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Woman of the Hour's Rodney Alcala actor Daniel Zovatto and where you've seen him before

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Woman of the Hour has just landed on Netflix and tells the chilling tale of Rodney Alcala and his crimes.

The serial killer appeared on US television show The Dating Game to win a date with an eligible bachelorette but what the producers or audience didn't realise at the time was that Alcala had already killed at least three women.

Anna Kendrick plays the actress Cheryl Bradshaw who chooses Alcala as her date on the show. She also directed the film, marking the first time the Pitch Perfect star was also working behind the camera.

She manages to achieve chilling performances from all her cast including Daniel Zovatto, who takes on the role of Rodney. But who is Zovatto and where have you seen him before? Here's what you need to know.

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Daniel Zovatto Blanco was born in June 1991, originally hails from San Jose in Costa Rica and is named after his father, an Argentinian politician. While he moved to New York to pursue acting in theatre it wasn't long before Zovatto found himself in Los Angeles.

He's claimed he has a fascination with the horror genre, after his father showed him Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining as a child. It seems fitting that he then gained his breakout role in horror film Beneath, released in 2013.

Zovatto plays Johnny, one of a group of teenagers who end up having to fight for their lives against a man-eating catfish.

More roles in horror movies followed as Zovatto appeared in 2014's It Follows, about a woman who is pursued by a supernatural entity and 2016's Don't Breathe in which he plays one three burglars who break into a blind man's house.

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He had a smaller role in Greta Gerwig's critical hit Lady Bird released in 2017, and has featured in roles on television including a guest spot on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fear the Walking Dead with larger roles in Penny Dreadful: City of Angels and Station Eleven. More recently Zovatto appears opposite Russell Crowe in 2023's The Pope's Exorcist.

Viewers may struggle to recognise him in Woman of the Hour from that role as he plays a Spanish priest Father Tomas Esquibel who is enlisted to assist Crowe's character in the exorcising of a young boy.

Now with the release of Woman of the Hour on , Zovatto takes on arguably one of his most challenging roles, in bringing serial killer Rodney Alcala to the screen.

Like many parts based on actual events and people, the actor undertook research alongside director and cos-star Anna Kendrick for his portrayal. Zovatto has revealed that the disturbing photograph collection of Alcala's which was partially released publicly in 2010, helped him unlock this previously unknown part of the killer's life.

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Speaking to Screen Rant, he said: "For me, what really impacted my research was the photographs that were released by the police of all the victims that were never found, and why it was.

"Because most of the research and most of the stuff that we know about Rodney is post-this era, right? It's him older, him caught, him in trials — all that stuff. But this whole decade was a little bit less information, so these photographs really allowed me to realize this man is a person who is able to lure people in.

"He has charisma, he's smart, but he also has the capacity of making that other person feel comfortable enough to photograph them and capture the essence of the person.

"And there are so many beautiful photographs that he took — and unfortunately, they are beautiful. But it gave me an idea of, 'Oh, this is Rodney. I can play with this.' And then all the other research, the bipolar [disorder] and all that stuff."

Woman of the Hour is now available to stream on Netflix

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