series regular 2002 Repli Kate Max LeadProvidence Alexander Conrad Showtime 'Maxis' CameramanRolling Kansas Dick Murphy 2003 Miss Match Nick Paine Series regular 2005 Don't Come Knocking Mickey, First Assistant Director The Dukes of Hazzard Billy Prickett 2006 Beerfest German Messenger 2006–14 Psych Shawn Spencer Also writer, director, and producer 2009–2014 2008 Fear Itself Carlos Episode: "In Sickness and in Health" 2009 Gamer News Co Host #1 2011 WWE Tough Enough Himself Episode: "I've Been Bamboozled & Flabbergasted"Love Bites Jeff Episode: "TMI" 2012 WWE Raw Super Show Himself Special guest ring announcer 2013 Mr. Payback Malikai Short 2015 Gravy Marty Also director and co writerGood Session Joel Pilot, leadChristmas Eve B a. k. a. StuckBaby Baby Baby J. B. The Nerd Herd Kip Mitchell Pilot, lead2016Pushing DeadDan SchaubleLead 2017 Psych: The Movie Shawn Spencer TV film, also co writer and executive producer 2018–23 A Million Little Things Gary Mendez Series regular 2018 Fortune Rookie Roday Recurring 2019 Buddy Games Zane Berserk Officer Duane 2020 Psych 2: Lassie Come Home Shawn Spencer TV film, also co writer and executive producer 2021 Psych 3: This Is Gus2023Buddy Games: Spring AwakeningZane

Year Title Notes 2002 The Driver Unused first draft, co written with James DeMonaco and Todd Harthan 2006 Skinwalkers Co written with James DeMonaco and Todd Harthan 2006–14 Psych 16 episodes, co written with various others 2014 Shoot the Moon Online Film & Television Association Best Actor in a Comedy Series 2009 EWwy Award Best Actor in a Comedy Series NCLR ALMA Awards Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series Imagen Awards Best Actor – Television Online Film & Television Association Best Actor in a Comedy Series 2010 NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series Psych (for episode "High Top Fade Out", shared with Saladin K. Patterson) 2011 NCLR ALMA Awards Favorite TV Actor – Leading RolePsych Imagen Awards Best Actor – Television 2012 NCLR ALMA Awards Favorite TV Actor – Leading RolePsych 2nd Annual Timmys Awards Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series Imagen Awards Best Actor – Television 2016 POZ Awards Best Actor or Actress in Film or TelevisionPushing Dead 2017 FilmOut Festival Award Best Actor 2023 HCA TV Awards Best Writing in a Broadcast Network or Cable Drama Series A Million Little Things (for episode 5x13 One Big Thing, shared with DJ Nash) 2023 Humanitas Prize Drama Teleplay A Million Little Things (for episode 5x13 One Big Thing, shared with DJ Nash)