Alan Tudyk was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up in Plano, where he attended Plano Sr. High. In 1990, he went on to study drama at Lon Morris Jr. College. While there, he was awarded the Academic Excellence Award for Drama. He was also named Most Likely to Succeed and Sophomore Beau. During this time, Alan was also an active member of the Delta Psi Omega fraternity. After leaving LMJC, Alan went on to study at the prestigious Juilliard conservatory but left in 1996 before earning a degree. After a number of smaller stage productions and a small role in the movie _Patch Adams in the successful musical "Spamalot." He lives in New York City but also has a place in Los Angeles, California
Alans most prized possession was a 1964 Mustang, which he named Old Sock.
Threw a we-dont-work-for-Fox-anymore party for the cast and crew of the short-lived TV series "Firefly" after he heard that it was canceled.
Didnt go to his senior prom because the girl he was planning to take two-timed him with another guy and got pregnant.
According to the rest of the "Firefly" cast, he was consistently the worst speaker of Chinese on the show. He attributes this to having to learn long and complicated phrases such as "Mother of God and all her wacky nephews" in Mandarin.
In preparing for the role of Sonny in the film I, Robot , he studied dance, movement, and mime to accurately portray movement that was programmed in. His work was captured with motion-capture technology.
To prepare for the role of Steve the Pirate in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story , he joined a group of pirate role players called the Rumrunners and spent a week at Pirate Camp.
According to the "War Stories" (1x09) episode commentary, when he couldnt remember the Chinese dialogue for "Firefly" , he would just make it up and hope no one noticed.
In the Firefly episode "Out of Gas" (1x05) Wash wires up a large, red button for the captain to press if he needs the crew to return to the ship. When he shows it to Mal he says, "When your miracle gets here, just hit this button." When Alan left the "Firefly" set after the series was canceled, he took that button as a keepsake. When Joss Whedon announced that he would be searching for a way to bring the show back as either a series or a feature film, Alan sent him the button with a note that said, again, "When your miracle gets here, just hit this button.".
While in college, Alan was active in the Delta Psi Omega fraternity.
Alan filled in for Hank Azaria in the Broadway show "Spamalot" while the latter was filming the second season of "Huff" and working on the 17th season of "The Simpsons" . Actress Sara Ramirez , another performer in the production at this time, was in Alans class (Group 26) at Juilliard.
Smokey and the Bandit is his favorite movie.
As a nod to his character in "Firefly" and Serenity , Alan can be heard in Halo 3 swearing in Chinese, quickly followed by "I wish I was someone else right now!".
In the commentary for both A Knights Tale and Knocked Up the directors mention having to give Alan the role due to his improvisation in the audition, His "your entrails will become your extrails" in A Knights Tale and his whole "Tighter" bit in Knocked Up.
In 1984, he performed in the Haggard Middle School (Plano, Texas) play Aesops Fables as the Fox and won UIL regional best duet acting with, now internationally famous musician, Karl Poetschke. They performed excerpts from Neil Simons "The Odd Couple". Alan played Felix.
Has a star tattoo on his back, which can be seen in Conception and Meet Market .
Auditioned for the role of Michael on "The Office" .
Has two female dogs, Raisin and Clara.
He is of Polish Jewish ancestry on his fathers side. "Tudyk" or "Tudik" comes from "Tsudek", which is Poylisher Yiddish for "Tzedek", although whether his name is kohanic (for Tzadok ben Achituv) or a general designation of righteous ancestry is unclear. He is also matrilineally English, German, Scottish, French, and Dutch ancestry.
(May 2005) Has been cast in the Broadway production of Monty Pythons Spamalot. He replaces Hank Azaria who is leaving in early June to film a second season of his Showtime television series Huff!.
(July 2005) Now playing Lancelot on Broadway in Spamalot.
(December 2005) ended role of Lancelot on Broadways production of Spamalot.
(February 2007) Playing the lead in "Prelude To A Kiss" on Broadway.
Last name is pronounced "too-dick".
During the filming of Trumbo, he entertained his on-screen son, Elijah Miskowski, and the other kids on set by performing his voice work from Frozen, Ice Age and Wreck It Ralph.
