Rodney Manuel Roldan was born and raised in New York, NY. After high school, Rodney joined the U.S. Navy where he served as an Electricians Mate on several sea going commands as well as shore duty for special detachments for ten years, rising to the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class. His Navy service included two sea service deployments in the Mediterranean and Arabian Seas, several humanitarian operations in the Caribbean Sea, humanitarian operations in the Ukraine and Black Sea, and a member of the inspection teams that enforced the blockade of weapons into Iraq.
After serving ten years active duty in the U.S. Navy, Rodney joined the U.S. Army Reserve in Los Angeles, CA while pursuing a career in performing arts. He attended Defense Information School at Ft Meade, MD where he became a U.S. Army Broadcast Journalist. Shortly after graduating from Defense Information School, he deployed to Afghanistan, as a field reporter for American Forces Network (AFN) Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Rodney also deployed to Baghdad, Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve as well as additional assignments in Poland and Germany.
He is a television, film and stage actor with current membership in both professional acting unions; Screen Actors Guild-American Federation for Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Actors Equity Association (AEA). Since he began his acting and filmmaking career, he has worked on several film, television, commercial, and stage productions that include, Imperium (2016), Fatal Attraction (2022-2023), Storm of Suspicion (2023), The Wire (2006), A Gifted Man (2011), and the stage productions’ M*A*S*H (2006), and Ghetto Babylon (2013).
Rodney’s education includes Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Communication and Web Media Design from the University of Maryland University College, and Certificate of Completion of Stella Adler Studio of Acting’s 2 Year Conservatory Program in Performing Arts, Master of Arts in Visual Communication from Liberty University and is currently working on his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at Liberty University.
In 2015 he began working on a World War II documentary project, which sparked his interest in writing, narrating, and directing documentaries. Since then, he has worked on several projects to include most recently, ‘Country and Courage', which is a feature-length documentary that looks at the history of Veteran’s Day, the experiences of U.S. Army veterans, veteran programs, and the works of William Shakespeare in relation to the mindset and trauma experienced by soldiers. Country and Courage has won several awards to include a Communicator award and three Telly awards in 2022.
