Romany Malco

Romany Malco
Malco at the premiere of Baby Mama at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.
Born
Romany Romanic Malco Jr.

(1968-11-18) November 18, 1968 (age 56)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • producer
  • rapper
  • screenwriter
Years active1988–present
Spouse
Taryn Dakha
(m. 2008; div. 2016)
Children1

Romany Romanic Malco Jr.[1] (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and music producer. He has been nominated for several awards, including an NAACP Image Award, MTV Movie Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. In film, he is best known for his roles in The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Baby Mama (2008), Think Like a Man (2012) and its sequel Think Like a Man Too (2014), and The DUFF (2015). In television, he is best known for portraying Conrad Shepard on the Showtime series Weeds (2005–2012) and Rome Howard on the ABC series A Million Little Things (2018–2023). He is also known for writing the rap lyrics for the character of MC Skat Kat in "Opposites Attract".[2]

Personal life

Malco was born in Brooklyn, New York.[3] His family is from Trinidad and Tobago.[1]

As a young boy, Malco moved to Baytown, Texas, and he attended Ross S. Sterling High School.[4]

Malco served in the United States Marine Corps from 1987 to 1991.[5]

In 2008, he married former ice skater Taryn Dakha, the stunt/body double for Jessica Alba. They met in 2007 on the set of the 2008 film The Love Guru.[6]

In 2015, Malco decided to move to Puerto Rico while filming Mad Dogs there. During an interview on ABC's The Chew, Malco said he "couldn't leave" and that living on the island made him feel he was "living the dream".[7]

Malco has a son, born in 2021.[8]

Music career

After high school graduation, Malco formed the rap group R.M.G. The group moved to Los Angeles and signed a deal with Virgin Records in 1991. The group's name was changed to College Boyz. The single "Victim of the Ghetto", off their 1992 album Radio Fusion Radio, went to #2 on the rap charts.[9]

Malco is often mistakenly credited for performing one of the raps as MC Skat Kat on the Grammy award–winning "Opposites Attract", a duet with Paula Abdul. On October 29, 2013, Malco told Wendy Williams that he wrote the rap, but did not perform it. He mentioned running into Paula Abdul and asking her, "Who keeps telling people that I'm the cat?" and she responded, "I do, it makes a better story." Malco said that Derrick "Delite" Stevens was the one that rapped the duet with Abdul.[10]

Acting career

Malco was working as a music producer on The Pest when John Leguizamo, impressed by his dynamic personality, encouraged Romany to pursue acting. He went then played Jay in Judd Apatow's 2005 film The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Conrad Shepard in the Showtime television series Weeds. He played supporting roles in films such as Blades of Glory, The Love Guru, and Baby Mama.

He appeared in 2011's A Little Bit of Heaven and the Gulliver's Travels adaptation. In the fall of 2010, Malco appeared as a member of the ABC primetime one-hour drama No Ordinary Family. He also appeared as a guest host on the popular YouTube series, Equals Three, on the episode "T-Painful".

In 2013, he played a concierge in the movie Last Vegas, alongside Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, and Michael Douglas.[11]

Malco played Rome Howard on the ABC series A Million Little Things until the series ended.[12]

Criticism of the media

On July 17, 2013, Malco wrote a piece for the Huffington Post on the Trayvon Martin verdict. In it, he chastised the media for sensationalizing the verdict to improve their ratings. Malco stated "Hundreds of Blacks die annually in South Side Chicago without even a blurb. Trayvon isn't in the mainstream news for any reason other than ratings and profit. The news coverage on the Zimmerman case almost implies that the killing of this young Black man is somehow an anomaly and I resent that." He also criticized the negative images of Black people by the same media that now purported to side with Martin. Malco called for an end to reinforcing negative stereotypes from within the Black community and suggests that "education, introspection, self-love and excellence are the only ways to overcome the wrath of ignorance".[13]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1989 Opposites Attract Taboo (voice) Video short
1990 Skat Strut Taboo (voice) Video short
1992 Big Time Taboo (voice) Video short
1999 Urban Menace Syn
Corrupt Snackbar Dude
2000 The Wrecking Crew Chewy
The Prime Gig Zeke
2001 The Château Allen Rex Granville
Ticker T.J.
2002 White Boy Mike Robinson
The Tuxedo Mitch
2004 True Vinyl Nite Owl
Churchill: The Hollywood Years Denzil Eisenhower
2005 The 40-Year-Old Virgin Jay Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team (shared with Steve Carell, Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd)
2006 The Ex Dr. Hakeem Oliver
2007 Blades of Glory Jesse
2008 Baby Mama Oscar Priyan
The Love Guru Darren Roanoke
2010 Saint John of Las Vegas Virgil
Gulliver's Travels Young Hank
2011 A Little Bit of Heaven Peter Cooper
2012 Think Like a Man Zeke Freeman
2013 Last Vegas Lonnie
2014 Think Like a Man Too Zeke Freeman
Top Five Benny Barnes
2015 The DUFF Principal Buchanon
2016 When The Bough Breaks Todd
Almost Christmas Christian Meyers
2018 Tijuana Jackson: Purpose Over Prison Tijuana Jackson Also writer and director
Night School Jaylen
2019 Holiday Rush Rashon "Rush" Williams

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1998 Touched by an Angel Bulldog Episode: "Redeeming Love"
For Your Love Frank "Heavyhands" Cato Episode: "The Hair Club for Men"
2000–2001 Level 9 Jerry Hooten Series regular
2001 Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story MC Hammer Television movie
2003 Miss Match Master Z Episode: "Jive Turkey"
2005–2008, 2012 Weeds Conrad Shepard Series regular in seasons 1–3, season 8 guest star
2006 American Dad! Skittle/Refugee/Hot Rod Voice only, episode: "Camp Refoogee"
2009 Bored to Death Gay Male Escort Episode: "The Case of the Lonely White Dove"
2010–2011 No Ordinary Family George St. Cloud Series regular
2011 Funny or Die Presents Tijuana Jackson 3 episodes
Prison Logic Tijuana Jackson 10 episodes
The Good Wife Justin Coyne 3 episodes
2012 Unsupervised Darius Series regular, voice only
2013 Real Husbands of Hollywood Himself 2 episodes
2014 Key & Peele Johnson Family Member Episode: "Alien Impostors"
2015–2016 Blunt Talk Bob Gardner 12 episodes
Mad Dogs Gus Series regular
2018–2023 A Million Little Things Rome Howard Series regular

Podcasts

Year Title Role Notes
2011 NSFW Show Tijuana Jackson Guest star, episode #77: "The Science of Triumph"
2012 NSFW Show Self Guest star, episode #122: "The Belt Guru"
The Nerdist Podcast Self Guest star, episode #199: "Romany Malco"
Juan Epstein Podcast Self Guest star, season #4 episode #12: "Romany Malco (The Black Guy from Everything) and Anthony Jeselnik"
Equals Three Self Guest Host, episode 'T-Painful': "Romany Malco"
2014 Sklarbro Country Self Guest, episode #202: "Romany Malco, David Huntsberger"
WTF with Marc Maron Self Guest, episode # 509: "Romany Malco"
2016 Night Attack Self Guest, episode # 135: "Prison Logic Attack (w/ Romany Malco)"
Guys We F****d Self Guest, episode "How would you wear breaks off a p***y?"

Awards and nominations

Nominations

Image Awards

  • 2008 – Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Weeds)
  • 2007 – Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Weeds)

MTV Movie Awards

Screen Actors Guild Awards

  • 2007 – Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (Weeds)

References

  1. ^ a b Ordoña, Michael (January 28, 2010). "Romany Malco, 'Saint John of Las Vegas'". Los Angeles Times.
  2. ^ Romany Malco interview, Wendy Williams Show, October 29, 2013.
  3. ^ Markazi, Arash (June 9, 2008). "Q&A with The Love Guru's Romany Malco". Sports Illustrated. CNN. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  4. ^ "Actor Baytonian Romany Malco tells Lee College students to seek purpose in life". chron.com. November 14, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  5. ^ Abrams, Tamar (25 April 2013). "Actor Romany Malco Visits Troops, Returns a Changed Man". HuffPost. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  6. ^ Markazi, Arash (2008-06-09). "Q&A: Romany Malco". SI. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  7. ^ Malco, Romany (January 16, 2016). "Due for Reinvention". Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  8. ^ Grant, Jasmine (February 9, 2021). "Actor Romany Malco Welcomes His First Child". Essence. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  9. ^ Malone, Chris (February 23, 2021). "Romany Malco Was a Rapper Who Worked With Paula Abdul Before He Became an Actor". Showbiz CheatSheet. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  10. ^ Malco, Romany (October 29, 2013). The Wendy Williams Show (Talk show). YouTube.
  11. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Romany Malco on 'Last Vegas' and His Craziest Sin City Story". Essence. 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  12. ^ Maas, Jennifer (2022-11-07). "'A Million Little Things' to End With Season 5 at ABC". Variety. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  13. ^ Malco, Romany (July 17, 2013). "A Message to Trayvon Martin Sympathizers". Huffington Post. Retrieved February 4, 2016.