Michelle Rodriguez extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Michelle Rodriguez
Born	Mayte Michelle Rodriguez July 12, 1978 (1978-07-12) (age 30) 1 Bexar County, Texas
Official website
Awards won Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Ensemble - Drama Series 2005 Lost Other awards ALMA Award - Best Supporting TV Actress 2006 Lost

Mayte Michelle Rodriguez² (born July 12, 1978),¹ better known as Michelle Rodriguez, is an American actress, known for starring in films such as Girlfight, The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil and S.W.A.T. as well as her role in the television series Lost.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.2.1 Notable rankings 1.2.2 Producing 1.2.3 Writing 1.3 Personal life 1.3.1 Legal troubles 2 Filmography 2.1 Television 2.2 Video games 3 References 4 External links

Biography

Early life

Rodriguez was born in Bexar County, Texas, the daughter of Carmen Milady (née Pared), a native of the Dominican Republic, and Rafael Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican who served in the U.S. Army.³ She has a total of ten half-siblings or siblings. She was partly raised by her devoutly religious maternal grandmother and was brought up in her mother's Jehovah's Witnesses religion, though she has since abandoned that specific faith.⁴⁵ Rodriguez moved to the Dominican Republic with her mother when she was eight and lived in Puerto Rico when she was 11, later settling in Jersey City, New Jersey. She dropped out of high school but later earned her GED. Rodriguez briefly attended business school before quitting to pursue a career in acting with the ultimate goal of becoming a writer and director.⁶

Career

Having run across an ad for an open casting call and attending her first audition, Rodriguez beat 350 other applicants to win her first role in the low-budget 2000 independent film, Girlfight. Rodriguez's performance as Diana Guzman, a troubled teen who decides to channel her aggression by training to become a boxer, was recognized by both critics and audiences, but despite major industry buzz of a possible Academy Award nomination, she did not receive the Oscar nod. Rodriguez did however accumulate several other significant awards and nominations for the role in independent circles, including major acting accolades from the National Board of Review, Deauville Film Festival, Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, Las Vegas Film Critics Sierra Awards, and many others. The film itself took home top prizes at both the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals.

Subsequently, she has had notable roles in other successful movies, including The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil, Blue Crush, and S.W.A.T. In 2004, Rodriguez lent her voice to the video game Halo 2, playing a Marine. She also provided the voice of Liz Ricarro in the Cartoon Network series IGPX. From 2005 to 2006, she played tough cop Ana Lucia Cortez on the television series Lost during the show's second season (the character's first appearance was a flashback on season 1's finale, Exodus: Part 1). In 2006, Rodriguez was featured in her own episode of G4's show Icons.

Her latest film, Battle in Seattle, is currently playing in limited release and she recently wrapped filming alongside the original cast on the fourth installment of the The Fast and the Furious franchise entitled simply Fast & Furious which releases June 12, 2009.⁷. Rodriguez can also be seen in James Cameron's upcoming $200 million sci-fi adventure Avatar, due out December 18, 2009.

She is currently shooting Trópico de Sangre, an independent film she is co-producing with her production company Cheshire Kat Productions, based on the Dominican Republic's historic Mirabal sisters who were assassinated in 1960 by the Dominican dictator for opposing his rule.⁸

Notable rankings

Multiple times over the course of her career, she has been ranked in Stuff magazine’s “102 Sexiest Women In The World”, Maxim’s "100 Sexiest Women" and People En Espanol's "50 Mas Bellos".

Producing

Rodriguez co-founded a production company called Cheshire Kat Productions which is currently producing a historical drama called Trópico de Sangre (Tropic of Blood), in which she also stars.⁹

Writing

Rodriguez is currently writing a screenplay for a family film based on a concept which she describes as "a 2012 story about purity and animals and children".¹⁰

Personal life

In early 2000, Rodriguez broke off a near engagement to a Muslim boyfriend, citing opposition to religious requirements he demanded of her, which included covering herself completely.¹¹ At one time, Rodriguez dated her The Fast and the Furious co-star, Vin Diesel.¹² In 2003, Rodriguez was photographed sharing a kiss with Kylie Minogue's boyfriend Olivier Martinez and the two were later spotted partying together on Puff Daddy's yacht in the south of France.¹³

In 2006, she "had her eye on" Irish actor and S.W.A.T. co-star, Colin Farrell.¹⁴ In July 2006, Rodriguez told UK's Cosmopolitan magazine that she was not gay, but had "experimented with both sexes."¹⁵ In November of 2006, her openly bisexual Bloodrayne co-star Kristanna Loken's comments to The Advocate were widely interpreted and reported by the media as an admission that the two were in a relationship.¹⁶ Asked about the relationship in April 2007, Kristanna Loken said, "We're great friends. She'll always remain a great, close friend of mine. I'll always love Michelle."¹⁷

In early 2007, Rodriguez was again photographed with Olivier Martinez. This time the two were seen dining together at Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles where Martinez was staying, with reports claiming she didn't emerge from the hotel until the following morning.¹⁸ In June 2007, Curve ran a cover describing her as a "bad bi girl" and considered by many to be trailing an interview in which Rodriguez would out herself.¹⁹ Rodriguez never even did an interview with the magazine however, and therefore in response used her blog to express her feelings on the issue²⁰. In the July/August 2007 issue of Curve, editors responded to her criticism by stating: "If you read the article, you will see that the author did not, in fact, 'out' Rodriguez; rather, the article stated both that 'Rodriguez has never publicly come out' and 'Rodriguez has said she is not a lesbian."

When asked by Latina Magazine in April 2008 about the constant questions and speculation surrounding her sexuality, Rodriguez responded, "I don't answer those questions. I just keep it to myself and it's nobody's business. If I wanna fuck a girl, a boy, a dog—that's my business."²¹

In November 2008, during an interview with the Dominican Republic's women's magazine Cayena, Rodriguez stated that she is not a lesbian.²²

Legal troubles

In March 2002, Rodriguez was arrested for assault after getting into a fight with her roommate.²³ The charges were later dropped after the roommate declined to press the allegations in court.²⁴

In November 2003, Rodriguez went to court to face eight misdemeanor charges based on two driving incidents including a hit and run and DUI.²⁵ In June 2004, Rodriguez pleaded no contest in Los Angeles to three of the charges: hit and run, drunken driving, and driving with a suspended license.²⁶ She went to jail for 48 hours, performed community service at the morgues of two New York hospitals, completed a three-month alcohol program, and was placed on probation for three years.²⁷

In 2005, while filming Lost in Hawaii, Rodriguez was pulled over by Honolulu police multiple times; she was cited for driving 83 mph (134 km/h) in a 55 mph (89 km/h) zone on Oahu on November 1, and was fined $357, paid a $300 fine for driving 90 mph (140 km/h) in a 35 mph (56 km/h) zone on October 20, was fined $197 for going 80 mph (130 km/h) in a 50 mph (80 km/h) zone on August 24.²⁸ On December 1, 2005, Rodriguez and her Lost co-star Cynthia Watros were pulled over (separately) and arrested for driving under the influence.²⁹ Rodriguez pleaded not guilty when arraigned,³⁰ but on the day of her trial in April 2006, she pleaded guilty to one charge of driving under the influence. She chose to pay a $500 fine and spend five days in jail instead of doing 240 hours of community service.²⁶ Rodriguez cited her high doses of allergy-relieving steroids as part of the reason for her erratic behavior.³¹ Because the Kailua incident was a violation of her Los Angeles probation, Rodriguez was sentenced to 60 days in jail, a 30 day alcohol rehabilitation program and another 30 days of community service, including work for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, by a judge in Los Angeles on May 1, 2006.³² Because of overcrowding, she was released from jail on the same day she entered it. As of June 2006, she will still have to serve the community service.³³ She wrote about the experience on her blog.³⁴

In September 2007 however, Rodriguez allegedly violated her probation by not completing her community service and not following an alcohol education program. It was reported that Rodriguez originally submitted a document stating she performed community service on September 5, 2006, but it was later confirmed she was actually in New York City that day. Her lawyer claimed it was a clerical error. ³⁵ On October 10, 2007, following a hearing, she was sentenced to 180 days jail time after agreeing to admit to violating her probation. She was expected to spend the full 180-day term in jail, as she had been deemed ineligible for work furloughs and house arrest.³⁶ However, after turning herself in to begin the jail term at the Century Regional Detention Facility located in Lynwood, CA on December 23, 2007,³⁷ Rodriguez was released 18 days later on January 9, 2008 due to overcrowding.³⁸

Filmography

Year	Title	Role
2009	Avatar	Trudy Chacon
	Trópico de Sangre	Minerva Mirabal
	Fast & Furious	Letty
2007	Battle in Seattle	Lou
	Gardens of the Night	cameo
2006	The Breed	Nicki
	Cats: The Movie	voice
2005	BloodRayne	Katarin
	Sian Ka'an	voice
2004	Control	Teresa
2003	S.W.A.T.	Chris Sanchez
2002	Blue Crush	Eden
	Resident Evil	Rain Ocampo
2001	The Fast and the Furious	Letty
	3 A.M.	Salgado
2000	Girlfight	Diana Guzman

Television

Year	Title	Role	Episodes
2005	Punk'd	Herself	1 episode
	Immortal Grand Prix	Liz Ricarro	26 episodes
2005-2006	Lost	Ana Lucia Cortez	24 episodes
2007	Adventures in Voice Acting	Herself	1 episode

Video games

• Halo 2 (Voice, 2004)
• Driv3r aka Driver 3 (Voice, 2004)
• True Crime: Streets of LA (Voice, 2003)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Michelle Rodriguez

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Michelle Rodriguez

• Michelle Rodriguez - Official Website
• Michelle Rodriguez - Official Myspace
• Michelle Rodriguez at the Internet Movie Database
• Michelle Rodriguez at TV.com