Adam Rodriguez will be most familiar to audiences from his role on the television series CSI: Miami. He's also had many guest-starring roles on several other television series, as well as supporting roles in many other films and videos. A man of faith, he talked with a group of journalists about his faith and what it mean to be in Tyler Perry's latest film I Can Do Bad All By Myself.

Your character is a man whose faith is deeply intrinsic to his character. Did that resonate with you, and what of your own faith did you bring to the film?

Adam:    That was one of the first things I noticed about the film that made me want the part. I loved this character's spiritually and how it played such a strong role in his life, so I was very excited about that character.

I loved that this guy didn't have any material things and the status they usually bring with them. He didn't have a place to live, or even any family, yet he still held intact the things that matter most, the things that really do make life worth living. He brought that to April and these kids, and I completely identified with that and was excited about the chance to play that character and bring that message.

Tell me a little about your experience working with Tyler and why you think his stories connect so deeply with so many people.

Adam:     My experience was a great one. I can't tell you how much fun we had making this movie. It was non-stop laughter from the minute we started to the minute we left. Tyler is someone that has had incredible success yet still manages to be one of the most down to earth people that I've met in this business by far. That not only makes for a great working relationship, but we've developed a great friendship as well.

I think that his movies speak to people the way they do for the same reason he's able to maintain that level of humility, even in the midst of all the success he's enjoying right now. He's just a real person. He gets what things are really about, much the way Sandino (Adam's character) does. He carries that with him and he wants to carry that same message to his audience, and I think he's done an amazing job with that.

He's serving an audience that was ignored and not counted and never serviced. He said, "I relate to these people and I know the kind of stories they want to be told. I can tell those stories." In doing that, and doing them with the level of quality he's done, he's completely broadened his audience. He's gotten the attention of a Hollywood that 5 or 10 years ago would have laughed at him.

Another huge part of his success is that he's willing to do what a lot of people weren't willing to do. They wanted to conform and have success on the road that was more often traveled. Tyler had the guts to take the road not traveled very much or not even traveled at all. He created his own road, and I think that's been the biggest part of his success: having the faith to do what he believed in and reaping those rewards.

The character of Pastor Brian gives a moving sermon that seems to summarize the message of the film. How would you interpret those words?

Adam:    It's interesting. I think that value-added message is all about what you decide is important. There are really only a few things that should be important. Those things are faith, love, family, and making your community your family. Value-added is about valuing the life you have and wanting to bring the best of your life out so that other people will be empowered to live their best lives.

Specifically relating to some of the words in the sermon, when he talks about value-added, he talks about these coins have the same value regardless of their denomination. It's the same way in life. You have to treat everything that matters, everything you consider valuable, with the same amount of importance. When it comes to people, you can't place more importance on one person than another.

Eduardo Verastegui has talked about the problem of Latino actors getting offered roles that are stereotypical and negative. Do you think this role in Tyler Perry's movie might change this a little bit?

Adam:    I really hope that every role I do will do something to change that. As an actor, I did have a problem with the way things were done for a very long time, and in some ways, they still get done that way in this business. But I think there has been some movement in what I would consider to be the right direction, and I'm happy to get to play a role like Sandino that I think gives all kinds of people, Latinos in particular, a chance to go to the movies and see a Latino hero.

You hardly ever, if ever, get to see a Latino character in a lead role. This character is from another country and he doesn't have any of the things that people think matter (material things), even something as simple as a home. Yet this guy has maintained his focus on what is important in life and he's compelled to share it with these people. By doing that, he makes their lives a little better.

How was your preparation and production for this film different from what you do for your television show?

Adam:    It wasn’t really that difficult because we worked at a really fast pace on this project. Luckily I had seven years of training on CSI: Miami of moving at a rapid pace. Television moves at a rapid pace, our show in particular. We have such a well-oiled machine that we're able to move that way.

Tyler has the same thing going. He works with the same crew and they all understand how he works and vice versa. As a result, they're able to make great things happen in not a lot of time.

I was shooting this film at the same time I was working on my television program. Tyler was gracious enough to move the schedule of the movie from a Monday through Friday shoot to a Wednesday through Sunday shoot. He really did that accommodate my schedule on the TV show, which I'll be forever grateful for.

I was working on CSI: Miami on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, then I'd take a red-eye Wednesday night to Atlanta, get off the plane at 6 AM and go straight to set and work all day. We'd work all day Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then late Sunday afternoon I'd get back on a plane to come back to Los Angeles and be ready for CSI on Monday. We did that for about four and a half weeks and it was the hardest I've ever worked in my life. It's also the strongest and the best that I've ever felt. I was really living a dream. It was great.

I did my homework and worked on the accent. I decided what was important to me regarding the accent was to convey to the audience that this guy wasn't from this country and wasn't a native English speaker. I also wanted to make sure that it wasn't hard to understand without being too specific with the accent. That was a big challenge, and hopefully I accomplished that goal and people get it.

Tyler said you were perfect for the role because you are unguarded as an actor and have a sensitive side that is vulnerable. Do you see yourself that way, and why do you think that's important?

Adam:    I do see myself that way and I think it's important as an artist because I think most artists are, or should be, sensitive to the world around them. If you want to tell stories or convey emotions and feelings, you have to be hyper-aware of the feelings of everyone around you. Sensitivity definitely plays a part in that.

As far as being unguarded, honestly, to me, so little good in life comes from being guarded. You might prevent yourself from being hurt on a few occasions, but personally I'd rather be unguarded and work through whatever pain might come along from being hurt, than to go through life guarded and missing out on all the good stuff that comes from being open. That's been my experience.

You meet the best people and get a chance to connect with people when you're unguarded. You get a chance to affect change by being unguarded. It's very hard to affect change when you're living life in fear.

What's your takeaway from the film? What were you thinking about as you wrapped filming, and what are you still thinking about today?

Adam:    In general, when I left, I went away thinking that this was what I always dreamed working in a movie could be: having a great time with the people you're working with, telling a great story, being challenged by the work you're doing and yet enjoying it. Walking away feeling proud of the work you did. I felt all of those.

I think everybody felt the same way. We all really clicked and I made friends for life with a bunch of the cast.

As far as what I took away from the movie itself is the message that you have to be willing to give love freely to be able to liberate other people to do the same thing. You have to be a leader more often than not because so many people in this world are afraid to be open and loving without expecting anything in return. When you do that and give love freely, on any level, even saying hello to a stranger or helping somebody with something that you wouldn't normally do, you give people the strength to want to do the same with others.

Photos courtesy Quantrell Colbert and LionsGate™ Entertainment.