Name: Adam Rodriguez

Birthplace: Near Yonkers, NY. "I grew up not too far from there in a town called New City, New York," says Adam.

How You Know Him: Adam has starred in two short-lived TV shows--Brooklyn South and All Souls--and made several TV guest appearances. He also appeared as Eric the sleazy record executive who put the moves on Julie on Felicity and starred in Jennifer Lopez's video for "If You Had My Love." This season, he joins the cast of Roswell, playing Isabel's love interest.

Family: Adam has a younger sister named Vanessa. She has a degree in education from NYU, but currently works as a mutual fund analyst.

School Days: Growing up, Adam wasn't exactly studious. "In high school, I didn't want to be there really," admits Adam. "I had an amazing time with my friends and stuff, but I was just disinterested. I wasn't very focused." After graduation, Adam went to community college for a little while, but didn't particularly enjoy that either.

Pre-Acting Gig: Believe it or not, before he was an actor, Adam was a stock broker! "I was 19, and I actually got a job at a brokerage house," says Adam. Luckily, (for us anyway) he had a change of heart. "I kind of knew that I wanted to start acting. I had taken some classes a little bit and studied with a few people, so I kind of knew that I really liked it," says Adam. "And right before I was gonna get my license to be a stock broker, I just woke up one day and said, 'What am I doing? Why am I wasting my time? If I want to act, then that's what I should be doing.'" And the rest is history, sort of.

Paying His Dues: When he decided he want to be a professional actor, Adam did what every aspiring star does: He sent out head shots and began working as an extra. After about a year and a half, Adam's dad decided to help out...

Big Break: "In 1996, my father reached out to a friend [he'd had while] in the military," says Adam. "He used to be a detective, and he was a technical consultant on NYPD Blue. He's now actually one of the executive producers."

Not a bad friend for your dad to have! Adam, his father's friend and his father's friend's partner really hit it off. "They were doing a show called Brooklyn South," Adam continues. "And they suggested that I come in and read [it.] So I came in along with 400 other guys and read and I ended up getting it. And that was my big break into the business."

After that, Adam's career really started to take off. He got an agent and started going on real auditions. "Brooklyn South was really my first big audition for anything, so I didn't even really know what the whole audition process was about. You know, how to go and work a room and just be comfortable with the whole thing of auditioning," says Adam. "So it's taken a couple of years, and little by little I'm getting the hang of it more and more and working more and more, and here I am on Roswell." Well, good for him!

Playing the Guest Villain: Adam is bummed that his character on Felicity, Eric Kidd, turned out to be such a jerk. "I was trying to play the nice guy, and then they just made me play the bad guy. I didn't want to be a dirtbag." Adam actually still gets recognized from his brief role. "It's so funny, I was in Canada when I was doing All Souls, and I went to Ben & Jerry's to get an ice cream cone. The girl [behind the counter] is looking at me funny, and I'm like, 'Is everything all right?' And she was like, 'I don't know. I know you from somewhere, and I feel that I shouldn't like you.' And I said, 'Why would you say something like that?' And she said, 'I don't know. Are you an actor?' And I said, 'Yeah,' and she said, 'Oh, I knew it. Were you on Felicity?' And I said, 'Uh huh,' and she was like, 'Oh I knew it! I knew I shouldn't like you. I knew there was a reason why I shouldn't like you.' She was like, 'You're a jerk!' So we're sitting there cracking up, and she ended up becoming my buddy. I would go to that ice cream store all the time. It was funny."

That Video Guy: Adam also appeared in J. Lo's extremely popular "If You Had My Love," video. "I was the guy in the computer," says Adam. "It was a good time."

Actually, at first, Adam was pretty reluctant to do the video. "I didn't want to do a video, but [Jennifer and I] were friends through a mutual friend. So she called and asked me to do the video, and I was like, all right."

In the end, Adam had a great time shooting the video, but had no idea how big it would be. Of course , it was huge.

"That summer, my little cousin and all her friends played it non-stop."

The "New Guy" on Roswell: Adam is really happy with his new gig on Roswell. "It's a lot of fun," he says. "I play Jesse, an attorney who graduated from Harvard law school with honors, spent some time in New York and comes back to see my mother and kinda check in on her. In doing that, I end up meeting Isabel, and we fall in love. I stay [in Roswell] a lot longer than planned because I fall in love with this girl."

Secret Lovers: Turns out, the romance between Isabel and Jesse is a big secret, at least at first. Isabel is a little freaked, explains Adam. "She's afraid that if any of the other aliens find out or if anybody finds out, something will happen to me or that I'll get killed." Oh, and there's just one other thing, "I work for her father, and she doesn't know how to tell him that either," says Adam. "So there's a lot going on there." Oh Isabel, you naughty girl! Don't worry though, he'll meet the rest of the gang eventually, "She does tell him eventually, and you're gonna have to watch and see what happens," teases Adam.

Fitting In with the Group: Adam is starting to get to know the cast a little better, although he hasn't gotten to work with most of them yet. "Little by little I'm getting to spend more time with each of them." he says. "I spend the majority of my time with Katie Heigl, and she's fantastic. She's a super-sweetheart and a very, very talented actress." He's even been hanging with former cast members. "On this last episode that we did [Collin Hanks] came back for a guest [shot], and he was a very cool guy. We had a lot of fun, a lot of laughs."

Thanks to the Fans: Even though he's new to the show, Adam's really grateful to all the die-hard fans. "We've been filming on location out in Covina, California, and the fans out there they come out to show their support and take pictures and autographs," says Adam. "They really get into the show." Adam kind of owes the fans his job, after all, and he knows it. "There was a huge outpouring from what I understand. The fans sending in faxes with Tabasco labels and stuff. There was just a huge outpouring of love from the fans, and they definitely saved the day." Nice work guys.

Sci-Fi Fan?: While Adam's not a big buff, he does enjoy the genre. "I do like science fiction because the possibilities are kind of limitless," Adam says, "And I like that. It gives you a chance to do things you normally wouldn't get an opportunity to do. You know, read people's minds and melt walls with your hand and just do crazy stuff. It's pretty cool."

Future Dreams: Adam is really psyched about his new job on Roswell, but ultimately he wants to be on the big screen. "I wanna do movies," he says. "I mean, TV's great. It's steady work, and if you get a cool cast of people to work with, it can be a lot of fun, but movies are what I really want to do. That's what I'm shooting for. I wanna be a movie star." Good luck Adam. We hope you get your wish. Roswell premieres October 9th on UPN.