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Harry Loves Pizza on Resident Alien — But Turns Out Alan Tudyk Is Actually Allergic to It
The Italian specialty beloved by almost everyone on the planet is, sadly, not beloved by Mr. Tudyk.
In SYFY's hit TV series Resident Alien, star Alan Tudyk (known for his memorable work on genre touchstones like Firefly, Wreck-It-Ralph, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) plays a lone extraterrestrial struggling to assimilate into human society.
While he starts off with nothing but disdain for our species, which he was instructed to destroy, the alien masquerading as Patience, Colorado physician Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle slowly comes to accept our customs, emotions, and, most importantly, eating habits. Barely an episode of the show goes by without Harry munching on two of his favorite bipedal delights: pie and pizza. The sad irony of that quirky character trait, however, is that Mr. Tudyk cannot actually enjoy the dough, sauce, and cheese combination beloved the world over.
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Why Resident Alien Star Alan Tudyk Can't Eat Pizza in Real Life
Appearing at a Television Critics Association panel in the summer of 2022, Tudyk revealed he has "a lot of food allergies," which prohibit him from ingesting the delicious Italian creation most of us take for granted. "I haven't been able to really eat pizza for a few years now, and because the character eats pizza, I have to eat pizza," Tudyk confessed (via Salon).
Thankfully, he doesn't need to make himself sick — not when Hollywood professionals can whip up convincing alternatives. "[There's] a whole props department and chefs and things that find ways to make pizza that I'm not allergic to," he added. "So, the only time I can ever eat pizza is at work."
The actor's delicate system nearly got him killed during production on the Robin Williams-fronted Patch Adams (1995), for which Tudyk earned one of his first major film credits. Before arriving on set, he had an unexpectedly adverse reaction to "some bad Chinese food," Tudyk recalled during an interview with The A.V. Club in 2019. Rather than go to the hospital, Tudyk — who was covered in hives and struggling to breathe through a constricted windpipe — just accepted a shot of adrenaline from director Tom Shadyac.
"If you ever see the opening couple of scenes of Patch Adams, where I’m one of the guys in group therapy, I am as high as a kite on adrenaline," he revealed. "My eyes were about to roll back into my head. It’s a great acting tool, adrenaline. You watch it and you’re like, 'Oh, yeah, he’s completely whacked out.' Because I had had, like, four cups of coffee before that."
How to Watch Resident Alien
New episodes of Resident Alien Season 3 air on SYFY Wednesdays at 10/9c.
Based on the Dark Horse-published comic book series of the same name by writer Peter Hogan and artist Steve Parkhouse, the critically-acclaimed show was developed for television by showrunner and Family Guy alumnus, Chris Sheridan.
