Ivan Rodriguez

Ivan Alejandro Rodriguez Jr. was born in Hialeah, FL, to real estate agents Omaida Hernandez and Ivan Alejandro Rodriguez Sr. His parents are first generation Americans who immigrated from Cuba in 1994. Ivan is the first in his family to be born in the United States. As early as the age of 4 Ivan showed an interest in acting, and so his parents signed him up for acting classes at "La Academia de Rachel" in Miami, FL. There he met theatre director Ivette Larralde and they collaborated on her next project "La Cucarachita Martina Llego a Miami!" (2006), a play inspired by many different Spanish fables. It marked his theatre debut as "El Perrito Enfermero", a dog-nurse who takes care of the lead's romantic interest after he falls into a boiling pot. After appearing in a couple of commercials he took a 5 year hiatus from acting before entering high school. He attended John A. Ferguson Senior High School where he studied theatre and film. There, he learned to do many different jobs from the theatre and film industry and discovered a passion for writing and directing as well. He also starred in several plays and short films, including "Twelfth Night" (2016), "Legally Blonde: The Musical" (2017), "The Struggles" (2017), and "All Out!" (2018) to name a few. He won the "District 8 Thespians Best Supporting Comedic Actor" award for his performance of Charles Ritter, a middle-aged game show contestant who is bitter at life for not having money, in the play "All Out!" at the 2018-2019 International Thespian Society One Act Festival. He also won the "Best Actor" award for his performance of Peter, a man who has reached his tipping point, in the short film "Cereal Killer" (2018) at the 2018 Ferguson Film Festival. During the summer of 2018, he studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City. He is part of the class of 2020 at the T. Schreiber Acting Studio's One Year Conservatory program in New York City.