 Rodríguez initially became an avid film fan in his childhood days, as he often explained that Orson Welles' classic "Citizen Kane" (1941) made an especially strong impression on him as a young man.In a career that spanned more than 40 years, Rodríguez was able to play the most dissimilar of characters, from royalist caudillo José Tomás Boves, tango singer Carlos Gardel, philosopher Karl Marx, and Venezuelan president Rómulo Betancourt, to the lead role in William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and "King Lear", while appearing in over more than 50 playwrights, 40 telenovelas and 18 films.Following college graduation, Rodríguez moved to Caracas to attend Central University of Venezuela, where he acted in school plays before obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree.