# James Roday Rodriguez

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

## 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.

### 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.

### 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 Psych's 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.

### 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 Resident's 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 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.

## Filmography
### Actor

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1999 | Coming Soon | Chad | |
| 1999 | Ryan Caulfield: Year One | Vic | Series regular |
| 2000 | Believe | Bruce Arm / Agent Johnny | Short |
| 2000 | Get Real | Trent Sykes | |
| 2001 | First Years | Edgar | Series regular |
| 2002 | Repli-Kate | Max | Lead |
| 2002 | Providence | Alexander Conrad | |
| 2002 | Showtime | 'Maxis' Cameraman | |
| 2002 | Rolling Kansas | Dick Murphy | |
| 2003 | Miss Match | Nick Paine | Series regular |
| 2005 | Don't Come Knocking | Mickey, First Assistant Director | |
| 2005 | 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 | |
| 2009 | His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th | Himself | Documentary |
| 2011 | WWE Tough Enough | Himself | Episode: "I've Been Bamboozled & Flabbergasted" |
| 2011 | 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-writer |
| 2015 | Good Session | Joel | Pilot, lead |
| 2015 | Christmas Eve | B | a.k.a. Stuck |
| 2015 | Baby Baby Baby | J.B. | |
| 2015 | The Nerd Herd | Kip Mitchell | Pilot, lead |
| 2016 | Pushing Dead | Dan Schauble | Lead |
| 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 | |
| 2019 | Berserk | Officer Duane | |
| 2020 | Psych 2: Lassie Come Home | Shawn Spencer | TV film, also co-writer and executive producer |
| 2021 | Psych 3: This Is Gus | Shawn Spencer | TV film, also co-writer and executive producer |
| 2023 | Buddy Games: Spring Awakening | Zane | |

### Director

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 2009–14 | Psych | 8 episodes, also lead actor and occasional writer |
| 2014 | Shoot the Moon | Unaired pilot, also writer |
| 2015 | Gravy | Also actor and co-writer |
| 2015 | Battle Creek | Episode 1x12 |
| 2015 | Quest for Truth | Unaired pilot, also co-writer |
| 2015–16 | Rosewood | 5 episodes |
| 2016 | Rush Hour | Episode 1x10 |
| 2017 | Blood Drive | Episodes 1x3 and 1x4 |
| 2018–2019 | The Resident | Episodes 1x5, 1x12 and 1x13 |
| 2019 | Treehouse | Also co-writer |
| 2023 | The Crossover | Episodes 1x2 and 1x3 |
| 2024-2025 | High Potential | Episodes 1x7 and 1x13 |

### Writer

| 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 | Unaired pilot |
| 2015 | Quest for Truth | Unaired pilot |
| 2015 | Gravy | Co-written with Todd Harthan |
| 2017 | Psych: The Movie | Co-written with Steve Franks |
| 2019 | Treehouse | Co-written with Todd Harthan |
| 2020 | Psych 2: Lassie Come Home | Co-written with Steve Franks and Andy Berman |
| 2021 | Psych 3: This Is Gus | Co-written with Steve Franks |
| 2023 | A Million Little Things | Episode 5x13, co-written with DJ Nash |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 2006 |
| 2006 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical | Psych | Nominated |
| 2008 | NCLR ALMA Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Television Series | Psych | Nominated |
| 2008 | Online Film & Television Association | Best Actor in a Comedy Series | Psych | Nominated |
| 2009 | EWwy Award | Best Actor in a Comedy Series | Psych | Nominated |
| 2009 | NCLR ALMA Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series | Psych | Nominated |
| 2009 | Imagen Awards | Best Actor – Television | Psych | Nominated |
| 2009 | Online Film & Television Association | Best Actor in a Comedy Series | Psych | Nominated |
| 2010 |
| 2010 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series | Psych (for episode "High Top Fade Out", shared with Saladin K. Patterson) | Nominated |
| 2011 | NCLR ALMA Awards | Favorite TV Actor – Leading Role | Psych | Nominated |
| 2011 | Imagen Awards | Best Actor – Television | Psych | Nominated |
| 2012 | NCLR ALMA Awards | Favorite TV Actor – Leading Role | Psych | Nominated |
| 2012 | Imagen Awards | Best Actor – Television | Psych | Won |
| 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) | Nominated |
| 2023 | Humanitas Prize | Drama Teleplay | A Million Little Things (for episode 5x13 One Big Thing, shared with DJ Nash) | Nominated |