In 1995, Rodriguez made his feature debut in Alfonso Arau's "A Walk In The Clouds" starring Keanu Reeves and Anthony Quinn. Shortly after, he portrayed a war veteran in the Hughes Brothers action flick "Dead Presidents" (1995). In 1997, Rodriguez was cast as Ninja in the comedy feature "The Pest" starring John Leguizamo. Rodriguez also had a memorable role in "Payback" (1999), a recurring stint of the Fox drama "Party of Five" in 1999, and the starring role in the HBO film "For Love Or Country" (2000).
In 2001, Rodriguez was cast in "Six Feet Under," and the role earned him his first Emmy nomination in 2002. He also enjoyed a recurring stint on the offbeat sitcom "Scrubs" as Carla's overprotective brother Marko "Mark" Espinosa beginning in 2003, and his increased profile resulted in his being cast in a variety of projects, including the films "Chasing Papi"(2003), actor-writer-director Scott Caan's "Dallas 362" (2003) and director Barbara Kopple's "Havoc" (2005), the tale of two affluent suburban girls who clash with East LA's Latino gang culture.
After playing a waiter who briefly survives a massive tidal wave that capsizes a cruise liner in Wolfgang Petersen’s woebegone remake, “Poseidon” (2006), he was seen in M. Night Shaymalan’s critically-maligned “Lady in the Water” (2006), playing the resident of an apartment complex with a bizarre weightlifting regimen where a water nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) appears in the swimming pool. In danger of being killed by demon-like creatures from her mysterious water world beneath the pool, the nymph tries to get back to her world with the help of the building’s superintendent (Paul Giamatti) and its motley tenants.
Rodriguez next costarred in “Harsh Times” (2006), David Ayer’s compelling tale about violence and loyalty, playing the best friend of a Gulf War veteran (Christian Bale) struggling to cope with postwar life while hoping to make it into the LAPD. The veteran’s dreams of becoming a cop slips away as the two old friends cut through South Central Los Angeles on a rampage that eventually has dire consequences for themselves and their friendship. He then joined a star-studded cast for Emilio Estevez’s long-awaiting docudrama, “Bobby” (2006), a retelling of Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination as seen by those who worked at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1968 where he was killed.
After “Bobby” disappeared from theaters with little fanfare, Rodriguez was seen in the Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez double bill “Grindhouse” (2007), a compilation of two 90-minute horror flicks from both directors that was a throwback to the days of bloody, sex-fueled, low-rent double features that played in seedy 42nd Street theaters in New York City. Rodriguez appeared in Rodriguez’s zombie segment, “Planet Terror,” playing a mysterious loner-drifter type named El Wray who reunites with a former go-go dancer (Rose McGowan) as they represent mankind’s last best hope for survival in a battle with an army of flesh-eating zombies.