Alan Tudyk is an American actor. Alan Tudyk is known for his roles as Hoban "Wash" Washburne in the science fiction/western television series Firefly and movie Serenity, Simon in the British comedy Death at a Funeral and Steve the Pirate in DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story.

Alan Tudyk was born the son of Betty Loyce and Timothy Nicholas. He is of half Polish ancestry and was raised in the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas, where he attended Plano Senior High School.

Alan 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. Alan Tudyk entered Juilliard but left in 1996 before earning a degree.