Alan Wray Tudyk (/ˈtjuːdɪk/ TEW-dik; born March 16, 1971) is an American actor and voice actor known for his roles as Hoban "Wash" Washburne in the space western television series Firefly and movie Serenity, Alpha in the science fiction TV series Dollhouse, Tucker McGee in Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Steve the Pirate in DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, and Wat in A Knight's Tale. He also co-starred on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory. Tudyk had a supporting role in the film 42 as baseball manager Ben Chapman and voiced roles in every Walt Disney Animation Studios film to date starting with Wreck-It Ralph. He has also featured in the web series Con Man and the films Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Tudyk was born on March 16, 1971, in El Paso, Texas, the son of Betty Loyce (née Wiley) and Timothy Nicholas Tudyk. He was raised in Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, where he attended Plano Senior High School. He had a brief experience as a stand-up comic, before quitting after an angry audience member threatened to kill him. Tudyk studied drama at the Methodist-affiliated Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, where he won the Academic Excellence award for drama. While in college, he played Beaver Smith in an eastern New Mexico summer stock theater production of Billy the Kid. Tudyk entered Juilliard but left in 1996 before earning a degree.