James Roday

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Birthday:

4 April 1976, San Antonio, Texas, USA

Birth Name:

James David Rodriguez

Height:

175 cm

James David Rodríguez was born on April 4, 1976. He is the son of Jim Rodríguez, who worked for Boardwalk Auto Group. Roday was born in San Antonio. He attended Taft High School. He studied theater at New York University's Experimental Theatre Wing, where he earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts. He has acted in several theatrical productions, which include "The Three Sisters," "Twelfth Night," "A Respectable Wedding," and "Severity's Mistress." He starred in the film Rolling Kansas (2003) and appeared in the 2005 film The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) as Billy Prickett, and in the 2006 film Beerfest (2006). Roday and writing partners Todd Harthan and James DeMonaco wrote the screenplay for the film Skinwalkers (2006). Roday's portrayal of Shawn Spencer on the television series Psych (2006) launched him into the public spotlight, and gave rise to numerous fan clubs. Show less «

My father is Jaime Rodriguez from San Antonio, Texas, and I've got one whole half of my family that's Mexican through and through.

Kids love watching adults act like children. It's that spirit they can relate to.

I'd describe 'Psych' as 'Real Genius' meets 'Django Unchained.'

I think what we do is fairly unique on 'Psych,' and we just have to keep doing that because that's what got us where we are.

Actors geek out over athletes. Everyone knows that.

And I have to say, for the record, my favorite line from 'Without A Clue' is after Michael Caine pokes a dead body with a stick and announce...Show more »

And I have to say, for the record, my favorite line from 'Without A Clue' is after Michael Caine pokes a dead body with a stick and announces to everyone, 'It is my opinion that this man is dead.' Show less «

I'm a sports fanatic. It's hard for me to commit to the weekly, episodic nature of television, so for me, anytime that I can put a game on, ...Show more »

I'm a sports fanatic. It's hard for me to commit to the weekly, episodic nature of television, so for me, anytime that I can put a game on, that's what I do. Show less «

I usually just pick a genre of movie that I feel like saluting and then go off and come up with something that I can sort of pay homage to. ...Show more »

I usually just pick a genre of movie that I feel like saluting and then go off and come up with something that I can sort of pay homage to. That's the great thing about our show is we've sort of created a landscape for 'Psych' where we're kind of allowed to go off and give shout-outs to movies that we love, genres that we love. Show less «

'Twin Peaks' is my favorite show of all time.

They just think I'm a white dude. Every once in a while someone thinks I'm Jewish. I get a lot of stuff, but never Latino.

I get star-struck anytime I meet performers that I grew up watching and appreciating. I mean, it's still incredibly surreal to me that I was...Show more »

I get star-struck anytime I meet performers that I grew up watching and appreciating. I mean, it's still incredibly surreal to me that I was a kid in San Antonio watching movies and then now I'm working with some of the people that were in those movies. I don't think it'll ever stop being surreal on some level. Show less «

I did nothing but theater until, I guess, '99. I was all the way through college the first time that I had stepped in front of a camera. And...Show more »

I did nothing but theater until, I guess, '99. I was all the way through college the first time that I had stepped in front of a camera. And it's weird; it's definitely a transition. Show less «

I came from Texas, I was studying theater at NYU, and I thought for sure that my lot in life would be to get the best bartending job I could...Show more »

I came from Texas, I was studying theater at NYU, and I thought for sure that my lot in life would be to get the best bartending job I could find and do theater in New York. And that was a good life. Show less «

I always say David Bowie, that's sort of like my stock answer to every question regarding who I'd like to have come on the show, who I'd lik...Show more »

I always say David Bowie, that's sort of like my stock answer to every question regarding who I'd like to have come on the show, who I'd like to sing our theme song, who I'd like to meet for coffee in a completely unrelated non-'Psych' atmosphere. He's just the God, he's the man and I think we could probably make really good use of him on our show. Show less «

Have I ever pretended to be something? I think back in college I think I might have told a girl that I was a professional tennis player once...Show more »

Have I ever pretended to be something? I think back in college I think I might have told a girl that I was a professional tennis player once. And then, of course, she had never heard of me so I had to dig deeper. 'I'm just sort of on the playing satellites. You know, I'm kind of working my way up. I'm not ranked in the top 100 or anything.' Show less «

Leonardo Dicaprio didn't change his name, Emilio Estevez didn't change his name. But every case is different. I only have one reference of w...Show more »

Leonardo Dicaprio didn't change his name, Emilio Estevez didn't change his name. But every case is different. I only have one reference of what my career was and I was very, very blessed and very, very lucky, and it got started very quickly after college. And I only know that by going with Roday. Show less «

I would say I've actually done a lot more comedy than I've done drama. It's weird the way that worked out, because when I came out of theate...Show more »

I would say I've actually done a lot more comedy than I've done drama. It's weird the way that worked out, because when I came out of theater school I took myself way too seriously, so it's kind of ironic that I ended up sort of going down the comedy path. Show less «

I would say I'm more fascinated by Big Daddy V than I am necessarily a huge fan of Big Daddy V. He simply threw on the double-strapped unita...Show more »

I would say I'm more fascinated by Big Daddy V than I am necessarily a huge fan of Big Daddy V. He simply threw on the double-strapped unitard... and now he's some sort of fearsome, fighting, wrecking machine. Show less «

I was a strange, dark little dude. I fell in love with horror movies, at a very early age. Somehow, as a first grader, I was able to convinc...Show more »

I was a strange, dark little dude. I fell in love with horror movies, at a very early age. Somehow, as a first grader, I was able to convince my parents to let me go see stuff like 'An American Werewolf in London' in theaters, so I was headed in that direction anyway. Show less «

I remember one night, my parents were out at a function of some kind and I had just gotten cable in my room. That was a big deal, and I saw ...Show more »

I remember one night, my parents were out at a function of some kind and I had just gotten cable in my room. That was a big deal, and I saw 'Blue Velvet' on HBO. It blew my mind in a way that I don't think children's minds are supposed to be blown, but they probably shouldn't be watching 'Blue Velvet.' Show less «

When he came to television, there was no way I wasn't going to watch. Of course, he delivered everything that you would expect David Lynch t...Show more »

When he came to television, there was no way I wasn't going to watch. Of course, he delivered everything that you would expect David Lynch to deliver, and more, and he was doing it in primetime network television. Even as a 14-year old, I wanted someone in the room with me that I could look over and say, 'Can you believe we're watching this?' Show less «

My plan was to go to New York and do some theatre, and then I got the script for 'Psych.' I was like, 'Ahh - just as I thought I was out, yo...Show more »

My plan was to go to New York and do some theatre, and then I got the script for 'Psych.' I was like, 'Ahh - just as I thought I was out, you pulled me back in!' I had a great meeting with the show creator and we laid out the parameters to make the show work: what I would do, what he would let me do. Show less «

Look at every show on television; it's derivative of another show that came before it. It was only a matter of time. So all you 'Mentalist' ...Show more »

Look at every show on television; it's derivative of another show that came before it. It was only a matter of time. So all you 'Mentalist' fans, it's okay to like the show, but don't be in denial of where it came from. Friday nights, U.S.A., basic cable-style baby. Show less «