Alan Tudyk On New Show 'Resident Alien' & Growing Up In Plano: 'I Loved Texas'
(CBS Local)-- Actor Alan Tudyk has come a long way since his humble beginnings in Plano, Texas. Tudyk famously played Steve the Pirate in the movie "Dodgeball" and has been a voice actor for movies like "Ice Age" and shows like "Family Guy," "American Dad" and "Robot Chicken." The Plano Senior High School grad is now the star of a new show coming to Syfy called "Resident Alien," that debuts this weekend.
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Tudyk and his wife recently moved to Canada after he shot "Resident Alien" in Vancouver. The actor is excited to be the lead of this new series and blend the genres of drama and comedy.
"It seems shallow of me to say I'm the lead, but it is different," said Tudyk, in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "There's a difference and I wish there wasn't as big of a difference. When you are the lead, your contribution to the thing is going to be larger. Your investment is more and you feel more responsible for it and there's a lot more opportunity to have fun and shape the show. More of your voice as an artist gets put into a project. It's a really good show. It's a dramedy and it's one of my favorite things. There's a lot of comedy in this. There's almost more comedy than drama. You're laughing along and then you'll get a moment."
While Tudyk has been in a lot of big movies and TV shows, one of his most memorable performances came in 2004 when he played Steve the Pirate in the comedy "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story." The actor says he still has people who recognize him on the street for that part all these years later.
"When I first read that script, I was pretty dumb about it. I was doing I, Robot at the time and I got the script and I read it. I read it and liked a different role. It was one of the other dodgeballers. I told my manager that it was good and I said if they cut that pirate, I think this might be a hit," said Tudyk. "My manager said read it again and read specifically for the pirate because that's who they are interested in you reading for. I went in for the audition and there were all these really good actors auditioning. Patrick Warburton was there and some guys were dressed up as full on pirates and I wore a blousy shirt. I met Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn and we were improving. It was all about saying garrr at the right time."
Tudyk's career has taken him all over the world, but Texas will always hold a special place in his heart.
"As I'm getting older, my Texas accent is coming back," said Tudyk. "I loved Texas. My dad was a farmer originally and my mother and my grandparents were in the cattle business with some farming and oil. They both moved away from where they grew up and met and my family was a bit removed in the suburbs near Dallas. Every summer, we would go back near San Antonio and visit and it was just the best time. It was the little bitty town of Charlotte, Texas. We'd work at the icehouse and shoot guns and I entered a junior rodeo once and thank God it was rained out."
Watch all of DJ Sixsmith's interviews from "The Sit-Down" series here.
