‘Resident Alien’ Star Alan Tudyk’s 9 Most Far-Out Roles
A violent medieval squire, a smuggling spaceship pilot, a pirate dodgeball player, deadly androids in two different blockbusters — Alan Tudyk has range.
The Emmy-nominated performer, whose roles defy categorization, sidesteps typecasting with a finesse other actors would kill for. It’s no surprise he landed the starring role in Resident Alien; his elastic face and skill at voicing characters (in American Dad, Rick and Morty, and more) makes him the perfect person to play someone who’s literally out of this world.
Click through the gallery to see 9 more of Tudyk’s most far-out roles in a career that’s been filled with them.
Wat in ‘A Knight’s Tale’ (2001)
As Tudyk’s squire character meets Chaucer (Paul Bettany) in this medieval comedy film, he can’t exactly match the poet’s gift with words. “Betray us, and I will ‘fong’ you, until your insides are out, your outsides are in, your entrails will become your ex-trails,” he tells Chaucer, stuttering. “Pain! Lots of pain!”
Hoban “Wash” Washburne in ‘Firefly’ (2002)
In Joss Whedon’s short-lived Fox space western — and its 2005 big-screen continuation, Serenity — Tudyk played the titular spacecraft’s pilot, who favored Hawaiian shirts over flight suits.
Steve Cowan in ‘DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story’ (2004)
As gym owner Peter (Vince Vaughn) assembles a ragtag dodgeball team to save his business in this big-screen sports comedy, he recruits gym member Steve, played by Tudyk, who’s stuck in a pirate persona.
Sonny in ‘I, Robot’ (2004)
Moviegoers got a double dose of Tudyk in the summer of 2004. In this film adaptation of the classic Isaac Asimov story, the actor provided the voice and the motion capture performance for Sonny, a humanoid robot who tries to convince Will Smith’s detective character that he didn’t commit murder.
Alpha in ‘Dollhouse’ (2009)
Tudyk worked with Whedon again, this time playing a “doll” gone rogue — and experiment gone haywire.
Noah Werner in ‘Suburgatory’ (2011–2014)
In this ABC sitcom, Tudyk played a dentist who lures best friend George (Jeremy Sisto) out of the city and into the land of McMansions and cul-de-sacs.
Reagan Biscayne in ‘Newsreaders’ (2014–2015)
60 Minutes, eat your heart out. Tudyk played Reagan Biscayne in the second season of this Adult Swim comedy, a spoof on newsmagazine shows.
K-2SO in ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ (2016)
Tudyk once again performed motion capture for a big-screen blockbuster, this time as the droid K-2SO a.k.a. “Kayto” in the first installment of the Star Wars spinoff anthology.
Mr. Nobody in ‘Doom Patrol’ (2019)
The Texas native played supervillain Eric Morden a.k.a. Mr. Nobody, who is so omniscient that he’s aware he’s in an TV show.
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