Celebrity Online NewsOnline Celebrity Gossip and News

Freddy Rodriguez
Rodriguez at the Tribeca Film Festival, April 2007
Born	January 17, 1975 (1975-01-17) (age 35) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1993–present

Freddy Rodriguez (born January 17, 1975) is an American actor known for playing the characters Hector Federico "Rico" Diaz on HBO's Six Feet Under and El Wray in Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror. Recently, he was a recurring cast member on the series Ugly Betty as Giovanni "Gio" Rossi.

Biography

Early life

Rodriguez was born in Chicago, Illinois to Puerto Rican parents - a housewife mother and a janitor father.¹²³ He is a graduate of Lincoln Park High School in Chicago and graduated from Pulaski Fine Arts Academy in 8th grade.

Career

His first recognizable role on film was when he landed the part of Pedro Aragon, Jr. in A Walk in the Clouds with Keanu Reeves and Giancarlo Giannini. Afterwards, Rodriguez went on to film roles such as an obnoxious jock in Can't Hardly Wait. He played a Vietnam veteran in Dead Presidents with Chris Tucker and Larenz Tate and was also seen on Scrubs as Carla's brother Marco. He also played Federico on the HBO series Six Feet Under. As a voice actor, he contributed the voice of Más y Menos on Teen Titans.

He starred in "The Pest" as "Ninja". He also starred in the film Poseidon as a waiter who briefly survives the horrible rogue wave that overcame the ship. He also played a vicious inner city drug dealer named Hector in the 2005 movie, Havoc. In 2006, he played Reggie, a character who only exercised one half of his body, in M. Night Shyamalan's film Lady in the Water. He has recently starred alongside Eva Longoria and Christian Bale in Harsh Times, his first leading character in a major theater release. He was seen on an episode of the hit hospital television show ER, where he played a dying comic inspired by Bill Hicks. He also played a jockey in the movie Dreamer with co-star Dakota Fanning.

He also starred alongside Roselyn Sanchez in the 2003 movie "Chasing Papi", playing "Victor" (directed by Linda Mendoza). He played busboy José Rojas in the 2006 film Bobby. He starred as El Wray in Planet Terror, Robert Rodriguez's portion of the double-feature film, Grindhouse. He played the role of Gustavo Brambila in the true-life story Bottle Shock. He appeared in the music video for the Santana song "Into the Night" and also made a cameo appearance as a flight attendant in the music video for the song "Glamorous" by Fergie. He also starred in the popular video game Saints Row as the voice of Angelo Lopez and in the latest Merry Mixit Gap Christmas Commercial videos.⁴ On July 13, 2007, Rodriguez was added to the cast of the ABC comedy series Ugly Betty, in which he plays Giovanni Rossi, a sandwich shop owner who became the love interest for Betty Suarez (played by America Ferrera). He made his debut on the series at the start of the second season and appeared in an episode of the third season.⁵

Rodriguez debuted as executive producer in his latest film Nothing Like the Holidays, where he played Jesse Rodriguez, a soldier who served in Iraq, who comes home for Christmas. He has also announced on his home office website that he is currently in the works for a film adaptation of the book Bodega Dreams and will star in the film and also serve as executive producer.

Rodriguez is currently filming a thriller film called "Fortuna" in Bulgaria along with co-star Dominic Monaghan.

Personal life

Rodriguez has been married for 12 years to Elise, his high school sweetheart, with whom he has two sons, Elijah and Giancarlo. On an episode of the talkshow Tyra, he noted that he believes the secret to a strong, long-lasting marriage is a "strong spiritual upbringing" and stated that they tend to stay away from the "public eye."

References

External links

• Freddy Rodriguez at the Internet Movie Database
• Let Freddy Rodriguez show you around. — An Associated Press/asap Flash interactive, multimedia piece showing inside some of Freddy Rodriguez's world.