Fletcher, Wendy Jones
Freddy Rodriguez
Issue #29
The former Six Feet Under actor discusses life after the series finale, working on the Quentin Tarantino–Robert Rodriguez double feature Grind House, and having kids in Hollywood
By Amber Drea
Published: September 1st, 2006 | 12:00am
You may remember Freddy Rodriguez from mid-’90s films such as Can’t Hardly Wait, Dead Presidents, and A Walk in the Clouds, but the Chicago native really made a name for himself with his role as Frederico Diaz in acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under. Though the creator, American Beauty writer and subsequent Academy Award–winner Alan Ball, had written the character specifically for Rodriguez, with whom he worked on short-lived sitcom Oh, Grow Up, Rodriguez still had to audition for the part. “I did all the normal stuff any other actor would do,” he says on the phone from his Los Angeles home. “I just had the advantage that we had worked together, and [laughing] obviously the advantage that he wrote the character with me in mind.”
However, Rodriguez has little in common with Frederico. “He’s kind of uptight, super proper, and that’s completely not who I am,” Rodriguez says. “The only similarity is that we both share a strong passion for what we do. He was very passionate about what he did and treated it like an art form, and I’m very passionate about what I do. And I guess we’re both family men.”
Which is kind of an anomaly in Hollywood, especially for a young man who got his big break at age 19. Rodriguez has been married to his wife, whom he met during high school, for 10 years, regularly attends a nondenominational Christian church, and has three children, one of whom played his oldest son, Julio, on Six Feet. But the fame hasn’t gotten to them. “Obviously [it] betters your lifestyle when you become successful. We try our best to keep a normal house, not let success or fame or notoriety affect relationships,” says Rodriguez, who doesn’t plan on pushing his son into acting. “If he chooses to do so when he’s an adult, I guess that’s what he’ll do, but he’s just concentrating on being a kid right now.”
Rodriguez himself started acting when he was 13 through a theater program targeting inner-city schools that lacked funding for the arts. He majored in drama at a public arts high school in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood and continued doing plays and independent theater until he was discovered by director Alfonso Arau, who cast him in A Walk in the Clouds starring Keanu Reeves. Dead Presidents, the Hughes Brothers’ follow-up to Menace II Society, came next, and Rodriguez moved to L.A. with two major studio films under his belt. Over the following six years, he appeared on the TV series Party Of Five and in movies like The Pest with John Leguizamo and Payback with Mel Gibson, but it wasn’t until Six Feet Under came along in 2001 that Rodriguez was finally able to put his talent to good use once again . “Obviously the role of Frederico is very special because it elevated my status as an actor, and it elevated my career to a place where I always wanted it to be,” Rodriguez says. “I think the best experience for me on the show was just getting these amazing scripts every single week … and walking down the street and meeting people that were so eager to see these episodes that we have already shot and see the anticipation and the appreciation in their eyes.”
The series finale depicted the deaths of all the main characters — the perfect ending for a show about a funeral home. “It was weird to see everybody’s death,” Rodriguez says. “Not only was it the deaths of these characters, but for me in particular, it signified the death of a part of my life.”
The role opened the doors to opportunities such as playing Carla’s brother during the third season of Scrubs and parts in recent films including Poseidon and Lady In the Water. This fall, he costars alongside Christian Bale in Harsh Times, which was written and directed by Training Day writer David Ayer. The movie follows two best friends — one suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Bale) and one (Rodriguez) who is sponging off his lawyer girlfriend, played by Eva Longoria — on a three-day job-hunt during which havoc ensues. “That [film] was hard because I was still doing Six Feet Under at the same time, so I was working seven days a week, 15 hours a day, and it’s just really, really challenging,” Rodriguez says.
Currently, he’s shooting Grind House, the double feature consisting of a horror flick by Sin City director Robert Rodriguez and a slasher flick by Quentin Tarantino. Freddy Rodriguez stars in the Robert Rodriguez segment, but that’s all he’s allowed to mention. “I can’t really tell you [what it’s about],” he says mysteriously. “But … I play this full-on action [hero] in the movie, which is something that I’ve never done before.”
So Rodriguez is keeping busy, but still makes time for his friends and family. A hip-hop fanatic, he puts together compilation CDs featuring groups like De La Soul, the Roots, the Pharcyde, and his favorite, A Tribe Called Quest — that is, if he can get a spare moment. “When you have kids, I don’t think there’s any such thing as recreational time for yourself,” Rodriguez attempts to explain while reprimanding his children, who are arguing in the room. “Everything revolves around your kids.”
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