Paul Rodriguez

Paul Rodriguez is a Mexican-American standup comedian and television and movie actor.

Date of birth

Paul Rodriguez was born in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico on 19 January 1955.

Family

He was born in the family of Mexican agriculture extensive farmers. In 1957, he, along with his family, moved to United States in order to achieve better opportunities.

Love life

Rodriguez’s son Paul Rodriguez, Jr. is a professional skateboarder. He has another son with Nely Galan named Lukas.

Net worth

Not yet established.

Career

After Rodriquez had finally decided to pursue standup comedy in his life, he started looking for opportunities to polish his talent, which is why he started working as a doorman at L.A.’s famous The Comedy Store.

He got the opportunity to portray his comic talent on the silver screen for the first time with the movie, ‘D.C. Cab’ in 1983. The R-rated controversial comedy was co-written and directed by Joel Schumacher.

His first big television break came with ‘a.k.a Pablo’ in 1984; a gig that he managed to achieve after Norman Lear was impressed with his acting in ‘Gloria’. ‘Pablo’ was about a Hispanic stand-up comic, ‘Paul Rivera’ and his Mexican-American family.

Between 1986 and 1987, Rodriquez managed to capture five roles in movies, like: Orion Pictures' Miracles, Paramount Picture's The Whoopee Boys, Columbia Picture's Quicksilver, and Universal's Born in East L.A—a role he was really appreciated for.

In 1988, Rodriguez was the host of ‘The Newlywed Game’ and appeared in the show for one season before it was cancelled. During his time, the show used the 1958 song ‘Book of Love’, by The Monotones, as a theme song.

He hosted the ‘Late Show’ on Fox around this time, appearing after Joan River's nightly show. In 1988, appeared in the short-lived sitcom ‘Trial and Error’ as well as the CBS television film ‘Grand Slam’.

His other comedy showcases have included ‘Paul Rodriguez Live’, ‘I Need the Couch (1986)’, ‘Paul Rodriguez: Behind Bars (1991)’, and ‘Crossing White Lines (1999)’. ‘Paul Rodriguez: Behind Bars’ was also his debut in as a TV producer.

Between 1990 and 1994, Rodriguez hosted his very own talk show called ‘El Show de Paul Rodriguez’—a talk show for the Spanish-language audience of the Univision Network. Eventually it gathered an international audience.

In 1994, his directorial debut released, the film called ‘A Million to Juan’. It is a family comedy that Rodriguez himself wrote and starred in. It was a modern spin on Mark Twain's story ‘The Million Pound Bank Note’.

He bagged role of an outspoken fight physician ‘Freddie Pacheco’ in Columbia Pictures’ big budget biography ‘Ali’ in 2001. That same year he appeared in ‘Crocodile Dundee in LA’ and had featured roles in the films ‘Rat Race’ and ‘Tortilla Soup’.

In 2002, Rodriguez was the executive producer and star of the concert film, ‘The Original Latin Kings of Comedy’, distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by his own production company ‘Payaso Entertainment’.

In the same year, he had a nonconforming role in Clint Eastwood's ‘Blood Work’; he played the role of an arrogant police detective.

His recent roles include: ‘Cinderella Story (2004)’, ‘The World's Fastest Indian (2005)’, Cloud Nine (2006)’, Lonely Street (2008)’, ‘Porndogs: The Adventure of Sadie (2009)’, ‘Cats & Dogs: the Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010)’, etc.

Awards

Rodriguez won a NCLR Bravo Award for ‘Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Variety or Music Series/Special’ in 1996, at ‘Latino Laugh Festival’.

Rodriguez was honored with the ‘Humanitarian of the Year Award’ by the ‘City of Fresno’ for his diligent work towards the cause of water conservation.

He appeared among the cast of the Netflix series, Selena: The series (2020) as Roger Garcia.