I'm into magic.

Why didn't you bring any of tricks here? I don't know. Like makes

Hey guys, I'm Brandy Ching hanging out at the Young Hollywood Studio with Rico Rodriguez. What's up?

You guys, what's up?

You can't be in your presence and not smile and just be happy.

I know, I'm a pretty happy person.

So a lot of people know you from Modern Family playing Manny. Yes. But you're also in a new movie called Endgame. Tell us about that.

Yes. Endgame is uh, for one, a great movie. Not just being biased. It's a great uh movie. Jose, get up. You're going to be late. How come Miguel gets more? Your brother needs all the protein he can get for his big game tonight. You know I have a chess game today against Danny. That's great, but you have to lose. If my brother did it, you wouldn't punish him. If you spent more time acting like a champion and less time envying them, you wouldn't be here. Nobody plays chess around here. I'll teach him. It's about Jose. He's a troubled teenager. You know, he has a broken family, but the one thing that kind of keeps him from going insane is the game of chess. So our teacher, Mr. Alvarado, his uh is played by Ephrain Ramirez, and he decides to turn detention into a chess club. And we start competing in to try to make it to the Texas State finals.

Wow. Yeah. That is really interesting. Did you know how to play chess before?

I knew how to play chess. Um, I knew the rules, but doing research for the movie and you know, having training, I had to learn like all the techniques and, you know, the art form of taking a chess piece, like I had to be, it was like intense. Right. But now I would say like I'm a professional, because I was taught by professionals, so you can basically call me a professional chess player.

Oh my gosh. I'm not a professional chess player, that's for sure. I I'm not very good at board games either. Do you play any other board games besides chess now, or are you kind of like on that that whole kick where you're like, okay, I got I got chess down. Now I'm on to Battleship.

Yeah. I love board games. It's definitely a family fun time when we uh play board games. When my nieces come down from Texas and, you know, come and hang out for a couple weeks here in Cali. Uh, we like to play board games every night. It's so much fun. Um, but chess is definitely one of them. Because my niece was actually in the film. She she had a part in the movie. And so me and her, we uh every night we play a game of chess to keep feeling fresh about it.

I love that.

Yeah. It was awesome.

I don't know anybody that doesn't like Modern Family. You know, it's one of those shows that's it's not even like a cult classic. It's just it's just a classic.

Oh, thank you so much.

You know, like when you're obviously thrown onto a show so young, you're kind of just having fun with it. You know, it's your job and that's your reality. But now you're old enough to kind of realize what a phenomenon it's become. What is it like to be a part of a show like that?

Um, it's a blessing. To be able to work on a show like Modern Family, it has been so great because the cast and the crew every day bring it their all. And uh, you know, being thrown into a show like you said, but I was learning under Ed O'Neill, who had been is a TV veteran. And so for him to put me under his wing has been great and helped me developed as an actor and as a person and just had to compose myself on set.

Yeah, definitely. What what's the most fun memory that you have early on filming?

Oh, early on? Uh, I mean, just having fun. Um, as a 10-year-old, I just I was I'm really good at learning my lines. So as like a 10-year-old, everyone was like, oh my god, you know your lines, you know? And I knew their like Sofia's lines and Ed's lines. So if they had trouble at one point like memorizing or like remembering them, I would just, you know, whisper into their like, oh, thank you. And then they continue on, which was I I kind of still do that, but then kind of don't.

That's great. You're feeding them their lines.

Yeah. They're like, Sofia's like, Rico, what time do I come in tomorrow? I go, um, uh, 7:30. Like, oh, okay. It's just I was just excited to be there, so I just knew everybody. It's so much fun.

What is the best piece of advice either Ed or Sophia has given you so far in your career?

Um, it definitely had to be Ed because he's always from since I was young, he's put me under his wing. Um, it would definitely be like, you know, when I was younger, I had a problem with uh mumbling, and I I I was so excited. So I would try to blurt out everything as much as many words as I can in so little time. And Ed was just like, you know, just slow it down. You know, really enunciate and just bite the words and make the people understand what you're trying to say. I'm like, that is so simple and so great. And thank you for that. And so since then, it's been amazing.

Well, you present yourself so well. So it's something's working. I think.

Thank you. You can think him for that. Yeah. Yeah. You can text later. Yeah. I know how to speak. Thank you.

Let's talk about you being just like a normal kid. Okay. Would you say that your childhood is normal in any sense? You know, do you get to just hang out and just be a kid?

I mean, is being a child normal? No. Uh That's true. I mean, I grew up in this industry, but I do definitely like to keep it real. Uh whenever I'm home, my dad makes me clean up the house, take out the trash, wash the dishes, clean the cars, but also I love playing basketball. Um I'm into magic, um and I do school every day. So that's definitely how I kind of keep it real and stay normal.

You're into magic. You know magic?

Yeah. I know I know magic tricks. I I kind of laid off of it for a little while, but I I've definitely love magic tricks, magic in general. I have them all at the house at my house and briefcase, and sometimes I even perform shows for my family.

Why didn't you bring any of tricks here? I don't know. Like makes something disappear. Wait, okay, wait, what?

Oh, I see I see. That's the one trick I can always I'm always handy with. My nieces go crazy for that.

And then about cooking too, I read that you like to cook.

Love to cook. Um yeah. I love to cook with my family. My mom, I learned from the best and my dad as well. Um, you know, he's teaching me like how to use the grill, how to barbecue. My dad's like the best barbecuer ever. Like not just saying that. Like we're from Texas, and it's like real Texas barbecue. It's amazing. And so I'm learning from him and how to, you know, smoke it and how to, you know, season it and, you know, how to cook the meat perfectly. And my mom my mom, I'm just learning how to make just a bunch of great home cooked meals.

Right. Do you have like those recipes that are that have been in the family for a while that you're kind of learning how to make?

I'm starting to uh dig into that. I'm starting to learn them, you know, cuz they're a little stubborn to give them away because, you know, it's a family secret. But you know, I think I'm old enough to, you know, get that secret.

Okay. What advice would you give to young actors?

To young actors, it would be just don't take no for an answer, keep going. In this industry, you're going to have more no's than you are yes's. So when you get that opportunity, really go for it 100%. My dad always said, whatever you put in is what you get out. So if you put in 100%, you're going to get out 100%. If you put in 75, you're only going to get out 75 and no more. Right. So yeah.

That's true. Great. Well, thank you so much for coming and visiting us.

Thank you for having me. I'm so happy. I'm so happy. You make me so happy.

We're just so happy. We're just happy.