Rico Rodriguez (actor)

Rodriguez was born in Bryan, Texas, the son of Diane and Roy Rodriguez, who owned Rodriguez Tire Service.^[1] He has three older siblings; brothers Ray and Roy Jr. and sister Raini Rodriguez, who is also an actress.^[2] He is of Mexican descent.^[3]

At age nine, he played a character in Cory in the House.^[4] He later had guest appearances on the series ER,^[4] iCarly,^[5] Nip/Tuck, and My Name Is Earl.^[6]

In September 2009, he began playing Manny Delgado in Modern Family.^[7][8] His role was said to be "crazy hard" to cast by co-creator Steve Levitan. In 2010, he said he is sometimes nothing like Manny, although he also named some similarities between them.^[9] Later, in 2016, Rodriguez said he had "grown into the character", finding more in common with him.^[10] For the role, Rodriguez and the cast of Modern Family were nominated eight times for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, winning four times.^[11]

The same year Modern Family was released, he also appeared in a season six episode of NCIS as Travis, a boy who discovers a gun and dead body.^[12] He wrote a book that was published in November 2012, titled Reel Life Lessons... So Far. Among other things, he discusses what it was like having Sofía Vergara as his character's mother on Modern Family, writing that she treats him like he were her own son.^[13]

In 2015, Rodriguez played the character of Jose in Endgame, a coming-of-age film about a Mexican middle-schooler who joins a chess team.^[14] It received a score of 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on eight reviews.^[15] Rodriguez later voiced a character named Raha in The Lion Guard, part of The Lion King franchise, which ran from 2016 to 2019.^[16] The show's cast also included Modern Family co-star Sarah Hyland.^[17] In 2016, Rodriguez played a parrot named Cuco in the animated film El Americano: The Movie.^[18] Its director, Ricardo Arnaiz, was very pleased with the casting.^[19]

Modern Family ended after eleven seasons in April 2020. He announced on Instagram that "words cannot even begin to describe the life-changing experience I have had on this show". Since then, he has made appearances as himself on The Substitute and Unfiltered, both on Nickelodeon.^[20]

Rodriguez is a Houston Rockets fan.^[21] He has described himself as an avid reader.^[10]

On March 12, 2017, Rodriguez's father, Roy, died at age 52.^[22]