Biography for
Alan Tudyk More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

16 March 1971, El Paso, Texas, USA

Birth Name

Alan Wray Tudyk

Height

6' (1.83 m)

Mini Biography

Alan Tudyk was born in El Paso, Texas and grew up in Plano, where he attended Plano Sr. High. In 1990, he went on to study drama at Lon Morris Jr. College. While there he was awarded the Academic Excellence Award for Drama. He was also named "Most Likely to Succeed" and "Sophomore Beau." During this time Alan was an active member of the Delta Psi Omega fraternity.

After leaving LMJC, Alan went on to study at the prestigious Juilliard conservatory, but left in 1996 before earning a degree.

After a number of smaller stage productions, and a small role in the movie Patch Adams, Alan landed his first Broadway role in 1999 with Epic Proportions. He quickly became a sought-after comedic actor, with roles in such films as 28 Days and A Knight's Tale.

In 2002, Alan got the role of Wash, the wise-cracking pilot of Serenity on the short-lived series Firefly. Though the series lasted only eleven episodes, this may be Alan's most well-known and loved role. No other networks would buy the failed series, but Universal Pictures began courting the creator Joss Whedon to produce a big screen version of the series.

While awaiting the final news of Firefly's fate, Alan played the beloved "Steve the Pirate" in the movie Dodgeball and the voice of the robot "Sonny" in I, Robot.

In 2005 Alan finally reprised the role of Wash in Serenity, the feature film version of the series Firefly. The same year he went back to Broadway from June to November, taking over the role of Lancelot for Hank Azaria in the successful musical Spamalot.

He currently lives in New York City but also has a place in Los Angeles, California

IMDb Mini Biography By: Melissa Hamari

Trivia

Alan's most prized possession was a 1964 Mustang, which he named "Old Sock."

Threw a "We Don't Work for FOX Anymore" party for the cast and crew of the short lived TV series "Firefly" upon hearing of its being cancelled.

Didn't go to his senior prom because the girl he was planning to take two-timed him with another guy and got pregnant.

According to the rest of the Firefly cast, was consistently the worst speaker of Chinese on the show! He puts this down to having to learn long and complicated sentences like "Mother of God and all her wacky nephews" in Mandarin.

In preparing for the role of Sonny in the film, I, Robot, studied dance, movement and mime to accurately portray movement that has been programmed in. His work was captured with green screen technology.

To prepare for the role of Steve The Pirate in Dodgeball, joined a group of pirate role players called The Rumrunners and spent a week at Pirate Camp.

According to the "War Stories" (1x09) episode commentary, when he couldn't remember the Chinese dialogue for Firefly, he would just make it up and hope no one noticed.

In the Firefly episode "Out of Gas" (1x05) Wash wires up a large, red button for the captain to press if he needs the crew to return to the ship. When he shows it to Mal he says, "When your miracle gets here, just hit this button." When Alan left the Firefly set after the series was canceled, he took that button as a keepsake. When Joss Whedon announced that he would be searching for a way to bring the show back, as either a series or a feature film, Alan sent him the button with a note that said, again, "When your miracle gets here, just hit this button.".

While in college, Alan was active in the Delta Psi Omega fraternity.

Alan filled in for Hank Azaria in the Broadway show Spamalot while Azaria was filming the second season of Huff and working on the seventeenth season of The Simpsons. Actress Sara Ramirez, another performer in the production at this time, was in Alan's class (Group 26) at Juilliard.

Smokey and the Bandit is his favorite movie.

As a nod to his character in Firefly and Serenity, Alan can be heard in Halo 3 swearing in Chinese, quickly followed by, "I wish I was someone else right now!".

Personal Quotes

I was a real ham as a child. I'd insist on dressing up as a cowboy whenever the family went out for dinner. In high school, I was a menace. I'd fake nose bleeds and fainting spells to panic my teachers.

There aren't too many new actors like Alan Arkin or Gene Hackman who exist on their own frequency, do things in a way that nobody else could get away with. Those are the people who are inspirational to me.

In high school I wanted to be a hotel manager. If you're an actor, you don't have any money and I wanted to have a wife and children. Now I'm an actor with money but I still don't have a wife and children!

Where Are They Now

(May 2005) Has been cast in the Broadway production of Monty Python's Spamalot. He replaces Hank Azaria who is leaving in early June to film a second season of his Showtime television series Huff!.

(July 2005) Now playing Lancelot on Broadway in Spamalot.

(December 2005) ended role of Lancelot on Broadway's production of Spamalot.

(February 2007) Playing the lead in "Prelude To A Kiss" on Broadway.

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