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 (1998), Alan landed his first Broadway role in 1999 with "Epic Proportions." He quickly became a sought-after comedic actor, with roles in such films as 28 Days (2000) and A Knight's Tale (2001).

In 2002, Alan got the role of Wash, the wise-cracking pilot of Serenity on the short-lived series Firefly (2002). Although it lasted only eleven episodes, this may be Alan's most well-known and best-loved role. No other networks would buy the failed series, but Universal Pictures began courting creator Joss Whedon to produce a big-screen version of the series. While awaiting the final news of Firefly's fate, Alan played the beloved Steve the Pirate in the movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) and the voice of the robot Sonny in I, Robot (2004).

In 2005, Alan finally reprised the role of Wash in Serenity (2005), the feature-film version of the series Firefly. The same year, he went back to Broadway from June to November, taking over the role of Lancelot for Hank Azaria in the successful musical "Spamalot."

Charissa Barton (24 September 2016 - present)

Trivia

Alan's most prized possession was a 1964 Mustang, which he named Old Sock.
Threw a we-don't-work-for-Fox-anymore party for the cast and crew of the short-lived TV series Firefly (2002) after he heard that it was canceled.
Didn't 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 (2002) 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 (2004), 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 (2004), 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 couldn't remember the Chinese dialogue for Firefly (2002), 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 (2002) 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 (2004) and working on the 17th season of The Simpsons (1989). Actress Sara Ramirez, another performer in the production at this time, was in Alan's class (Group 26) at Juilliard.

I was a real ham as a child. I'd insist on dressing up as a cowboy whenever the family went out for dinner. In high school, I was a menace. I'd fake nose bleeds and fainting spells to panic my teachers.
There aren't too many new actors like Alan Arkin or Gene Hackman who exist on their own frequency, do things in a way that nobody else could get away with. Those are the people who are inspirational to me.
In high school I wanted to be a hotel manager. If you're an actor, you don't have any money and I wanted to have a wife and children. Now I'm an actor with money but I still don't have a wife and children!