James Roday

James Roday
Roday at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2013
Born James David Rodriguez
(1976-04-04) April 4, 1976
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Occupation
  • Actor
  • director
  • screenwriter
Years active 1999–present

James David Rodriguez[1] (/roʊˈdeɪ/; born April 4, 1976), known professionally as James Roday, is an American actor, director and screenwriter. He starred on the USA Network series Psych as hyper-observant consultant detective and fake psychic Shawn Spencer.

Early life

Roday was born in San Antonio, Texas, as James David Rodriguez.[1] He attended Taft High School in San Antonio.[2] His father, Jaime "Jim" Rodriguez, is of Mexican descent, and his mother, Irene Rodriguez, is of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Roday's father is a retired Air Force Master Sergeant and used to be the regional catering manager of Taco Cabana.[3][4]

At New York University's Experimental Theatre Wing, Roday studied theatre and earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts.[5] At the age of 22 he selected the professional name James Roday as there was already another "James Rodriguez" registered in the Screen Actors Guild.[2]

Career

Roday 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 which 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.[6]

His big screen debut was in the 1999 movie Coming Soon alongside Ryan Reynolds and fellow debutant 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 a script for the film adaptation of the video game Driver.

Roday directed his first feature film, Gravy, in 2013, written by him and Todd Harthan. On June 11th 2018, he started production on his second horror movie, Treehouse, starring Jimmi Simpson.[7]

Roday's television credits include starring roles on NBC's Miss Match in 2003 as "Nick Paine" and 2001's First Years as "Edgar 'Egg' Ross". 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.[8] Psych ran for 8 seasons until 2014.

After Psych ended, Roday starred in various pilots and independent films, most notably Pushing Dead by independent filmmaker Tom E. Brown which accumulated a slew of awards at film festivals all over the country. At the same time, he began focusing more and more on his work behind the camera as a director, writer and producer. He has since directed episodes for Battle Creek, Rush Hour, Rosewood and Blood Drive. He also developed, wrote and directed the pilots Shoot The Moon for USA and Quest For Truth for E!.

In 2017, Roday returned to his most famous role as he starred and executive produced Psych: The Movie. The TV movie, which he also co-wrote with Psych's series creator Steve Franks, aired in December 2017.

Roday is currently starring as Gary Mendez on ABC's drama A Million Little Things.

Awards and nominations

In 2006, Roday was nominated for the Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical for Psych by the Satellite Awards. He was listed as #62 in People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People issue in 2007. In 2008, he was nominated for Outstanding Actor In a Comedy Television Series for Psych by the NCLR ALMA Awards.[9]

His role as Shawn Spencer in Psych earned him an EWwy Award nomination in 2009 for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. In 2009, he was nominated by the ALMA Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series for Psych. In 2011, he was nominated again by the ALMA Awards for Favorite TV Actor-Leading Role for Psych. In 2010, he was nominated by the Image Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for Psych for the episode "High Top Fade Out." In 2009 and 2011, he was nominated by the Imagen Foundation Awards for Best Actor-Television for Psych. Roday also won the award for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series at the 2nd Annual Timmys Awards in 2012, after being nominated the previous year, but lost to Hugh Laurie. In 2012, Roday won the award for Best Actor in a television series for Psych at the Imagen Awards.

Personal life

Roday is the co-artistic director of the Red Dog Squadron, a Los Angeles theater company he co-founded with Brad Raider.[10][11] In 2012, Roday, on behalf of Red Dog Squadron, and Black Dahlia Theatre artistic director Matt Shakman purchased[12] the El Centro Theatre in Los Angeles, which is still undergoing renovations and will reopen under its original name "Circle Theatre".

Roday dated his Psych co-star Maggie Lawson from 2006 to 2014.[13]

Filmography

Actor

YearTitleRoleNotes
1999Coming SoonChad
1999Ryan Caulfield: Year OneVicSeries Regular
2000BelieveBruce Arm / Agent JohnnyShort
2000Get RealTrent Sykes
2001First YearsEdgarSeries Regular
2002Repli-KateMaxLead
2002ProvidenceAlexander Conrad
2002Showtime'Maxis' Cameraman
2002Rolling KansasDick Murphy
2003Miss MatchNick PaineSeries Regular
2004The Revolutionn/aaka New York Summer Project[14]
2005Don't Come KnockingMickey, First Assistant Director
2005The Dukes of HazzardBilly Prickett
2006BeerfestGerman Messenger
2006–14PsychShawn SpencerAlso writer, director, and producer 2009–2014
2008Fear ItselfCarlosEpisode: "In Sickness and in Health"
2009GamerNews Co-Host #1
2011WWE Tough EnoughHimselfEpisode: "I've Been Bamboozled & Flabbergasted"
2011Love BitesJeffEpisode: "TMI"
2012WWE Raw Super ShowHimselfSpecial guest ring announcer
2013Mr. PaybackMalikaiShort
2015GravyMartyAlso director and co-writer
2015Good SessionJoelPilot, lead
2015Christmas EveBAka Stuck
2015Baby Baby BabyJ.B.
2015The Nerd HerdKip MitchellPilot, lead
2016Pushing DeadDan SchaubleLead
2017Psych: The MovieShawn SpencerAlso co-writer and executive producer
2018The Buddy GamesZane
2018A Million Little ThingsGary MendezSeries regular
2018Fortune Rookie[15]RodayRecurring

Director

YearTitleNotes
2009–14Psych8 seasons, also lead actor and occasional writer
2014Shoot The Moon[16]Pilot, also writer
2015GravyAlso actor and co-writer
2015Battle CreekEpisode: "Homecoming"
2015Quest For TruthPilot, also co-writer
2015–16Rosewood5 episodes
2016Rush HourEpisode: "Knock, Knock... House Creeping!"
2017Blood Drive2 episodes
2018The Resident[17]3 episodes
2018Treehouse[18]Also co-writer

Writer

YearTitleNotes
2002The DriverUnused first draft
2006SkinwalkersCo-written with James DeMonaco and Todd Harthan
2006–14Psych16 episodes, also lead actor and occasional director
2014Shoot The Moon[16]Pilot, also director
2015Quest For TruthPilot, also director
2015GravyAlso actor and director
2017Psych: The MovieAlso lead actor and executive producer
2018Treehouse[19]Also director

References

  1. 1 2 Lee Hernandez (October 12, 2011). "EXCLUSIVE: 'Psych' Star James Roday Explains Why He Changed His Latino Last Name for Hollywood". Latina. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
  2. 1 2 Martinez, Kiko. "Psych out". Hispanic Magazine. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  3. ↑ Hernandez, Lee. "EXCLUSIVE: 'Psych' Star James Roday Explains Why He Changed His Latino Last Name for Hollywood". Latina. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
  4. ↑ Wednesday, February 29, 2012 (2012-02-29). "'Psych' star James Roday on life, family in Waxahachie". Waxahachietx.com. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
  5. ↑ Roberts, Robin (August 9, 2007). "Psych's Two Sleuths Reveal Their Poker Faces". TV Guide.
  6. ↑ BWW News Desk (October 24, 2016). "Psych Tony Nominee Micah Stock and PSYCH's James Roday Headed to WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT".
  7. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj41mWwnuyp/
  8. ↑ Reuters (July 11, 2006). "Psych premiere sets basic cable mark". TV.com.
  9. ↑ Dare, Johnny (June 25, 2009). "Interview: James Roday". freejohnnydare.com. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  10. ↑ Tarnoff, Brooke (February 9, 2010). "'Psych' Star James Roday Is a Big, Fat Liar". PopEater. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  11. ↑ Lufkin, Bryan (July 7, 2010). "James Roday, Steve Franks Promise "Twin Peaks" Episode of Psych". Starpulse.com. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  12. ↑ "'Psych' star James Roday and Matt Shakman buy El Centro Theatre". latimes. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  13. ↑ https://variety.com/2014/dirt/real-estalker/maggie-lawson-lists-eco-friendly-los-feliz-home-1201237337/
  14. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0633642/mediaviewer/rm1986306816
  15. ↑ https://fortunerookie.net/about/
  16. 1 2 "James Roday Signs with ICM Partners". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  17. ↑ "James Roday Speaker Biography". SF Sketchfest. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  18. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj41mWwnuyp/
  19. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj41mWwnuyp/
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