- Friendly as all get-out, Latino stand-up comic Paul Rodriguez was born in Mexico but raised in East Los Angeles. After finishing his military service, he went to college on the GI bill with the idea of becoming an attorney, but developed an interest in comedy while taking elective courses.
Paul honed his stand-up act at L.A.'s famous The Comedy Store while working as a doorman there, and got his break as an opening act for others at various concerts and universities and as a warm-up comic on Norman Lear's short-lived sitcom Gloria (1982) starring Sally Struthers.
Lear was so impressed that he wrote and developed a sitcom specifically for Paul entitled a.k.a. Pablo (1984), which caught the public's eye only briefly. Other comedy series followed, however, including Trial and Error (1988) and Grand Slam (1990), and a few movies also came his way with S.O.S. taxi (1983) and American chicano (1987). Sticking to his Latino roots as the basis for his comedy, he has made an appealing crossover hit.
The comedian broke through the talk show venue with "El Show de Paul Rodriguez", which had a four-year run, and branched out into directing with the film A Million to Juan (1994), which he also co-wrote and starred in. More recently, he appeared with Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee III (2001) and had an atypical role in director Clint Eastwood's Créance de sang (2002) as an arrogant, smarmy police detective. More recently, he has been visible (good or bad) in Comme Cendrillon (2004), Burt Munro (2005) and Cloud 9 (2006).
He also executive-produced and starred in the comedy concert film The Original Latin Kings of Comedy (2002). He has been seen everywhere on cable comedy showcases, including Paul Rodriguez: Behind Bars (1991), Crossing White Lines (1999), Paul Rodriguez Live!: I Need the Couch (1987), Paul Rodriguez: Live in San Quentin (1995), Paul Rodriguez & Friends: Comedy Rehab (2009) and Paul Rodriguez: The Here & Wow (2018)., all of which solidified his reputation as one of the country's best known Hispanic comics in the U.S.
Other millennium film credits include a wide variety of roles, including those in Tortilla Soup (2001), Ali (2001), Time Changer (2002), Baadasssss! (2003), Back by Midnight (2004), Lonely Street (2008), I'm Not Like That No More (2010), Ambushed (2014), Pray for Rain (2017), Cholo Zombies (2024). He also provided voices for the animated features Le chihuahua de Beverly Hills (2008), Porndogs: The Adventures of Sadie (2009) and Comme chiens et chats: La revanche de Kitty Galore (2010). On TV, he was a regular on the Spanish-speaking comedy Componiendo a Paco (2012) and played the title role in the English-speaking sitcom Fixing Paco (2012).
Paul has been recognized for his tireless charity work, which includes strong, avid support for the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Farm Aid, Leukemia Telethon, Project Literacy, and Housing Now, among many others.- IMDb mini biography by: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
- His son, Paul Rodriguez, a professional skateboarder, won the gold medal in the 2004 X Games Skateboard Street Competition.
- Paul began helping the El Centro Police Activites Leage in raising money, back in the mid 90s. He would donate his time and his talent for the annual 'Fiesta De Loco's' comedy show. The money raised would go to help keep the Imperial Valley youths off the streets and out of gangs, by giving them a recreation facility to play games and hang out. To Paul's surprise, on January 22nd 2005, before his performance, The city of El Centro announced that January 22nd will be named "Paul Rodriguez Day", due to his great yearly contributions in donating his talents to raise money to. Paul went on to tell the story about how his career started and the struggles of growing up segueing into his comedy bit for the night.
- Formerly stationed in Iceland; Duluth, Minnesota; and the Philippines as a Communications Officer in the Air Force.
- Moved with his family to Compton a month before the Watts riots.
- Close friend of Richard Jeni.
- Latinos are black, white, brown, beige. What does that say about our ancestors? We'll sleep with anybody!
- It is my belief that Latinos in show business have to be self sufficient and creative while aggressively attempting to penetrate post-mogul Hollywood. Self- starting is becoming the path to serious studio support.
- Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they're in the game.
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