From crime dramas to the big screen, everyone has always loved Adam Rodríguez.
The actor, best known for his work on CSI: Miami and now Criminal Minds, is celebrating his 51st birthday on Thursday. Born and raised in Yonkers, New York, by a Puerto Rican/Cuban dad and mom, Rodríguez turned his attention to acting when he was a teenager. Initially, he hoped to be a professional baseball player, but a high school injury prevented him from pursuing that dream.
Throughout the 1990s, Rodríguez appeared in various films and TV shows, including The X-Files, Brooklyn South, Law & Order, Felicity, Roswell, NYPD Blue and was featured in music videos for multiple singers, including 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Jennifer Lopez and more. While taking those smaller acting gigs, Rodriguez worked as a stockbroker.
Adam Rodríguez attends 2026 Lexus UPTOWN Honors Hollywood at Sunset Room Hollywood on March 11, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.Paras Griffin/WireImage
(Paras Griffin/WireImage)
Rodríguez got his big break in 2002 when he joined the original cast of CSI: Miami alongside David Caruso and Emily Proctor. Playing Detective Eric Delko, the series was a spinoff of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and follows a team of forensic investigators with the Miami-Dade Police Department led by Lt. Horatio Caine (Caruso). The show aired for 10 seasons on CBS, and his role led him to win a Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actor: Action and an ALMA Award in 2012.
Two years after CSI: Miami ended, the actor starred in Magic Mike alongside Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello and Matthew McConaughey. The comedy followed Adam (Pettyfer), who entered the male stripping industry after dropping out of college at 19 years old. Though Magic Mike is very different from his role on CSI: Miami, Rodriguez told NBC Latino in 2012 that the script had “depth and substance” and something he “really understood.”
“I think there’s more story to this movie that people might expect,” he told the publication. “At 19, I decided to become an actor. I was working as a stockbroker, and I had a moment where I was sitting in the office when I realized that I could spend the next 20 years in an office working away. No one in that office there looked happy and I knew working there was something I didn’t really want to do. I had to make a decision to leave and chase what I wanted. When I read the Magic Mike script, I realized that there were guys who didn’t have that moment of epiphany. And so being able to bring my experience to the story was really great.”
Rodriguez returned for the two other installments for the Magic Mike series, released in 2015 and 2023, respectively, reprising his role as Tito.
Channing Tatum, Kevin Nash, Adam Rodriguez, Joe Manganiello and Matt Bomer pretend to take off their clothes during Warner Bros. Pictures presents The Big Picture during CinemaCon 2015 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on April 21, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gabe Ginsberg/WireImage
(Gabe Ginsberg/WireImage)
Over the past few years, Rodriguez has been featured in many TV shows as a recurring character, including Jane the Virgin, Empire and Ordinary Joe. From 2016 to 2020 and from 2022 to now, he has starred as Luke Alvez in Criminal Minds, another police drama that has been airing on CBS since 2005.
All seasons of CSI: Miami and Criminal Minds can be streamed on Pluto or Hulu.
Related: Iconic 2000s Actress, With 7 Teen Choice Awards, Turns 41
This story was originally published by Parade on Apr 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the Celebs section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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