Edgar Rodriguez

Edgar Rodriguez is an actor, known for Voyages of the San Salvador - Cabrillo's Journey (2017), The Long Walk (2019), and The Christ Slayer (2019)Southern California native, Edgar Rodriguez has been enjoying the spotlight since first setting foot on stage, as a child, in his school's production of James and the Giant Peach where he played one of the irate and indignant Cloud-men. He also joined his school's Ballet Folklórico for which he was awarded one of his favorite awards of all time: a free entry coupon to Knott's Berry Farm Theme Park. Whether it was dancing, singing, drawing, writing poetry or just hamming it up for the family, or whether he had a musical instrument or a paintbrush in his hand, he was always creating. It was only natural that he would eventually join his high school's drama class where he starred as "Moctezuma" in Luis Valdez's La Conquista de México and later won "Best Actor" in his class for performing a monologue from Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. He also joined the mock trial team and participated in the annual talent show, where he performed an original song accompanied by his guitar.He later attended San Diego State University in the hopes of majoring in Telecommunications and Film, (later theater with a minor in dance), but an administrative error not once, but twice, ruined those plans. This led to much frustration and although his attendance was brief, while at SDSU he managed to seize a few opportunities to act, as well as sing and play guitar, debuting one of his original songs, in Juan Pazos' play My Latin Lover (Mi Amorcito) at SDSU's experimental theater. He also performed in the homecoming talent show, later that year, where he won third place for another original song, which led to his first paying performance. While at SDSU he attended a student production of Sing A Song Of Hollywood - Harry Warren: America's Greatest Unknown Songwriter. It was the first time he had ever seen a musical, and although many years would go by before he would act again, the play left a huge impression on him.In the following months, while trying to figure out what to do next, he had a few jobs including telemarketer, cashier, server, busboy, bartender and dental assistant. It was then he was offered a career in the dental field. At first he accepted, but he decided to enroll in graphic design school instead, on his own dime. It was at Platt College in San Diego where he got his Associates Degree in Graphic Design. After graduating, he worked at a local newspaper and he would later join and play keyboards for local bands Psy-Fi and Audio.After a few years working as a graphic artist he went back to Platt to take a few more courses including video editing and 3D animation. Shortly thereafter he landed his first background actor gig, locally, on Into the Wild (2007). This was an eye-opener, being the first time he set foot on a "Hollywood" movie set. He worked on that film for about a week and met some great people, some of which he still calls friends today. Although this reignited his passion for acting, it would be a while before he would be on another set or near another movie camera.Opportunity came knocking when a fortuitous call from a filmmaker friend across the border in Mexico, needing someone to replace an actor who had become ill, led to his first supporting role in the short film, Envenenado (2013) written and directed by Roberto Ortiz. He eventually began doing background work again, landing a few local gigs in major features, a music video and a few independent films. This led him to pursue more work in the following years in San Diego, but it wasn't until he decided to get in his car and drive to Los Angeles, to be "closer to the action," that he really started getting involved.He booked his first "L.A." background gig the same day he registered at the agency. One of his dreams was to be on an old Hollywood movie set, specifically an old western town, and his dream came true that day. He worked on that production for some time, gained valuable set experience, and made a few friends along the way. Although he wasn't doing much acting, this was a big deal for him because he was seeing first hand how a movie, or in this case TV series, of this magnitude, was being made. He was in love with being on set, going to wardrobe fittings, and feeling that, although seemingly insignificant, his participation was an essential part of the TV and movie-making process.He worked on quite a few shows for the next few years. Of course "life happened" and being that this new job required him to travel long distances, up to 4 plus hours away, "crash" on the couches of friends and family, and work sporadically with very little money coming in at the end of the day, it became increasingly difficult to support this new way of life. With little progress to show for, and the "real world" waiting for him back home, his gigs in L.A. eventually came to a halt.Of course, there were still many local and nearby opportunities and eventually through the power of social media and networking, he was able to audition and land a few speaking roles including a supporting role as pilot Bartolomé Ferrer in Voyages of the San Salvador - Cabrillo's Journey, a documentary for the Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego. This was another dream come true for the actor, being that most of the film was shot on a replica Spanish galleon out at sea. While continuing to work as a background actor, more opportunities came when he was offered a PA (production assistant) position on a film who's crew he had previously worked with as an extra, the year before. This time he got to work both behind and in front of the camera on The Christ Slayer, where he was also cast in a supporting role. One of his first principal roles was in the short film The Long Walk where he played Bo, a deranged gang leader with cannibalistic tendencies, in a post-apocalyptic survival story that garnered a best actor award at the Emerging Filmmakers Film Festival at SDSU. He went on to audition for and book other roles here and there, and although the film is still technically in pre-production, he is still looking forward to bringing Kumquat Radish to life in the satire film Redacted.In addition to voicing several radio and television spots over the years, Rodriguez has also provided his voice as narrator, and other character voices, for several audio tours including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park, Battleship Texas State Historic Site, as well as Mission San Juan Capistrano. His dream is to one day voice an animated character on a hit series or feature film.He is also credited for having designed a few movie posters for local filmmakers, including Pulp Friction (2021), Lisa's World (2019), The Dating Artist (2018), Motherly Advice (2018), When Howie Met Ronnie (2018), and 92115 (2018) which won an award at the Oniros Film Festival. Other than acting and voice over, when he's not designing movie posters, or working on translations, he enjoys camping, hiking, riding his beach cruiser, teaching himself Arabic, working with his power tools or just tinkering in the garage. At a young age he did a lot of writing and poetry and hopes to one day use some of his writing abilities and imagination to bring one of his own stories to life on the stage or screen, behind or in front of the camera. Show less «