James Roday, born James David Rodriguez on April 4, 1976, in San Antonio, Texas, is the son of Jaime "Jim" Rodriguez and Irene Rodriguez. His father is of Mexican descent and currently works as the regional catering manager for Taco Cabana. His mother has English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.
Roday attended Taft High School in San Antonio before enrolling at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. There, he studied at the Experimental Theatre Wing and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Theatre in 1997.
James Roday adopted his professional name in 1998, as there was already a "James Rodriguez" registered with the Screen Actors Guild. He began his on-camera acting career in the late 1990s, with early appearances in the film Coming Soon (1999) and the television series Ryan Caulfield: Year One.
In addition to screen acting, Roday was active in theater, performing in productions such as Three Sisters, A Respectable Wedding, Severity's Mistress, and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. He also co-founded the Los Angeles-based theater company Red Dog Squadron.
Roday rose to prominence with his lead role as Shawn Spencer in the USA Network series Psych, which ran from 2006 to 2014. The show centered around a hyper-observant consultant detective who deceives the Santa Barbara Police Department into believing he is psychic. His comedic timing and energetic performance garnered a dedicated fan base and critical recognition.
In 2006, Roday was nominated for Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical by the Satellite Awards for his role in Psych. He later won Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series at the 2nd Annual Timmys Awards in 2012, after being nominated the year prior.
Roday’s film credits include leading roles in Rolling Kansas (2003), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005), where he played Billy Prickett, Beerfest (2006), and a supporting role in Gamer (2009). He has also appeared in television series such as Miss Match (2003) as Nick Paine, First Years as Edgar “Egg” Ross, Providence, Showtime, and Don't Come Knocking.
Other credited appearances include Believe, Get Real, Thank Heaven, Fear Itself, Love Bites, Good Session, Christmas Eve, Baby Baby Baby, The Nerd Herd, and Pushing Dead. Roday has also made occasional appearances in professional wrestling programming as a guest announcer for WWE.
| Birth Date: | 4 Apr, 1976 |
| Age: | 44 yrs |
| Citizenship: | United States of America |
| Birth Place: | San Antonio |
| Education: | New York University |
| Gender: | Male |
| Description: | American actor, director and screenwriter |
| Twitter Id: | JamesRoday |
| Net Worth 2021: | 10 million |
