Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriel ‘G-Rod’ Rodriguez.
Hi Gabriel ‘G-Rod’, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. Back then Venezuela wasn’t as dangerous as it is today but things were slowly getting worse and my parents wanted a better future for me and my sister. They had their eyes set on America and my dad decided to apply for an educational grant for students abroad. He was approved and we moved to Bangor, Maine when I was six years old. Maine was extremely cold and we felt very much out of place. The culture shock was too much. I remember my mom crying often. Kids would follow me and my sister and group around us to hear us talk Spanish. I also remember one of our neighbors knocked on our door to meet us and touch my mother’s hair. Those were different times. I’m sure there are more Latinos up there now.
After a couple of years in Maine, my dad asked to be transferred to a warmer climate; it was approved and we moved to Cocoa Beach, Florida. Though Cocoa Beach was sunny and beautiful it didn’t feel like home either. It was a small town and at the time the Latino population was very small. After he completed his college degree we decided to move back to Venezuela to see if we could make it work and by the time we got back things had already gotten much more dangerous. And, the neighborhood heard of us returning and there was resentment from them because we lived in what they called “Imperialist America”. Things were very tense. I was chased by the school kids constantly as they yelled out “gringo go back to America”. I would hide under my abuela’s bed until my parents got home. I wanted to return to the U.S and so did my parents. They began to realize returning to Venezuela was not the right decision. They heard of the growing Venezuelan population in South Florida and moved us there where we settled for good.
I didn’t quite understand the whole immigration process until I grew up to be a young adult. All I knew is we would have to make a long line for several hours at the immigration building in Miami every year; they would take our work permit cards and replace them, take our photos and hand us new cards. Some people wouldn’t get one and every so often they walked away crying. I later understood that we were on a temporary work permit approved under President Reagan’s amnesty program which could be revoked at any moment because we technically didn’t qualify. Fast forward several years, my permit was finally revoked when I was married with kids and I received a deportation notice in the mail requiring me to leave the country within 30 days or they would come and physically remove me. One of the most intimidating pieces of paper I’ve ever seen. Yeah, scary stuff. After much debate with my wife, I had to swallow my pride and allow her to petition for me as an American Citizen. I was issued a green card which allowed me to stay in the country.
Fast forward a few years into my marriage and I had everything I could have hoped for—the wife, three healthy kids, the house and a good-paying corporate job but I wasn’t happy. I felt stuck. Around this time, the gray hair started coming in and I decided to start shaving my head. I swapped the dorky glasses for contact lenses and started working out harder and more consistently. I started feeling like a different person. Maybe it was a midlife crisis. Looking back that seems about right. Around this time people started asking me if I was a UFC fighter, a cop, or firefighter. I remember being stopped a few times and asked for a selfie. One time I remember vividly a father and his kid stopped me at the airport and said “hey great fight last night. Do you mind if we get a picture with you?”. I told him “I’m not a UFC fighter. I know there’s a guy out there that looks like me”. And he said “ oh I get it” as he winked and lowered his voice and said “cool cool” and proceeded to snap the picture. At this point, I thought I gotta do something with this. How can I put this to work? Well, acting! I can be all those things so I started taking acting classes at night while still working my unfulfilling corporate suit and tie job during the day. I eventually auditioned for Burn Notice in Miami (several times) with casting director Lori Wyman and I finally booked a small role as a Grizzled Operative. She introduced me to her husband, actor Marc Macaulay who has a long list of credits. He coached me one-on-one for several years and truly helped me master the art of stillness and intensity. I wouldn’t be the actor I am today without his guidance. I discovered my passion and I would dedicate all the necessary resources to succeed in the film industry.
A few years in the business, my phone started to ring but it wasn’t my agent; the calls were coming in from stunt coordinators offering me work. At this point, I had been doing my own fights and hitting the ground and stunt coordinators were noticing which was pretty cool. It essentially doubled my opportunities because in most cases I was still doing dialogue which was followed by some sort of action which falls under stunts. I continued executing my work with professionalism and a smile which kept the phone ringing. Before I knew it I was sending selfies to grown men on a consistent basis. I count my blessings as the journey continues.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. I would say far from it. I think if I had chosen this career path at a much younger age I’d say the road would have been less bumpy. One of the biggest challenges was switching careers from corporate schmuck to actor while still being able to provide for my family. The babies (at the time) didn’t care that daddy was having a mid-life crisis and now wanted to be an actor. They want food in their belly and their poopy diapers changed and those things are expensive! It was a balancing act. I had to work my regular 9 to 5 during the day and take acting classes at night. I somehow made it work. The next big challenge was booking work which is easier said than done. See here’s the thing–you can’t book work without an agent and you can’t get an agent without work–yeah that’s the challenging paradox. I had my wife at the time take some pictures of me which just for shits and giggles we’ll call “headshots” and I started pushing these around via email and print. I won’t dare share these today. I started cold-calling agents and that’s really when I started facing some pretty consistent rejection. I soon realized this is a word I had to get very comfortable with really quickly if I was gonna see this through. After a few agents hung up on me, I was finally able to keep one on the phone for a minute or two and she told me something that was very helpful; she said: “if I take you on as a client, what do I show people? You don’t have anything. I recommend you go shoot something”.
And, that’s what I did. I wrote a 2-minute scene; I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a videographer and I shot my scene and then I started pedaling it like it was the hottest mixtape on the streets. It wasn’t but it was good enough to land me an agent. The bookings started coming in and it was a very exciting time for me. People in my adult job started asking me if I had a twin brother on TV. They would say “dude this guy looked just like you”. I would laugh it off and say “imagine that..me an actor” and they would laugh as well as I walked off. I remember vividly walking into the office after my appearance on Ballers and that’s when there was no denying it. Everyone was staring at me like I just walked in naked. It was surreal. What they don’t know (and still don’t) is that I was pulling a bit of a Clark Kent on them because I was wearing glasses without a prescription because I was told it made me look more mature and approachable but when I worked as an actor I would pull the glasses off and I was like an entirely different person. Fast forward roughly five years later and I finally did what I dreamt of doing for the past several years; I walked into my boss’s office and handed him my resignation letter. He looked at me like I was crazy. He said, “So what’s your plan, you’re gonna go be an actor in Hollywood?”. I said “yes”. He said, “I’ll hold on to your letter here; you’re always welcomed back”. I never returned.
I have people approach me all the time about getting in the film business…ready to take notes of what they need to do to get started. The first thing that comes out of my mouth is “how are you at dealing with rejection?” And their reaction is very telling. The fact is, leather skin is a prerequisite in this business! Most people want the roadmap to a straight path they can follow to be a successful actor and the reality it–there is no such thing! I tell them you’re better off as a doctor or a lawyer because even though those professions are not easy if you remain on course with diligence, hard work and dedication you will ultimately achieve it. HollyWeird as some call is not. There is no sure path to take or cheat sheet. Some make it and most won’t. Others will achieve some level of success and they start pointing the finger outward as to why they are not excelling further. They’ll start whining on social media and blaming others for their shortcomings like some folks did recently on Twitter. A handful of people with trigger Twitter fingers attacked the Feldstein Paris casting director because they felt Tara and Chase are taking advantage of actors in Atlanta by refusing to pay them above scale. This claim is ridiculous and it’s what you get in this day and age with people when they don’t get what they believe they are entitled to. If I had some words to share with aspiring actors out there I would say–there is no substitute for hard work and no one owes you a damn thing! Stop complaining and work harder.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
What do I do? The best title to describe what I do is “Action Actor” which means that most of the time I’m doing dialogue and is usually followed by stunts. To put it in simply terms–I get paid to play cops and robbers with my friends, shoot each other with toy guns and play dead. That’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek explanation but that’s basically what I do–I’m a big kid playing pretend and people want to actually pay me to do this! The reality is that while I enjoy the work it is hard work and at times can be dangerous. However, I’m always reminded by the words of Mark Twain who said “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.“ And that rings true with me everyday. There are days when I’ll hit the ground multiple times and my body is feeling it. I’ll then remind myself that I was once in an unfulfilling corporate job and I’ll brush myself off and happily ready up to go again.
To get a better sense of what I do you can check out my work in shows like Cobra Kai, Ozark, Power, NCIS New Orleans, FBI, Snowfall, SWAT, The Cleaning Lady, The Equalizer and Better Call Saul. Also, I just completed work on the Renfield movie directed by Chris McKay and starring Nicholas Cage, Nick Hault and Ben Schwarts. I’m very excited for this which is scheduled to be released in April 2023. You can also check out my work in the upcoming Lifetime Movie Buried in Barstow directed by Howard Deutch and starring the incredibly talented and beautiful Angie Harmon on 6/4. I of course play a bad guy but there’s no surprise there.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I have to credit the initial carvings of my career and the development of my acting chops to Casting Director, Lori Wyman and actor Marc Macaulay. They held my hand every step of the way when I had no idea what this crazy business was all about.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.GRodAction.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrgrod
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrgrod
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamgrod
Image Credits:
Justin Scudney Tina Rowden Holly Lynch
