Romany Malco

Romany Malco
Romany Malco
	Malco at the premiere of Baby Mama at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.
Born	Romany Romanic Malco Jr.; November 18, 1968 (age 55); Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupations	Actor; producer; rapper; screenwriter;
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Taryn Dakha (m. 2008; div. 2016)
Children	1

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.^{[citation needed]}

Malco served in the United States Marine Corps from 1987 to 1991.^[4]

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.^{[citation needed]}

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".^[5]

Malco has a son, born in 2021.^[6]

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.^[7]

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.^[8]

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.

Malco currently plays Rome Howard on the ABC series A Million Little Things.

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".^[9]

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
1999	Corrupt	Snackbar Dude
2000	The Wrecking Crew	Chewy
2000	The Prime Gig	Zeke
2001	The Château	Allen Rex Granville
2001	Ticker	T.J.
2002	White Boy	Mike Robinson
2002	The Tuxedo	Mitch
2004	True Vinyl	Nite Owl
2004	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
2008	The Love Guru	Darren Roanoke
2010	Saint John of Las Vegas	Virgil
2010	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
2014	Top Five	Benny Barnes
2015	The DUFF	Principal Buchanon
2016	When The Bough Breaks	Todd
2016	Almost Christmas	Christian Meyers
2018	Tijuana Jackson: Purpose Over Prison	Tijuana Jackson	Also writer and director
2018	Night School	Jaylen
2019	Holiday Rush	Rashon "Rush" Williams

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Touched by an Angel	Bulldog	Episode: "Redeeming Love"
1998	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
2011	Prison Logic	Tijuana Jackson	10 episodes
2011	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
2015–2016	Mad Dogs	Gus	Series regular
2018–2023	A Million Little Things	Rome Howard	Series regular

Podcasts

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

2006 – Best Breakthrough Performance (The 40-Year-Old Virgin)
2006 – Best On-Screen Team (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) [Shared with Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and Seth Rogen]

Screen Actors Guild Awards

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

References

^ ^a ^b Ordoña, Michael (January 28, 2010). "Romany Malco, 'Saint John of Las Vegas'". Los Angeles Times.
^ Romany Malco interview, Wendy Williams Show, October 29, 2013.
^ 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.
^ Abrams, Tamar (25 April 2013). "Actor Romany Malco Visits Troops, Returns a Changed Man". HuffPost. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
^ Malco, Romany (January 16, 2016). "Due for Reinvention". Retrieved February 4, 2016.
^ Grant, Jasmine (February 9, 2021). "Actor Romany Malco Welcomes His First Child". Essence. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
^ 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.
^ Malco, Romany (October 29, 2013). The Wendy Williams Show (Talk show). YouTube.
^ Malco, Romany (July 17, 2013). "A Message to Trayvon Martin Sympathizers". Huffington Post. Retrieved February 4, 2016.