October 30, 2025 • 35 mins
In the second half of their conversation, Adam shares how he evolved beyond CSI: Miami into films like Magic Mike and series like Criminal Minds, where he also found his voice as a director. The trio reflect on the importance of representation in Hollywood, navigating identity, and the responsibility of telling authentic stories. Adam also gets personal about fatherhood, marriage, and the lessons he hopes to pass on to his kids while balancing the demands of a decades-long career.
“Dos Amigos” is a comedic and insightful podcast hosted by two friends who’ve journeyed through Hollywood and life together. Wilmer Valderrama and Freddy Rodriguez push through the noise of everyday life and ruminate on a bevy of topics through fun and daring, and occasionally a third amigo joins the mix!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Wilmer Badma.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's Freddie Rodriguez.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to this podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
This is part two, Part two conversation with Adam Road
that it was too good.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It had to be too You're still awake.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
But going back to uh so then that that gave
you the confidence to go, I'm gonna pack my stuff
up and move to La No.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So I did. I did extra work. I was trying
to you know, get an agent and hustle for auditions
and crash auditions, mostly commercials. At the time, I was
doing some theater work. I was, you know, still working
as a bellman and uh and doing all these things.
And there's a whole side story about you know, getting
(00:44):
my stockbroker license and a bunch of other stuff as
a whole you know, during that course of time. But
I I did background, like I said, between New York
Undercover and you know, more movies than I can remember,
you know, during that period of time. I guess we
(01:05):
call that like two two and a half three years
whatever it was. Circle it back now to where I
caught it and sort of like you know, digressed for
a moment, and back to my pops. Right. So, my
pops was in the army, with this guy named Bill Clark.
And I'm walking into the house one night and my
father is watching TV, which is the norm, and he's like, yeah,
(01:27):
you remember this guy. And as I'm walking in the door,
he's freaking out. He's like jumping up and I can't
believe this. I can't believe it. You remember him? And
I'm looking at the Emmy Awards on TV and he's
pointing to this guy on stage and he's like, that's
Bill Clark. You don't remember him. And I'm like, I
don't remember him. He goes the man, I haven't seen
him in years. And my father knew this guy from
(01:49):
the Army reserves and when he knew him, they were friends,
and Bill was a New York detective. And my father
cannot put together how in whatever it is ten years
that he hadn't seen him, twelve years he hadn't seen him.
This guy was now standing on stage at the Emmy
Awards winning an Emmy, winning an Emmy with the people
(02:10):
from New York from NYPD Blue and so the whole
Botch Go crew there. Yeah, and my dad is bugging out, man,
and I'm like, I don't remember. So my Dad's like, wow,
this is crazy. Couldn't believe it. So every Sunday I
mentioned Sonny Volpie to you guys, the teamster my dad
used to have. They go to this little diner and
(02:31):
my father this guy, Sonny, and another guy, the old timers.
You know, they were older than my dad. But he
used to hang out with these guys and they sit
and bullshit, read the paper, talk smack about whatever, and
you know, spend a couple hours on a Sunday morning.
So he's reading the paper and there's an article about
Bill Clark and my father says to Sonny, He's like,
you know this guy. You ever come across him, you know,
driving or whatever. And son He's like, yeah, no, I
(02:53):
know Bill. Yeah, a nice guy, you know. So my
father said, can you can you get me in touch
with him? I want to reach out to him, you know,
it's been so long. So Sonny gets HI the number
of the production office. My father calls, gets a hold
of Bill. Bill can't believe it, but ray, oh man, Ray,
it's good to hear from me. They're talking, they catch up.
Bill's asking about his family, how you know, how the
(03:13):
kids or whatever. My father says, yeah, you know, Adam,
Adam has been acting the last few years. He's doing that,
and you know what my sister's doing, and you know,
so they catch up on life, right. Bill says to
my father, Look, I'm leaving tomorrow. I'll be back to
New York in a couple of months. We've got to
come back to Shoot. I'll call you. We'll get dinner
when I get back. And if, for whatever reason, you
(03:35):
get to LA between now and then, you call me,
here's my numbers, let me know. And it turned out
that year, this is ninety six. That year we were
supposed to come out here to visit my parents' best friends.
Their sons were living in LA and so we were
coming out to visit them for Thanksgiving. The two families
(03:58):
we're going to get together. So we come out to
see Ralph and Xavier, and you know ral you know
my boy Ralph. So come out to see Ralph and
we have Thanksgiving. My father calls Bill and he says, hey, man,
I'm in town for Thanksgiving and you know, would love
to see you. We're here until whenever, and Bill says,
(04:19):
tomorrow tomorrow, we'll get together. Day after Thanksgiving. We'll go
to dinner. And my father says, great, So the day
after Thanksgiving nineteen ninety six is really the day like
my life changed because we go out to dinner and
we go to Giorgio Baldi's on Intrada. It's real fancy
Italian restaurant that was very Hollywood. It still is, you know.
(04:44):
It's It was at the bottom of the Pacific Palisades,
right where the pch meets in Trada and we walk in,
you know, and and right away I'm like, oh shit, man,
this is Hollywood, like for real, Like Kurt Russell and
Goldie Hawn are sitting there having dinner. Was it. I'm
getting confused now because the only murders in the building,
(05:05):
I can't remember it was Steve Martin or Martin Short
was sitting there in the rest one of those guys.
Was there somebody else? But you walked in and you
knew it's a small restaurant, so you walked in and
you were like, oh shit, like wow, this is like
this is the real deal, man, you know. And it was.
It was a trip. I'm in there with my family
with Bill and his wife at the time, and h
(05:25):
and we meet his best friend was meeting us for
dinner there. Bill's best friend So Bill's best friend is
there with his wife and three kids, and we all
sit down at this big table, got the biggest table
in the place, and we're all sitting there and uh,
his best friend comes and sits next to me and
we start talking. And two and a half three hours
goes by for dinner and me and this guy been
(05:47):
talking the whole time, and his name's David. And at
the end of the dinner, I'm just like, you know,
he's asked me about my life and we're talking. I'm
sharing stuff with him, and we just really hit it off.
And at the end of the dinner, I'm like, yes,
you know, David, I know you work on the show,
but what do you do at NYPD Blue. And it
turns out it's David Milch, who is, you know, just
(06:08):
a legendary writer in television and tremendous talent, and so
he says, yeah, you know, I helped create the show
and this is what I did. And he's like, look,
I'm writing a pilot for something that Bill and I
are doing, and there's a character in the show that
I think you would be right for if you wanted
to come out in audition. Have you ever thought about
moving to LA And I had been thinking about it
(06:30):
for almost a year at that point, as Ralphie had
moved out here and I was already thinking about I
just knew, like that's where you had to go at
the time you're going to pursue it. La was where
you had to go do it. You know, New York
was one thing, and you could stay and go that
track in New York. But you know, for some reason,
even as a kid, man La just kind of called me. Yeah,
(06:51):
you know, I was on the sun, the palm trees,
whatever it was. I was like, I know, one day
I gotta go. I gotta go that way, you know,
whatever it was. And so uh he said, man, David
was so kind and generous.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Man, so let you audition for it.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So not only that, he says, look, you have a
place to stay. And I'm like, look, hey, I have
a place to stay because I know I could stay
with Ralph and his brother. He's like, oh, okay, I
would have offered you my guest house. You could stay there.
And right then he says, stay in town a little
longer if you can. This is Thanksgiving. Let me find
(07:25):
I want to just get you on camera. I want
to see if we find something on blue on NYPD
Blue and just see you on camera. So I hang
out for about two weeks and waiting around. I'm just
enjoying LA and finally get a call, Hey, we've got
something on an episode. I come in and it's a
character that like has one line three words and it's
(07:46):
a It's in an episode of NYPD Blue called Upstairs.
Downstairs with the detectives and the uniform cops are beefing
with each other, and I'm a uniform cop that comes
up and I'm carrying some boxes and shit and I
and I all I say is uh is there's like
the sergeant and two detectives Jimmy Smith's and it might
have been Dennis Fans talking to the sergeant and there's
like a heated exchange. And I come up with these
(08:08):
boxes and I'm just like in the corner and then
and then one of them says, yeah, in the corner
or whatever, and I go, you know, delivery boy again, right,
But then I have a stare down with Jimmy Smith's,
Like we have a stare down right, Yeah, that's it,
in and out right done, Like you know, by the
time you recognize me, when you saw it, it was over. Yeah,
but I got my minute and I never forget. Man.
I'm sitting in the trailer. I'm writing in this little journal,
(08:30):
like I got a line and I'm here on the
thing and it's like like this is like really happening, man,
you know. And so I do this thing. Great, it's done.
I pack my ship. I go back to New York
and I'm like, I'm moving to LA. I know I'm
moving now, like now, I got to go out because
this is the possibility of this audition for this show
(08:52):
is going to happen. And I'm like, that's that's all
I needed. Like that's enough for me. I'm packing up.
I'm moving out. So pack up, I move out. I
moved to LA end of January. I get out here
and I have a place to stay for a little while.
That doesn't work out, things get complicated. I'm trying to
and at the lowest point, man, I get a call
(09:16):
that the show that that character is not going to
be in the pilot.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So I'm like, shit, man, I'm out here. I'm freaking
figuring out exists but not yet but not yet. So
and I don't have an agent. I don't. I'm trying
to get all of this right. So I come out
here with that same hustle, and instead of mailing envelopes out,
I'm literally driving around in my car handing out headshots
at agencies with a Thomas Guide straight up Thomas. Okay,
(09:44):
there's an agency here as part of the valley learning
my way around LA. And I go to this agency
and I think they were no more for repping dancers
at the time, but KM something I can't remember what
it was, man, but I give my this woman she
says she wants to rep me. She asked me for
my address, so they like, look, I don't have an
(10:04):
address right now. The only address I could give you
is where I was selling real estate for first time
home buyers out in Riverside, right And I'm like, I
can give you that. She's like, oh, you don't have
an address. I'm like, no, let me give you this
beeper number in this and she was like, okay, you're
looking for a place to live. I'm like yeah, and
so she's like, okay, call this number later tonight. I
call the number. She picks up. Her name was Jennifer.
(10:27):
She's like, look, me and my roommate are looking for
a third roommate because we're we just want to save
some money before we move on to our next place.
So I ended up living sleeping on the floor in
the living room of this apartment in Burbank for like
months and a half.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
What's an agent?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And she became my agent for a while, right wow.
And then as I as I'm thinking like damn, when
is this pilot gonna happen whatever, Bill calls me and
he's like, Hey, the characters back in the pilot and
they're gonna they're gonna bring you in for an audition.
And my saving grace and I'm going back to this
this moment was an acting class that I was in.
(11:02):
That Milch again was like an angel and was like,
go see this woman. She has an acting class. And
I go and I show up and it turns out
there's like four or five people in the class that
he's paying for Oh wow, to go study. And he
paid for me to go study with this woman, you know,
And it was what was so great about it in
that moment was that it was somewhere to be like
(11:24):
and you know, I was lonely as hell out here.
I really Ralph was my boy, and that was the
only person I knew out there. My boy Ralph was
grinding trying to make his career happen, and so all
of a sudden it was like, oh, there was community,
you know, and and somewhere to be every week and
doing something and you know, and it was cool man.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
And but now but now you're in the pilot and
now well, first of all, you're still so you go
to not in the pilot yet, so practice is the audition, right.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So the audition comes up finally, like the characters back
in the pilot, audition for it is coming up. So
I'm like, okay, this is my moment. I go, I prep,
go do my audition, and I walk out, you know,
feeling good. But it's really only the second time that
I had, like an audition for television. I had audition
for something on New York Undercover and get it. And
this was really my first audition for something big. And
(12:15):
I walk out and I'm an agent, so I don't
get feedback. I don't want to bother Bill because just
getting to know him at the time. So like ten
days goes by and I don't hear anything, and I think, like,
I mean each day that I didn't hear anything, I
was silence. Was like I was crushed, and at that
time my life like to be crushed. The feeling I
(12:36):
felt was anger, so like I would express it as
I mean, I would literally like bust out in a
rage at a red light, just because like you so
missed at myself, man, And.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Because all the all the boxes were checked.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
The dude, you know, you take a shot in the class,
the whole thing. And I'm like, oh man, you know,
because I didn't think I was bad in the audition,
but I didn't know, like I didn't have enough you know,
I haven't had enough experience, no barometer yet, you know.
And I had no agent to call and go like,
well what they say, what's the feedback? Like, you know,
tell me something so and like I said, I didn't
(13:14):
want to bother Bill because I'm like, man, the dude
did more than I could ever ask somebody to do
for me. And you know, anyway, those ten days goes by,
and at that time I had They used to be
a restaurant on Melrose called Georgia's. Oh yeah yeah, and
it was a beautiful spot man, and it was owned
by Denzel and Wesley Snipes and Norm Nixon and the
(13:39):
owner operator partner was a guy named Brad Johnson. Uh,
and I love Brad. Brad was really good to me.
An ex girlfriend of mine at the time was still
a dear friend of mine. Her dad was friends with
Brad and he reached out to Brad before I came
to LA and was like, Hey, look, this kid's good kid.
He's gonna come by, you know, just look out for him.
(13:59):
And so I would go to this spot and it
was the spot man like it was. It was dope spots,
so like you had to get dressed up. So I
put on you know, uh, sports coat and slacks and
no leather pants. I couldn't afford the leather pants at
that time. Man pants. I wish I had some leather pants.
(14:22):
But I would go there jazzed up and once a
week I would go and sit down and Brad would
hook me up with a meal and you know, a
drink or two. But what was the best thing about
it was like it was a place to post up
and I would meet people, you know. So I met
some girls and went on my first hikes that I
ever went on with That's go on a hike you know,
California ship like the hike. I'm like, yeah, all right, uh,
(14:43):
And I met some guys that I'm still you know.
I mean, I haven't seen it in a while, but like,
you know, it was friends with for years, and you know,
it was a place again to like feel like okay,
like I'm belonging, belonging, right. So one night Bad calls me, like, hey,
come back for dinner tonight in the middle of the week.
It was like a Wednesday, and and I had not
told anybody about this audition, right. I was like, I'm
(15:03):
not gonna say anything about this audition till I know
what the end result is. And I hadn't gotten the end.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
And that's the rule of thumb, by the way, just
to yourself.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And like, so I get a call come in for dinner.
So I sit down with Brad and I'm there at
a big table with him in about I don't know
eight other people and they're all adults, successful people, you know.
I mean, this was like one of the hottest restaurants
in town. And Brad's friends were all doing it or
they're all you know, they were probably in their forties
at the time, and they were like experienced and you know,
(15:33):
but I'm being invited to the table. We're having conversation
and they're talking about their careers, business things, things that
are going on for them. And it comes to my turn.
Somebody turns like at them, so, you know, what's up?
What's going on? You know, what are you up to?
And I'm like, shit, man, I didn't have shit else
to talk about. I'm like, we talk about this this
house that I showed somebody in Riverside, like earlier that day.
(15:53):
I'm like, uh, I said, well, I'm like, I'm gonna
let the cat out the bag. Fuck it, right, I'm like, yeah,
I had this audition for a Stephen Boschko pilot about
ten days ago, and you know, I was like, I
went in there, I did my best. I was like,
but I think I blew it. And I have no
point of reference to get any feed. But I'm just
telling them what's on my mind. Right. They're like, oh, man,
well you got to stick with it. It's you know,
(16:15):
it's all good for the process. About five minutes after
I talk about this, man, my pager goes off. This
is how old. There's a long cage. My pager goes off,
and I look at the number, and I thought I
was fly because I had an eight hundred number for
my pager, right, so anybody could die that page, right,
and they didn't need any quarters up for your call, right balling.
(16:38):
So I look at the number and it's and I
was waiting to see this number. It was three one
oh uh you know, uh six six there was the
Fox exchange right, and I'm like, oh, this was the number.
I was three six nine three one oh three six
nine something some something. And I was like, I knew
it was from Boshko's office. So I get on there.
I'm like, oh shit. I get up from the table.
(16:59):
I go to the payphone. I call casting as system
picks up. His name was Scott Jenkinsjer and he's like, Adam,
are you available to come in to read for Steven tomorrow?
And I'm like, yeah, of course I'll be there.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Now, you have a fax machine because we're going to
send your Yeah, yeah, no.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I had the scenes. It was the same It was
the same scenes, same scene right. Luckily because for the
ten days, bro I was going over that scene every
single day, one hundred times a day. I was reliving
my chance, you know what I mean. It was like
I was reliving it because I thought I blew it.
So I was like, man, I would have done this anyway.
(17:37):
Your chance is actually now coming tomorrow. So I got
to go the next day, man, And it was the
first time I auditioned. There were a lot of people
at this time there were less and maybe like it
was down to like fifteen twenty people. Maybe when I
got there.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
You recognize anyone that was in the room.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I feel like nobody that I knew well at the time,
but I feel like Yancey Arias was there. Yancey is
the one that comes to mind when I think if
there were any familiar faces, but Yancey and I would
run into each other. I'd see him a commercial auditions
and stuff in New York. Yeah, yeah, I don't. Yancey
comes up. Yancey comes to mind. I don't remember who
(18:16):
else maybe, but I go in. It's my turn, and
I just felt so prepared, like I already felt like
I had lost. So I was like, fuck it, man,
like I just let go and.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
You quite literally lost it once. So this is just
like gravy yep.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Scene, And I mean I got applause at the end.
People in the room were like, wow, that was great,
and I just felt I was beaming inside because all
I wanted to do was make a good impression, you
know what I mean? So I walked out. What was
the scene?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Like, what was the scene that you had to perform?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Oh? Man, I don't even remember, now, okay for the cop.
You were playing a cop? I was playing a cop.
There was an exchange with somebody, you know it. I
don't remember. I don't. I wish I could. Actually, I
would have walked out feeling like I walked out on
a high.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Even if I don't get it, I left it there.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I left an impression. I left an impression in that room,
Like I know, I didn't let build down because that
was my main thing. Like I didn't want to leave
these people that gave me a chance, that opened the door.
I didn't want to. I didn't want to let them
down on it, you know. So I felt like Bill
and David at least like I got my respect, you know,
like they didn't look foolish for bringing me in. So
I walked out, and I'm like, man, I remember going
(19:42):
to the bathroom, splashing some water on my face, smiling
like you feel good? I feel good now, I'm like
walking out and I'm leaving the building and the casting
system comes outside and say hey, Adam, Adam come back
and calls me back in.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I'm like, don't ever come back again.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
They weren't clapping because you were done, so like, okay,
well good luck. First of all, this is what you
call us.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
You're describing like the best standing to a romantic movie ever, right,
like them guns and direct him. So hey Adam, wait,
come wait.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Wait I stopped my checks. I'm like, oh, right, because
I got paused the pushing with the guy behind it.
You have that moment then turn around like yeah, you know,
brings me back in the office. He's like, just wait here.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
You ever come here again?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yo? You left your water whatever, you left your water again. Yes,
we're going to do you a favorite. We're not going
to tell any other time about this audition. So only
because you're a friend.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Yeah, you didn't clean up after yourself.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
You don't ever leave an audition without taking yourself. Clearly
you're a rookie. She comes out, She goes, Adam, it
was a guy because Scott the same guy that he
comes out. He comes out, he brings me back in
the office of a woman named Junie Lowry Johnson, who
was the casting director. A minute or two goes by.
She walks in and she looks at him. They look
(21:17):
at each other and they're like, you got the job.
And I'm like, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I say he told you there that day.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Oh my god. I mean, I'm like, I don't know
what to do. Man. I'm like, oh my god, this
is crazy. You know, I can feel it now. And
I'm like, wow, thank you, thank you, you know, and I
leave and I run to the first pay phone. I
call my mom. She's at work, you asking what my
father did for lifing. My mother worked for the United
Airlines for like thirty plus years, and she was the
(21:47):
ticket agent at like an off site ticket office. So
if you wanted to buy a ticket for United, you
would go to these offices and purchase the ticket there.
And she did that. I called her up and I
was like, hey, Ma. She's like, hey, what's up, Mama.
My work. I'm like, all right, you got a long line.
She was like yeah, it's crowded and a lot of
people here. I'm like great, perfect, because I was like,
you know, I want to see what her reaction was
(22:07):
going to be in front of all these people, and
it was on the other line, and I was like,
I got it. I got my first show, Mom, I
got I got on this show, you know. And she
was like, oh my god. You know she was happy.
Of course in the moment. I don't think she understood.
I always think we're doing you know so, But man,
I'll never forget being on that love that lot. Every
time I go to that lot, like it's just special
(22:28):
to me for that reason. Fox. Yeah, and so I Man,
I hang up the phone and I was like, man,
this is it, Like, you know, I got a job on,
like a series regular on a show.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
And this show had been already Greenland show had already
been green because it was Stephen Botschko at that time,
it was twenty two on the air.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
He was dumb, man, you know, he was remember remember
when you Taylor Sheridan. Yeah, I remember when I got paid. Man.
I remember doing the pilot, and I remember riding because
this is funny too. We shot in New York. Uh
and I am on the plane with uh. What was
(23:08):
that conversation. I had a conversation with somebody and they
were telling me like, oh, you're gonna make like twenty
five grand an episode or whatever at that time, you're
kidding me. I was like, usually I made ten thousand
for No No, and so I was thinking twenty five.
It turned out when it came down to the negotiation,
I made six grand an episode.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Wait wait, wait, that's that's before agent.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Fees and all I had no agent. I got this
with no agent.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
But I'm saying, like, you mean like six take home
or like six was the number?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Six was the number? Six was the neighbor? Yeah, but
I had no agent, so all I had to do
was pay tax, you know, which, look at that time,
no shit, twenty two episodes making over six figures at
that time was like yeah, crazy, you were like six
g I was like what I mean? You know, I
mean it was a slightly disappointing just because Bill called
(24:02):
me the contract. The whole negotiation with Bill basically said, look,
they're going to call you. The number is going to
be low. But I didn't know. He was like, but
you just take what it is, yes, because again it
was like getting on a Stephen Botchko pilot at that
time was also a big deal because it was like
it was like, you know, being on an Alan Ball Show.
Later on. You know what I mean, they had prestige,
(24:23):
there was there was like something to it.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So so questions. So you haven't said the name of
the show.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Oh, it's called Brooklyn South.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Brooklyn South.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
It was called Brooklyn South.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, you're na by night it was it on.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
It was on Monday nights at ten o'clock. It was
the first primetime show to ever get a TV m
A rating. Wow. Yeah, because the guy's head gets blown off.
Pieces fall show. It was a fall show. No, no,
it was a fall show. It was like the crown
jewel of CBS's lineup that year, that Monday night Slide
at ten o'clock was there. That was their premos.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
How long you've been working with CBS?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah? What wait? What year was that? What year? Nineteen
ninety seven?
Speaker 4 (25:14):
So you've been at CBS since ninety seven?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
That was nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
They've been good to you, man.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Yeah, yeah, man, all of it. You know, you realize like, yeah,
you know they you learn a lot.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Man, you know, how many seasons do you do there?
Speaker 2 (25:27):
So we only did one season and then the show
got canceled.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
And then and then you and then Wendy you snatch
up is at Miami. So that would that be your
next big break?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
I would, I mean big break. Yeah. But the next
thing that really kept me going was then iron Spelling
show in Between, and then I did and then I
did as it was called All Souls. It was it
was actually also All Souls. It was very cool shows.
It was it's kind of ahead of its time. Actually
it was a guy named Mark Frost that was one
(25:59):
of David Lynch's partners on Twin Peaks, had broken off
and created this show called All Souls and then it
aired on UPN and it just wasn't It wasn't right
for the network. And the show was kind of even
ahead of its time. It was about a haunted hospital
and it was really cool and it was really show.
(26:20):
But what did makes sense? It didn't exist yet. So
I lived in Montreal and I shot that, you know,
over the course of a year on and off or
ten months whatever it was. But then the next break
really was a show called Roswell, and I did the
third season of Roswell.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I remember when you had.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Catherine Heigel was my uh played my wife.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Yeah, And I remember rosswell super well. I remember when
he started because I was friends for half of that cast.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, they were good.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Be Brandon were redon.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Fair was on it, Jason Bear, Nick Weschler. Mahandra is
still a friend love Mahandra Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, Mahandra's great.
I actually the her and Brandan have a podcast that
I did at some time in the last day.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Very hits me up occasionally.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah, great, we do we got man, sweet guy.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
But yeah, it was like it was like the rise
of w B Yes, right, Dawson's Creek and then they
started this this thing and then Roswell was that first.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Like can we do a show up by Aliens?
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Yeah, around the X Files years and all that stuff.
And then I think it was what year was that
that show?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I joined that show two two thousand and one, so
then that show started ninety nine would have been the
first year I think for that show in ninety nine.
So those guys.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Excuse so I just that seventy show in ninety eight.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That's what I was going to ask you did is
that ninety eight that you started the Yeah that's Fall
of ninety eight premiere Fall of ninety eight.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Okay, yeah, damn yeah, So I remember bab Yeah, it
was so crazy, But that's insane.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
So Roswell was big games kept the ball moving, thank god,
because because I had I had bought my my my
first place, and I was like, man, I bought my
first place, had like two months of mortgage left in
the bank and counting on that Aaron Spelling Show and
then it got canceled, paying six grand though, and then freaking,
(28:18):
and then Roswell hit and kept me going, man. And
then when Roswell ended CSI, Miami came along and then
that was you know, that was really that took things
to another day.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
How many how many seasons did you do?
Speaker 2 (28:31):
We did ten seasons of cs and you were doing
twenty We did, I mean, depending most seasons, I would
say we did twenty two, twenty three. Couple one season
we did like twenty five or twenty six one year,
but I would say, yeah, average, we did twenty two.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
And it was one of those shows that really pop culturally,
elevated what procedure was What's gonna be?
Speaker 1 (28:53):
And the location was so sexy and the cast.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Was so bad, really set it apart. There was nothing
on TV. Yeah, we kind of you know, the original
the original CSI, I would say, you know, added something
to procedurals that hadn't existed, which is you know, shooting
those those those micro shots where they're like, you know,
(29:15):
get inside someensics. Part of it really like giving people
a visual.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Which was which just turns out the proof.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Which was amazing, right, But then Miami ratcheted it up
another level because it was such a beautiful backdrop for
the show. So now you had the you know, the
the intricate technical shots that were interesting visually, but then
set on top of this beautiful canvas that was Miami
with the with the beautiful orange and that the pink.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Over to breako the Fancis Hearts.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
It actually didn't shoot in Miami, shooted in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
We would go to Miami. The first five seasons, you
would go to Miami for some exterior Yeah, probably like
three times a year we would go to MIAMIB four.
We'd go down there for like some anywhere between eight
to twelve days, fourteen days, get exterior shots and shoot
some stuff right there and then come back to LA
And then I mean that was that was like.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Such an iconic role for you, you know, and yeah,
so cuside Miami was a moment and he started like
it put you in in household.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Numbers, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
What was your average ratings on that?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Oh man, those days.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
You were probably averaging what seventeen.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
MILLI easy, I want to say, in the early days,
we were probably up to twenty two, twenty three, twenty
ten million. Yes, and like those pre pre DVR, Yeah,
those numbers, we were still posting those kind of how
rad is.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
There for us to have a Latino on primetime hitting
twenty two million people a week and then saying like,
oh man, he's not only the he's not only the
young guy in there, but he's also like a badass
bro like you were killing it and making us all
little what.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I wish man? And you know, you grow older and
you look back on things with different perspectives, and I
wish that I would have understood the gravity of that
at the time. You know, you know, you're on a
big show and that feels good, but it's really only
with with time and distance, maturity, perspective, whatever you want
to say. It is like that you look back on
and go like, oh man, the magnitude I understand maybe
(31:14):
more now what that must have represented, you know, in
that moment, and what a great opportunity.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
We were all trying to keep the light on at
that point, you know, and I think the most in
that time, we don't understand the gravity when we do
the math of what pop culturally and culturally how it
kind of elevated the values of who we were on screen.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
Yes, and what it's led to, Adam, And and you've
continued to be a Latino leading man, and you've done
wonderful work since, whether it's magic mic, whether it is
criminal minds, whether whether it is all the stuff that critical.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Minds are available in paramount plus. Right now, that's.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Right, man, And I mean you're you're you're the guy
that Latino actors are looking at going like I grew
up watching that.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
They're also time like we need like an Adam Rodriguez type.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, hopefully that's a I always feel like that's a
dangerous thing because I'm like, well, is available, probably have
a thing that's what you want. But right, yeah, but
that's what you know.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
But that's one of the reasons why we wanted to
have you here, man, give you your flowers, and for
you to understand how important you've been for Latino culture,
for our industry. And and we're just so thrilled that
you're here to call you a friend, and and they're
very proud of the of the career that you've crafted.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
And what a beautiful thing right for us to have
grown up together in business, right, and and to have
you know, been fortunate enough to pave the paths that
we've paved, and and to still be here and still
be able to do something we love and to have
success at it, and and to be able to sit
around and talk about that journey is you know, uh man,
(32:56):
in a way, it's like it's a dream come true
or a dream you could never adam that you could have,
that you could have, you know.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
And so but look, we got to have you back
again because obviously, you know, we got to start doing
four parts there.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got We didn't even discratch the surface,
and I'm talking about it in all the amount of
stories we could sit around and yeah, crazy, crazy, we.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Didn't we have the leather pants conversation.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
We didn't. We didn't talk about adult shape.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
We didn't talk about meeting each other at that audition
yeah party by yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
All can attest by this episode, you're going to see
more about the Rodriguez next season for sure, But but
I don't thank you so much for being podcasts.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
No.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Hell, yeah, man, it's you know, we we waited for.
You know, this is hopefully a big season final, We'll hopefully,
but but yeah, but dude, thank you, thank you so
much for being part of this thing for us. It's
a very special podcast for us because we only want
to to people that kind of have changes and you know,
contributed and not only pop culture, but for for you know,
(34:05):
for us, for for for all of our brown brothers
and sisters. You know, so so thank you for being Sahiro.
I'm Wilmer Valdorama' Freddie Rodriguez and this is Amigos.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Dose Amigos is a production from w V Sound and
iHeartMedia's Michael through That Podcast Network, hosted by Me, Freddie
Rodriguez and Wilmer Valdorama.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burlson and Sophie Spencer Zabos.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
Our executive producers are Wilmer Valdorama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlson,
and Leo Klem at w V Sound.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
This episode was shot and eded it by Ryan Posts
and mixed by Sean Tracy and features original music by
Madison Devenport and Helo boy Our.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed by
Deny Holtz Clau.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
And thank you for being at Third Amigo today.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
I appreciate you guys always listening to those amigos.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
More podcasts from my Heart, visit the our Heart radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
See you next week.
Wilmer Badma.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's Freddie Rodriguez.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to this podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
This is part two, Part two conversation with Adam Road
that it was too good.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It had to be too You're still awake.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
But going back to uh so then that that gave
you the confidence to go, I'm gonna pack my stuff
up and move to La No.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So I did. I did extra work. I was trying
to you know, get an agent and hustle for auditions
and crash auditions, mostly commercials. At the time, I was
doing some theater work. I was, you know, still working
as a bellman and uh and doing all these things.
And there's a whole side story about you know, getting
(00:44):
my stockbroker license and a bunch of other stuff as
a whole you know, during that course of time. But
I I did background, like I said, between New York
Undercover and you know, more movies than I can remember,
you know, during that period of time. I guess we
(01:05):
call that like two two and a half three years
whatever it was. Circle it back now to where I
caught it and sort of like you know, digressed for
a moment, and back to my pops. Right. So, my
pops was in the army, with this guy named Bill Clark.
And I'm walking into the house one night and my
father is watching TV, which is the norm, and he's like, yeah,
(01:27):
you remember this guy. And as I'm walking in the door,
he's freaking out. He's like jumping up and I can't
believe this. I can't believe it. You remember him? And
I'm looking at the Emmy Awards on TV and he's
pointing to this guy on stage and he's like, that's
Bill Clark. You don't remember him. And I'm like, I
don't remember him. He goes the man, I haven't seen
him in years. And my father knew this guy from
(01:49):
the Army reserves and when he knew him, they were friends,
and Bill was a New York detective. And my father
cannot put together how in whatever it is ten years
that he hadn't seen him, twelve years he hadn't seen him.
This guy was now standing on stage at the Emmy
Awards winning an Emmy, winning an Emmy with the people
(02:10):
from New York from NYPD Blue and so the whole
Botch Go crew there. Yeah, and my dad is bugging out, man,
and I'm like, I don't remember. So my Dad's like, wow,
this is crazy. Couldn't believe it. So every Sunday I
mentioned Sonny Volpie to you guys, the teamster my dad
used to have. They go to this little diner and
(02:31):
my father this guy, Sonny, and another guy, the old timers.
You know, they were older than my dad. But he
used to hang out with these guys and they sit
and bullshit, read the paper, talk smack about whatever, and
you know, spend a couple hours on a Sunday morning.
So he's reading the paper and there's an article about
Bill Clark and my father says to Sonny, He's like,
you know this guy. You ever come across him, you know,
driving or whatever. And son He's like, yeah, no, I
(02:53):
know Bill. Yeah, a nice guy, you know. So my
father said, can you can you get me in touch
with him? I want to reach out to him, you know,
it's been so long. So Sonny gets HI the number
of the production office. My father calls, gets a hold
of Bill. Bill can't believe it, but ray, oh man, Ray,
it's good to hear from me. They're talking, they catch up.
Bill's asking about his family, how you know, how the
(03:13):
kids or whatever. My father says, yeah, you know, Adam,
Adam has been acting the last few years. He's doing that,
and you know what my sister's doing, and you know,
so they catch up on life, right. Bill says to
my father, Look, I'm leaving tomorrow. I'll be back to
New York in a couple of months. We've got to
come back to Shoot. I'll call you. We'll get dinner
when I get back. And if, for whatever reason, you
(03:35):
get to LA between now and then, you call me,
here's my numbers, let me know. And it turned out
that year, this is ninety six. That year we were
supposed to come out here to visit my parents' best friends.
Their sons were living in LA and so we were
coming out to visit them for Thanksgiving. The two families
(03:58):
we're going to get together. So we come out to
see Ralph and Xavier, and you know ral you know
my boy Ralph. So come out to see Ralph and
we have Thanksgiving. My father calls Bill and he says, hey, man,
I'm in town for Thanksgiving and you know, would love
to see you. We're here until whenever, and Bill says,
(04:19):
tomorrow tomorrow, we'll get together. Day after Thanksgiving. We'll go
to dinner. And my father says, great, So the day
after Thanksgiving nineteen ninety six is really the day like
my life changed because we go out to dinner and
we go to Giorgio Baldi's on Intrada. It's real fancy
Italian restaurant that was very Hollywood. It still is, you know.
(04:44):
It's It was at the bottom of the Pacific Palisades,
right where the pch meets in Trada and we walk in,
you know, and and right away I'm like, oh shit, man,
this is Hollywood, like for real, Like Kurt Russell and
Goldie Hawn are sitting there having dinner. Was it. I'm
getting confused now because the only murders in the building,
(05:05):
I can't remember it was Steve Martin or Martin Short
was sitting there in the rest one of those guys.
Was there somebody else? But you walked in and you
knew it's a small restaurant, so you walked in and
you were like, oh shit, like wow, this is like
this is the real deal, man, you know. And it was.
It was a trip. I'm in there with my family
with Bill and his wife at the time, and h
(05:25):
and we meet his best friend was meeting us for
dinner there. Bill's best friend So Bill's best friend is
there with his wife and three kids, and we all
sit down at this big table, got the biggest table
in the place, and we're all sitting there and uh,
his best friend comes and sits next to me and
we start talking. And two and a half three hours
goes by for dinner and me and this guy been
(05:47):
talking the whole time, and his name's David. And at
the end of the dinner, I'm just like, you know,
he's asked me about my life and we're talking. I'm
sharing stuff with him, and we just really hit it off.
And at the end of the dinner, I'm like, yes,
you know, David, I know you work on the show,
but what do you do at NYPD Blue. And it
turns out it's David Milch, who is, you know, just
(06:08):
a legendary writer in television and tremendous talent, and so
he says, yeah, you know, I helped create the show
and this is what I did. And he's like, look,
I'm writing a pilot for something that Bill and I
are doing, and there's a character in the show that
I think you would be right for if you wanted
to come out in audition. Have you ever thought about
moving to LA And I had been thinking about it
(06:30):
for almost a year at that point, as Ralphie had
moved out here and I was already thinking about I
just knew, like that's where you had to go at
the time you're going to pursue it. La was where
you had to go do it. You know, New York
was one thing, and you could stay and go that
track in New York. But you know, for some reason,
even as a kid, man La just kind of called me. Yeah,
(06:51):
you know, I was on the sun, the palm trees,
whatever it was. I was like, I know, one day
I gotta go. I gotta go that way, you know,
whatever it was. And so uh he said, man, David
was so kind and generous.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Man, so let you audition for it.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So not only that, he says, look, you have a
place to stay. And I'm like, look, hey, I have
a place to stay because I know I could stay
with Ralph and his brother. He's like, oh, okay, I
would have offered you my guest house. You could stay there.
And right then he says, stay in town a little
longer if you can. This is Thanksgiving. Let me find
(07:25):
I want to just get you on camera. I want
to see if we find something on blue on NYPD
Blue and just see you on camera. So I hang
out for about two weeks and waiting around. I'm just
enjoying LA and finally get a call, Hey, we've got
something on an episode. I come in and it's a
character that like has one line three words and it's
(07:46):
a It's in an episode of NYPD Blue called Upstairs.
Downstairs with the detectives and the uniform cops are beefing
with each other, and I'm a uniform cop that comes
up and I'm carrying some boxes and shit and I
and I all I say is uh is there's like
the sergeant and two detectives Jimmy Smith's and it might
have been Dennis Fans talking to the sergeant and there's
like a heated exchange. And I come up with these
(08:08):
boxes and I'm just like in the corner and then
and then one of them says, yeah, in the corner
or whatever, and I go, you know, delivery boy again, right,
But then I have a stare down with Jimmy Smith's,
Like we have a stare down right, Yeah, that's it,
in and out right done, Like you know, by the
time you recognize me, when you saw it, it was over. Yeah,
but I got my minute and I never forget. Man.
I'm sitting in the trailer. I'm writing in this little journal,
(08:30):
like I got a line and I'm here on the
thing and it's like like this is like really happening, man,
you know. And so I do this thing. Great, it's done.
I pack my ship. I go back to New York
and I'm like, I'm moving to LA. I know I'm
moving now, like now, I got to go out because
this is the possibility of this audition for this show
(08:52):
is going to happen. And I'm like, that's that's all
I needed. Like that's enough for me. I'm packing up.
I'm moving out. So pack up, I move out. I
moved to LA end of January. I get out here
and I have a place to stay for a little while.
That doesn't work out, things get complicated. I'm trying to
and at the lowest point, man, I get a call
(09:16):
that the show that that character is not going to
be in the pilot.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So I'm like, shit, man, I'm out here. I'm freaking
figuring out exists but not yet but not yet. So
and I don't have an agent. I don't. I'm trying
to get all of this right. So I come out
here with that same hustle, and instead of mailing envelopes out,
I'm literally driving around in my car handing out headshots
at agencies with a Thomas Guide straight up Thomas. Okay,
(09:44):
there's an agency here as part of the valley learning
my way around LA. And I go to this agency
and I think they were no more for repping dancers
at the time, but KM something I can't remember what
it was, man, but I give my this woman she
says she wants to rep me. She asked me for
my address, so they like, look, I don't have an
(10:04):
address right now. The only address I could give you
is where I was selling real estate for first time
home buyers out in Riverside, right And I'm like, I
can give you that. She's like, oh, you don't have
an address. I'm like, no, let me give you this
beeper number in this and she was like, okay, you're
looking for a place to live. I'm like yeah, and
so she's like, okay, call this number later tonight. I
call the number. She picks up. Her name was Jennifer.
(10:27):
She's like, look, me and my roommate are looking for
a third roommate because we're we just want to save
some money before we move on to our next place.
So I ended up living sleeping on the floor in
the living room of this apartment in Burbank for like
months and a half.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
What's an agent?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And she became my agent for a while, right wow.
And then as I as I'm thinking like damn, when
is this pilot gonna happen whatever, Bill calls me and
he's like, Hey, the characters back in the pilot and
they're gonna they're gonna bring you in for an audition.
And my saving grace and I'm going back to this
this moment was an acting class that I was in.
(11:02):
That Milch again was like an angel and was like,
go see this woman. She has an acting class. And
I go and I show up and it turns out
there's like four or five people in the class that
he's paying for Oh wow, to go study. And he
paid for me to go study with this woman, you know,
And it was what was so great about it in
that moment was that it was somewhere to be like
(11:24):
and you know, I was lonely as hell out here.
I really Ralph was my boy, and that was the
only person I knew out there. My boy Ralph was
grinding trying to make his career happen, and so all
of a sudden it was like, oh, there was community,
you know, and and somewhere to be every week and
doing something and you know, and it was cool man.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
And but now but now you're in the pilot and
now well, first of all, you're still so you go
to not in the pilot yet, so practice is the audition, right.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So the audition comes up finally, like the characters back
in the pilot, audition for it is coming up. So
I'm like, okay, this is my moment. I go, I prep,
go do my audition, and I walk out, you know,
feeling good. But it's really only the second time that
I had, like an audition for television. I had audition
for something on New York Undercover and get it. And
this was really my first audition for something big. And
(12:15):
I walk out and I'm an agent, so I don't
get feedback. I don't want to bother Bill because just
getting to know him at the time. So like ten
days goes by and I don't hear anything, and I think, like,
I mean each day that I didn't hear anything, I
was silence. Was like I was crushed, and at that
time my life like to be crushed. The feeling I
(12:36):
felt was anger, so like I would express it as
I mean, I would literally like bust out in a
rage at a red light, just because like you so
missed at myself, man, And.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Because all the all the boxes were checked.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
The dude, you know, you take a shot in the class,
the whole thing. And I'm like, oh man, you know,
because I didn't think I was bad in the audition,
but I didn't know, like I didn't have enough you know,
I haven't had enough experience, no barometer yet, you know.
And I had no agent to call and go like,
well what they say, what's the feedback? Like, you know,
tell me something so and like I said, I didn't
(13:14):
want to bother Bill because I'm like, man, the dude
did more than I could ever ask somebody to do
for me. And you know, anyway, those ten days goes by,
and at that time I had They used to be
a restaurant on Melrose called Georgia's. Oh yeah yeah, and
it was a beautiful spot man, and it was owned
by Denzel and Wesley Snipes and Norm Nixon and the
(13:39):
owner operator partner was a guy named Brad Johnson. Uh,
and I love Brad. Brad was really good to me.
An ex girlfriend of mine at the time was still
a dear friend of mine. Her dad was friends with
Brad and he reached out to Brad before I came
to LA and was like, Hey, look, this kid's good kid.
He's gonna come by, you know, just look out for him.
(13:59):
And so I would go to this spot and it
was the spot man like it was. It was dope spots,
so like you had to get dressed up. So I
put on you know, uh, sports coat and slacks and
no leather pants. I couldn't afford the leather pants at
that time. Man pants. I wish I had some leather pants.
(14:22):
But I would go there jazzed up and once a
week I would go and sit down and Brad would
hook me up with a meal and you know, a
drink or two. But what was the best thing about
it was like it was a place to post up
and I would meet people, you know. So I met
some girls and went on my first hikes that I
ever went on with That's go on a hike you know,
California ship like the hike. I'm like, yeah, all right, uh,
(14:43):
And I met some guys that I'm still you know.
I mean, I haven't seen it in a while, but like,
you know, it was friends with for years, and you know,
it was a place again to like feel like okay,
like I'm belonging, belonging, right. So one night Bad calls me, like, hey,
come back for dinner tonight in the middle of the week.
It was like a Wednesday, and and I had not
told anybody about this audition, right. I was like, I'm
(15:03):
not gonna say anything about this audition till I know
what the end result is. And I hadn't gotten the end.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
And that's the rule of thumb, by the way, just
to yourself.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And like, so I get a call come in for dinner.
So I sit down with Brad and I'm there at
a big table with him in about I don't know
eight other people and they're all adults, successful people, you know.
I mean, this was like one of the hottest restaurants
in town. And Brad's friends were all doing it or
they're all you know, they were probably in their forties
at the time, and they were like experienced and you know,
(15:33):
but I'm being invited to the table. We're having conversation
and they're talking about their careers, business things, things that
are going on for them. And it comes to my turn.
Somebody turns like at them, so, you know, what's up?
What's going on? You know, what are you up to?
And I'm like, shit, man, I didn't have shit else
to talk about. I'm like, we talk about this this
house that I showed somebody in Riverside, like earlier that day.
(15:53):
I'm like, uh, I said, well, I'm like, I'm gonna
let the cat out the bag. Fuck it, right, I'm like, yeah,
I had this audition for a Stephen Boschko pilot about
ten days ago, and you know, I was like, I
went in there, I did my best. I was like,
but I think I blew it. And I have no
point of reference to get any feed. But I'm just
telling them what's on my mind. Right. They're like, oh, man,
well you got to stick with it. It's you know,
(16:15):
it's all good for the process. About five minutes after
I talk about this, man, my pager goes off. This
is how old. There's a long cage. My pager goes off,
and I look at the number, and I thought I
was fly because I had an eight hundred number for
my pager, right, so anybody could die that page, right,
and they didn't need any quarters up for your call, right balling.
(16:38):
So I look at the number and it's and I
was waiting to see this number. It was three one
oh uh you know, uh six six there was the
Fox exchange right, and I'm like, oh, this was the number.
I was three six nine three one oh three six
nine something some something. And I was like, I knew
it was from Boshko's office. So I get on there.
I'm like, oh shit. I get up from the table.
(16:59):
I go to the payphone. I call casting as system
picks up. His name was Scott Jenkinsjer and he's like, Adam,
are you available to come in to read for Steven tomorrow?
And I'm like, yeah, of course I'll be there.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Now, you have a fax machine because we're going to
send your Yeah, yeah, no.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I had the scenes. It was the same It was
the same scenes, same scene right. Luckily because for the
ten days, bro I was going over that scene every
single day, one hundred times a day. I was reliving
my chance, you know what I mean. It was like
I was reliving it because I thought I blew it.
So I was like, man, I would have done this anyway.
(17:37):
Your chance is actually now coming tomorrow. So I got
to go the next day, man, And it was the
first time I auditioned. There were a lot of people
at this time there were less and maybe like it
was down to like fifteen twenty people. Maybe when I
got there.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
You recognize anyone that was in the room.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I feel like nobody that I knew well at the time,
but I feel like Yancey Arias was there. Yancey is
the one that comes to mind when I think if
there were any familiar faces, but Yancey and I would
run into each other. I'd see him a commercial auditions
and stuff in New York. Yeah, yeah, I don't. Yancey
comes up. Yancey comes to mind. I don't remember who
(18:16):
else maybe, but I go in. It's my turn, and
I just felt so prepared, like I already felt like
I had lost. So I was like, fuck it, man,
like I just let go and.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
You quite literally lost it once. So this is just
like gravy yep.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Scene, And I mean I got applause at the end.
People in the room were like, wow, that was great,
and I just felt I was beaming inside because all
I wanted to do was make a good impression, you
know what I mean? So I walked out. What was
the scene?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Like, what was the scene that you had to perform?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Oh? Man, I don't even remember, now, okay for the cop.
You were playing a cop? I was playing a cop.
There was an exchange with somebody, you know it. I
don't remember. I don't. I wish I could. Actually, I
would have walked out feeling like I walked out on
a high.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Even if I don't get it, I left it there.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I left an impression. I left an impression in that room,
Like I know, I didn't let build down because that
was my main thing. Like I didn't want to leave
these people that gave me a chance, that opened the door.
I didn't want to. I didn't want to let them
down on it, you know. So I felt like Bill
and David at least like I got my respect, you know,
like they didn't look foolish for bringing me in. So
I walked out, and I'm like, man, I remember going
(19:42):
to the bathroom, splashing some water on my face, smiling
like you feel good? I feel good now, I'm like
walking out and I'm leaving the building and the casting
system comes outside and say hey, Adam, Adam come back
and calls me back in.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I'm like, don't ever come back again.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
They weren't clapping because you were done, so like, okay,
well good luck. First of all, this is what you
call us.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
You're describing like the best standing to a romantic movie ever, right,
like them guns and direct him. So hey Adam, wait,
come wait.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Wait I stopped my checks. I'm like, oh, right, because
I got paused the pushing with the guy behind it.
You have that moment then turn around like yeah, you know,
brings me back in the office. He's like, just wait here.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
You ever come here again?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yo? You left your water whatever, you left your water again. Yes,
we're going to do you a favorite. We're not going
to tell any other time about this audition. So only
because you're a friend.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Yeah, you didn't clean up after yourself.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
You don't ever leave an audition without taking yourself. Clearly
you're a rookie. She comes out, She goes, Adam, it
was a guy because Scott the same guy that he
comes out. He comes out, he brings me back in
the office of a woman named Junie Lowry Johnson, who
was the casting director. A minute or two goes by.
She walks in and she looks at him. They look
(21:17):
at each other and they're like, you got the job.
And I'm like, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I say he told you there that day.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Oh my god. I mean, I'm like, I don't know
what to do. Man. I'm like, oh my god, this
is crazy. You know, I can feel it now. And
I'm like, wow, thank you, thank you, you know, and I
leave and I run to the first pay phone. I
call my mom. She's at work, you asking what my
father did for lifing. My mother worked for the United
Airlines for like thirty plus years, and she was the
(21:47):
ticket agent at like an off site ticket office. So
if you wanted to buy a ticket for United, you
would go to these offices and purchase the ticket there.
And she did that. I called her up and I
was like, hey, Ma. She's like, hey, what's up, Mama.
My work. I'm like, all right, you got a long line.
She was like yeah, it's crowded and a lot of
people here. I'm like great, perfect, because I was like,
you know, I want to see what her reaction was
(22:07):
going to be in front of all these people, and
it was on the other line, and I was like,
I got it. I got my first show, Mom, I
got I got on this show, you know. And she
was like, oh my god. You know she was happy.
Of course in the moment. I don't think she understood.
I always think we're doing you know so, But man,
I'll never forget being on that love that lot. Every
time I go to that lot, like it's just special
(22:28):
to me for that reason. Fox. Yeah, and so I Man,
I hang up the phone and I was like, man,
this is it, Like, you know, I got a job on,
like a series regular on a show.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
And this show had been already Greenland show had already
been green because it was Stephen Botschko at that time,
it was twenty two on the air.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
He was dumb, man, you know, he was remember remember
when you Taylor Sheridan. Yeah, I remember when I got paid. Man.
I remember doing the pilot, and I remember riding because
this is funny too. We shot in New York. Uh
and I am on the plane with uh. What was
(23:08):
that conversation. I had a conversation with somebody and they
were telling me like, oh, you're gonna make like twenty
five grand an episode or whatever at that time, you're
kidding me. I was like, usually I made ten thousand
for No No, and so I was thinking twenty five.
It turned out when it came down to the negotiation,
I made six grand an episode.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Wait wait, wait, that's that's before agent.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Fees and all I had no agent. I got this
with no agent.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
But I'm saying, like, you mean like six take home
or like six was the number?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Six was the number? Six was the neighbor? Yeah, but
I had no agent, so all I had to do
was pay tax, you know, which, look at that time,
no shit, twenty two episodes making over six figures at
that time was like yeah, crazy, you were like six
g I was like what I mean? You know, I
mean it was a slightly disappointing just because Bill called
(24:02):
me the contract. The whole negotiation with Bill basically said, look,
they're going to call you. The number is going to
be low. But I didn't know. He was like, but
you just take what it is, yes, because again it
was like getting on a Stephen Botchko pilot at that
time was also a big deal because it was like
it was like, you know, being on an Alan Ball Show.
Later on. You know what I mean, they had prestige,
(24:23):
there was there was like something to it.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So so questions. So you haven't said the name of
the show.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Oh, it's called Brooklyn South.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Brooklyn South.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
It was called Brooklyn South.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, you're na by night it was it on.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
It was on Monday nights at ten o'clock. It was
the first primetime show to ever get a TV m
A rating. Wow. Yeah, because the guy's head gets blown off.
Pieces fall show. It was a fall show. No, no,
it was a fall show. It was like the crown
jewel of CBS's lineup that year, that Monday night Slide
at ten o'clock was there. That was their premos.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
How long you've been working with CBS?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah? What wait? What year was that? What year? Nineteen
ninety seven?
Speaker 4 (25:14):
So you've been at CBS since ninety seven?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
That was nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
They've been good to you, man.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Yeah, yeah, man, all of it. You know, you realize like, yeah,
you know they you learn a lot.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Man, you know, how many seasons do you do there?
Speaker 2 (25:27):
So we only did one season and then the show
got canceled.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
And then and then you and then Wendy you snatch
up is at Miami. So that would that be your
next big break?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
I would, I mean big break. Yeah. But the next
thing that really kept me going was then iron Spelling
show in Between, and then I did and then I
did as it was called All Souls. It was it
was actually also All Souls. It was very cool shows.
It was it's kind of ahead of its time. Actually
it was a guy named Mark Frost that was one
(25:59):
of David Lynch's partners on Twin Peaks, had broken off
and created this show called All Souls and then it
aired on UPN and it just wasn't It wasn't right
for the network. And the show was kind of even
ahead of its time. It was about a haunted hospital
and it was really cool and it was really show.
(26:20):
But what did makes sense? It didn't exist yet. So
I lived in Montreal and I shot that, you know,
over the course of a year on and off or
ten months whatever it was. But then the next break
really was a show called Roswell, and I did the
third season of Roswell.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I remember when you had.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Catherine Heigel was my uh played my wife.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Yeah, And I remember rosswell super well. I remember when
he started because I was friends for half of that cast.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, they were good.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Be Brandon were redon.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Fair was on it, Jason Bear, Nick Weschler. Mahandra is
still a friend love Mahandra Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, Mahandra's great.
I actually the her and Brandan have a podcast that
I did at some time in the last day.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Very hits me up occasionally.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah, great, we do we got man, sweet guy.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
But yeah, it was like it was like the rise
of w B Yes, right, Dawson's Creek and then they
started this this thing and then Roswell was that first.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Like can we do a show up by Aliens?
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Yeah, around the X Files years and all that stuff.
And then I think it was what year was that
that show?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I joined that show two two thousand and one, so
then that show started ninety nine would have been the
first year I think for that show in ninety nine.
So those guys.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Excuse so I just that seventy show in ninety eight.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That's what I was going to ask you did is
that ninety eight that you started the Yeah that's Fall
of ninety eight premiere Fall of ninety eight.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Okay, yeah, damn yeah, So I remember bab Yeah, it
was so crazy, But that's insane.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
So Roswell was big games kept the ball moving, thank god,
because because I had I had bought my my my
first place, and I was like, man, I bought my
first place, had like two months of mortgage left in
the bank and counting on that Aaron Spelling Show and
then it got canceled, paying six grand though, and then freaking,
(28:18):
and then Roswell hit and kept me going, man. And
then when Roswell ended CSI, Miami came along and then
that was you know, that was really that took things
to another day.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
How many how many seasons did you do?
Speaker 2 (28:31):
We did ten seasons of cs and you were doing
twenty We did, I mean, depending most seasons, I would
say we did twenty two, twenty three. Couple one season
we did like twenty five or twenty six one year,
but I would say, yeah, average, we did twenty two.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
And it was one of those shows that really pop culturally,
elevated what procedure was What's gonna be?
Speaker 1 (28:53):
And the location was so sexy and the cast.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Was so bad, really set it apart. There was nothing
on TV. Yeah, we kind of you know, the original
the original CSI, I would say, you know, added something
to procedurals that hadn't existed, which is you know, shooting
those those those micro shots where they're like, you know,
(29:15):
get inside someensics. Part of it really like giving people
a visual.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Which was which just turns out the proof.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Which was amazing, right, But then Miami ratcheted it up
another level because it was such a beautiful backdrop for
the show. So now you had the you know, the
the intricate technical shots that were interesting visually, but then
set on top of this beautiful canvas that was Miami
with the with the beautiful orange and that the pink.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Over to breako the Fancis Hearts.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
It actually didn't shoot in Miami, shooted in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
We would go to Miami. The first five seasons, you
would go to Miami for some exterior Yeah, probably like
three times a year we would go to MIAMIB four.
We'd go down there for like some anywhere between eight
to twelve days, fourteen days, get exterior shots and shoot
some stuff right there and then come back to LA
And then I mean that was that was like.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Such an iconic role for you, you know, and yeah,
so cuside Miami was a moment and he started like
it put you in in household.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Numbers, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
What was your average ratings on that?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Oh man, those days.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
You were probably averaging what seventeen.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
MILLI easy, I want to say, in the early days,
we were probably up to twenty two, twenty three, twenty
ten million. Yes, and like those pre pre DVR, Yeah,
those numbers, we were still posting those kind of how
rad is.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
There for us to have a Latino on primetime hitting
twenty two million people a week and then saying like,
oh man, he's not only the he's not only the
young guy in there, but he's also like a badass
bro like you were killing it and making us all
little what.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I wish man? And you know, you grow older and
you look back on things with different perspectives, and I
wish that I would have understood the gravity of that
at the time. You know, you know, you're on a
big show and that feels good, but it's really only
with with time and distance, maturity, perspective, whatever you want
to say. It is like that you look back on
and go like, oh man, the magnitude I understand maybe
(31:14):
more now what that must have represented, you know, in
that moment, and what a great opportunity.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
We were all trying to keep the light on at
that point, you know, and I think the most in
that time, we don't understand the gravity when we do
the math of what pop culturally and culturally how it
kind of elevated the values of who we were on screen.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
Yes, and what it's led to, Adam, And and you've
continued to be a Latino leading man, and you've done
wonderful work since, whether it's magic mic, whether it is
criminal minds, whether whether it is all the stuff that critical.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Minds are available in paramount plus. Right now, that's.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Right, man, And I mean you're you're you're the guy
that Latino actors are looking at going like I grew
up watching that.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
They're also time like we need like an Adam Rodriguez type.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, hopefully that's a I always feel like that's a
dangerous thing because I'm like, well, is available, probably have
a thing that's what you want. But right, yeah, but
that's what you know.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
But that's one of the reasons why we wanted to
have you here, man, give you your flowers, and for
you to understand how important you've been for Latino culture,
for our industry. And and we're just so thrilled that
you're here to call you a friend, and and they're
very proud of the of the career that you've crafted.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
And what a beautiful thing right for us to have
grown up together in business, right, and and to have
you know, been fortunate enough to pave the paths that
we've paved, and and to still be here and still
be able to do something we love and to have
success at it, and and to be able to sit
around and talk about that journey is you know, uh man,
(32:56):
in a way, it's like it's a dream come true
or a dream you could never adam that you could have,
that you could have, you know.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
And so but look, we got to have you back
again because obviously, you know, we got to start doing
four parts there.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got We didn't even discratch the surface,
and I'm talking about it in all the amount of
stories we could sit around and yeah, crazy, crazy, we.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Didn't we have the leather pants conversation.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
We didn't. We didn't talk about adult shape.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
We didn't talk about meeting each other at that audition
yeah party by yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
All can attest by this episode, you're going to see
more about the Rodriguez next season for sure, But but
I don't thank you so much for being podcasts.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
No.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Hell, yeah, man, it's you know, we we waited for.
You know, this is hopefully a big season final, We'll hopefully,
but but yeah, but dude, thank you, thank you so
much for being part of this thing for us. It's
a very special podcast for us because we only want
to to people that kind of have changes and you know,
contributed and not only pop culture, but for for you know,
(34:05):
for us, for for for all of our brown brothers
and sisters. You know, so so thank you for being Sahiro.
I'm Wilmer Valdorama' Freddie Rodriguez and this is Amigos.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Dose Amigos is a production from w V Sound and
iHeartMedia's Michael through That Podcast Network, hosted by Me, Freddie
Rodriguez and Wilmer Valdorama.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burlson and Sophie Spencer Zabos.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
Our executive producers are Wilmer Valdorama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlson,
and Leo Klem at w V Sound.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
This episode was shot and eded it by Ryan Posts
and mixed by Sean Tracy and features original music by
Madison Devenport and Helo boy Our.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed by
Deny Holtz Clau.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
And thank you for being at Third Amigo today.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
I appreciate you guys always listening to those amigos.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
More podcasts from my Heart, visit the our Heart radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
See you next week.
Hosts And Creators
Wilmer Valderrama
Freddy Rodriguez
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