James Roday Rodriguez, born James David Rodriguez, and formerly known under the screen name James Roday (1998-2020), plays Shawn Spencer on the USA Network original series Psych and has also written and directed for the show.
Biography[]
James Roday Rodriguez was born in San Antonio, Texas, to Jaime "Jim" Rodriguez and Deborah Collins. Rodriguez's father remarried after his birth and had a daughter named Lisette. Rodriguez attended Taft High School in San Antonio. He studied theater at New York University's Experimental Theatre Wing, where he earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts. He is also co-artistic director of the Red Dog Squadron, a Los Angeles theater company he co-founded with Brad Raider. In a commercial on USA, he states that he is half-Mexican.
Other than Psych, Rodriguez has been featured in such films as The Dukes of Hazzard, Beerfest, and Gamer. He made his directorial debut in 2015 with the film Gravy, starring Michael Weston, Jimmi Simpson and Sutton Foster, all of whom also appeared on Psych.
Rodriguez dated his Psych co-star Maggie Lawson (Juliet O'Hara) from 2006 until the end of 2014.
Rodriguez (co-)wrote and directed the following Psych episodes:
- S1E15 "Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast" (with Steve Franks)
- S2E1 "American Duos" (with Franks)
- S2E15 "Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion" (with Franks)
- S3E15 "Tuesday the 17th" (with Franks, also directed)
- S3E16 "An Evening with Mr. Yang" (with Andy Berman)
- S4E7 "High Top Fade-Out" (with Saladin K. Patterson)
- S4E8 "Let's Get Hairy" (with Todd Harthan)
- S4E16 "Mr. Yin Presents..." (with Berman, also directed)
- S5E12 "Dual Spires" (with Bill Callahan)
- S5E14 "The Polarizing Express" (with Patterson, also directed)
- S5E16 "Yang 3 in 2D" (with Berman)
- S6E3 "This Episode Sucks" (with Harthan, also directed)
- S6E11 "Heeeeere's Lassie" (directed)
- S6E14 "Autopsy Turvy" (with Berman)
- S7E3 "Lassie Jerky" (written and directed)
- S7E7 "Deez Nups" (with Callahan, also directed)
- S8E6 "1967: A Psych Odyssey" (with Tim Meltreger)
- S8E9 "A Nightmare on State Street" (directed)
He has also co-written all three films with Franks, with Berman also chipping in for the second.
Trivia[]
- According to USA Network's "Psych All-Night" event, Rodriguez's favorite episode is S5E12 "Dual Spires", an homage to Twin Peaks, one of Rodriguez's favorite shows.
- He loves working with Corbin Bernsen, who portrays Shawn's father Henry.
- In S8E3, "Remake A.K.A. Cloudy... With a Chance of Improvement" (which was also the first remake ever of a TV episode done as part of the series itself) Shawn and Gus discuss the unnecessary subplot of the racecar driver in the 2005 movie remake of The Dukes of Hazzard. Rodriguez himself played this part.
- Rodriguez is a horror movie buff. "Tuesday the 17th" was his TV directorial debut, an homage to the popular Friday the 13th movies. After Psych, he went on to direct several horror features, debuting with Gravy, and later directing the 2019 episode of Into The Dark titled "Treehouse".
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