Lakeview Terrace

Background:

SUNY Purchase graduate Mel Rodriguez first appeared on screen in the late '90s and has since played small or supporting roles in such films as "Showtime" (2002), "Panic Room" (2002), "Deuces Wild" (2002), "Garfield" (2004), and "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006). He will next be seen in the upcoming films "Lakeview Terrace" and "Close Quarters."

On the small screen, TV viewers could catch him guest-starring in the TV shows "Law & Order," "Third Watch," "Malcolm in the Middle," "Gilmore Girls," "NYPD Blue," "CSI: NY," "Ghost Whisperer," "George Lopez," and "Without a Trace."

Miami Native

Childhood and Family:

Melvin Dimas Rodriguez was born in Miami, Florida. He graduated from SUNY Purchase whose alumni are known collectively as "The Purchase Mafia."

On George Lopez Show

Career:

A SUNY Purchase graduate, Mel Rodriguez first appeared on television in 1999 in an episode of NBC police procedural and legal drama series "Law & Order" and NBC firefighter drama "Third Watch." In the following year, he made his films debut in writer/director Eric Schaeffer's comedy "Wirey Spindell" (2000).

He followed it up with roles in the 2002 films "Showtime" (starring Robert De Niro, Rachael Harris, and Eddie Murphy), "Panic Room" (starring Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart), and "Deuces Wild" (starring Stephen Dorff and Brad Renfro).

Meanwhile, he appeared in the biographical TV movie "Fidel" (2002; starring Víctor Huggo Martin and Gael García Bernal) and guest-starred in an episode of FOX critically acclaimed sitcom starring Frankie Muniz, "Malcolm in the Middle," the WB/CW Emmy-winning dramedy starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, "Gilmore Girls," and FOX sitcom "Andy Richter Controls the Universe."

From 2002 to 2007, Rodriguez played the recurring role of Frank on the ABC sitcom "George Lopez." During this time, he shared the screen with Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Steven Spielberg-directed romantic drama comedy movie "The Terminal" (2004) and with Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt in Peter Hewitt's live-action movie based on the comic strip, "Garfield" (2004).

He also co-starred in the comedic TV movie "Beverly Hills S.U.V." (2004) and was spotted as a guest in a 2004 episode of ABC Emmy Award-winning police drama "NYPD Blue" and CBS police procedural drama "CSI: NY."

In 2005, Rodriguez was cast Nicholas McCarthy's short film "Cry for Help" and Tommy Lee Jones' crime/drama "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada." He also could be seen in the comedic TV movie "In the Game" alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt and guest-starred in an episode of CBS supernatural drama starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, "Ghost Whisperer."

2006 saw Rodriguez in the films "Big Top," a drama by J.P. Mulero, "Little Miss Sunshine," a family/drama/comedy starring Abigail Breslin and directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, "Shark Bait," an animated film in which he lent his voice alongside Freddie Prinze Jr., Rob Schneider, and Evan Rachel Wood, and "Unknown," a Simon Brand's mytery/crime/drama starring James Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, and Bridget Moynahan. He also appeared in the comedic TV series "Thick and Thin."

After guest-starring in a 2007 episode of ABC sitcom "Notes from the Underbelly" and CBS FBI drama "Without a Trace," Rodriguez was cast in Danny Cistone's drama/comedy movie "West of Brooklyn" (2008), alongside Joe Mantegna and Balthazar Getty. He has completed his newest film, "Lakeview Terrace," a drama/thriller by Neil LaBute starring Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, and Kerry Washington. He will soon wrap Nick Briscoe's upcoming romantic comedy movie, "Close Quarters."

Awards:
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