Aida Rodriguez

Aida Margarita Parada Rodriguez (born August 29, 1977) is an American comedian of Puerto Rican/Dominican descent[1] who is best known for her appearance as a contestant on the eighth season of Last Comic Standing and as a commentator on The Young Turks. She is also an actress, producer, writer, and podcaster.[2][3]

Aida Rodriguez
Aida Rodriguez in 2007
Birth nameAida Margarita Parada Rodriguez
Born (1977-08-29) August 29, 1977
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materFlorida State University (withdrew)
SpouseOmar Ellison (m. ?; divorced)
Websitewww.funnyaida.com

Early life

Aida was born in Boston, Massachusetts and taken to the Dominican Republic shortly afterward. As a child, her mother kidnapped her from her father in the Dominican Republic, and brought her to the U.S.[4] Her grandmother and uncle would later abduct her from her mother's home in New York and bring her to Florida, in an attempt to protect her from her mother's boyfriend.[4] Her uncle was later murdered in a hate crime.[4] She attended Florida State University where she met her future husband 'Omar Ellison. She studied English and law, but left before graduating after she became pregnant.[5] She was recruited by modeling agency IMG. She and Ellison later divorced.[5]

Rodriguez moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s with her two children after her divorce from Ellison.[5][6] After a bout with anorexia and a divorce, she turned to comedy for healing. For a time, she and her children were homeless and lived out of a car.[4][6][7]

Career

Rodriguez attempts to transform painful episodes of her life into comedy material, while also addressing difficult issues such as misogyny and racism.[4]

Aida was a top ten finalist in the eighth season of NBC's Last Comic Standing (2014), but was eliminated in the seventh episode of the season after losing a head-to-head showdown against Rod Man (who ultimately won the LCS title). She finished in a tie for ninth place.

Rodriguez is a five-time host of the Imagen Awards, which recognizes "the positive portrayal and creative excellence of Latinos and Latino cultures on screen".[8]

Through the stand-up comedy circuit, Rodriguez met Tiffany Haddish, who has proven a long-time friend and a strong advocate for women of color comics.[3] In August 2019, she was featured in the comedy anthology series Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready on Netflix, hosted by Tiffany Haddish.[6] She was one of six featured comedians, each given a half-hour comedy special.

Currently, Aida appears as a co-host of The Young Turks online platform.[9]

Select filmography

References
  1. The Black Box Office Archived 2010-03-17 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Aida Rodriguez". IMDb.
  3. "Comedian Aida Rodriguez Explains How Her Kids Inspired Her to Keep Doing Stand-Up". People en Español. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  4. Westenfeld, Adrienne (2019-08-22). "Aida Rodriguez Was Kidnapped Twice. Now That's Part of Her Stand-Up". Esquire. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  5. San Juan, Rebecca; Miami (2016-03-06). "Last Comic Standing's Afro-Latina Funny Woman Aida Rodriguez". HipLatina. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  6. "Tiffany Haddish's New Standup Comedy Series Features A Mom You Need To Know About". Romper. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  7. Bentley, Jean. "All Your New Favorite Comedians From Tiffany Haddish's". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  8. Foundation, Imagen. "Announcing the Winners of the 33rd Annual Imagen Awards". Imagen Foundation. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  9. "'She Took A Pay Cut And Said I Want Them To Have An Opportunity': Aida Rodriguez On Netflix's 'Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready'". 2019-08-14. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
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