James Roday

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James Roday (born James Rodríguez on April 4, 1976^[1]) is an American actor. He is currently starring in the role of Shawn Spencer in the USA Network television series Psych.

Son of Jim Rodríguez, who works for Boardwalk Auto Group, a family-owned auto dealership based in Dallas, Texas,^[2] Roday was born in San Antonio, where he attended Taft High School. He studied theatre at New York University's Experimental Theatre Wing, where he earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts. He has acted in various theatrical productions, including The Three Sisters, Twelfth Night, A Respectable Wedding, Severity's Mistress, and Sexual Perversity In Chicago.

He starred in the 2003 film Rolling Kansas and appeared in the 2005 film adaptation of The Dukes of Hazzard as Billy Prickett, and in the 2006 film Beerfest. Behind the scenes, Roday and writing partners Todd Harthan and James DeMonaco wrote the screenplay for the upcoming film Skinwalkers and he will direct the film Gravy, which as of mid-2006 is in pre-production.

Roday's television credits include starring roles on NBC's Miss Match in 2003 as "Nick Paine" and 2001's First Years as "Edgar 'Egg' Ross". The July 7, 2006 series premiere of USA Network's original series Psych (airing following the premiere of USA's other comedic success, Monk) was the highest-rated scripted basic cable TV show premiere of 2006^[3].