Michelle Rodriguez

Mayte Michelle Rodríguez (born July 12, 1978) is an American performer. She initiated her journey in 2000, portraying a distressed pugilist in the autonomous sports drama film Girlfight (2000), where she earned the Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Award for Outstanding First Performance.[1][2] Rodríguez embodies Letty Ortiz in the Fast & Furious series and depicted Rain Ocampo in the Resident Evil series. She featured in the crime suspense S.W.A.T. (2003) and subsequently played a role in James Cameron's sci-fi masterpiece Avatar (2009) and in the action-packed film Battle: Los Angeles (2011).


Following her portrayal of Minerva Mirabal in the biographical film Trópico de Sangre (2010), Rodríguez took the lead in the exploitation productions Machete (2010) and Machete Kills (2013). She also starred in the computer-generated humorous films Turbo (2013) and Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017), while her acting in the robbery thriller Widows (2018) received critical acclaim.


Beyond the realm of cinema, Rodríguez assumed the role of Ana Lucia Cortez in the dramatic television series Lost (2005–2006; 2009–2010) and lent her voice to Liz Ricarro in the English adaptation of the anime Immortal Grand Prix (2005–2006). She revisited her characters in video game adaptations of Avatar and Fast & Furious. Additionally, she appeared in True Crime: Streets of LA (2003), Driver 3 (2004), Halo 2 (2004), and Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012).


Mayte Michelle Rodriguez entered the world on July 12, 1978, in San Antonio, Texas. Her mother, Carmen Milady Rodriguez (née Pared Espinal),[a] hails from the Dominican Republic, while her father, Rafael Rodriguez, was Puerto Rican and served in the U.S. Army. Rodriguez relocated to the Dominican Republic with her mother at the age of eight, residing there until she turned 11. Subsequently, she lived in Puerto Rico until the age of 17, eventually settling in Jersey City, New Jersey. Despite leaving William L. Dickinson High School, she later obtained her GED. In a somewhat tumultuous educational journey, she faced expulsion from five different schools.


Rodriguez briefly attended business school before abandoning it to pursue an acting career, aspiring ultimately to become a screenwriter and director. Rodriguez, who has ten siblings and half-siblings, was partly nurtured by her deeply religious maternal grandmother and was raised as a Jehovah's Witness (her mother's faith), although she has since departed from the religion. A DNA test conducted on Rodriguez by the television program Finding Your Roots unveiled her ancestry as 72.4% European, 21.3% African, and 6.3% Native American.She also shared on the show that her Puerto Rican father's lighter complexion led to some racial tension within her family, contrasting with her darker-skinned Dominican mother.


Encountering an advertisement for an open casting call and making her debut appearance at her initial audition, Rodriguez triumphed over 350 other contenders to secure her inaugural role in the modestly budgeted 2000 independent film, Girlfight. Portraying Diana Guzman, a troubled adolescent who channels her aggression into becoming a boxer, Rodriguez garnered numerous awards and nominations in independent circles for her performance. Recognitions included prestigious honors from the National Board of Review, Deauville Film Festival, Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, Las Vegas Film Critics Sierra Awards, and various others. The film itself achieved top honors at Sundance and received the Award of the Youth at the Cannes Film Festival.


Rodriguez has taken on prominent roles in other successful films, such as Letty in The Fast and the Furious (2001) and Rain Ocampo in Resident Evil (2002). She featured in Blue Crush and S.W.A.T. In 2004, Rodriguez lent her voice to the video game Halo 2, embodying a Marine. Additionally, she voiced Liz Ricarro in the Cartoon Network series IGPX. From 2005 to 2006, she portrayed the resilient cop Ana Lucia Cortez in the television series Lost during its second season (with the character making her first appearance in a flashback during the first season's finale, "Exodus: Part 1"). Rodriguez made a cameo return in the second episode of the show's fifth season, "The Lie," in 2009. She reprised her role once more in the penultimate episode of the series, "What They Died For," in 2010. In 2006, Rodriguez was featured in her dedicated episode of G4's show Icons.


In 2007, Rodriguez graced the screen in the political drama Battle in Seattle alongside Charlize Theron and Woody Harrelson.Two years later, in 2009, she reprised her role in Fast & Furious, the fourth installment of The Fast and the Furious film series. During the same year, Rodriguez took on a pivotal role in James Cameron's science fiction adventure epic, Avatar, which went on to become the highest-grossing film in history and marked Rodriguez's most triumphant cinematic endeavor to date. In 2009, she also headlined Trópico de Sangre, an independent film depicting the historical narrative of the Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic.


In 2010, Rodriguez made an appearance in Robert Rodriguez's Machete. The following year, in 2011, she shared the screen with Aaron Eckhart in the science fiction film Battle: Los Angeles. Returning in 2012, she portrayed both the good and bad clones of Rain Ocampo in Resident Evil: Retribution. 2013 saw her reprise her roles as Letty in Fast & Furious 6 and Luz/Shé in the Robert Rodriguez sequel Machete Kills. Additionally, she lent her voice to a character in DreamWorks Animation's Turbo.


Continuing her involvement in the Fast & Furious franchise, Rodriguez starred in Furious 7 in 2015. In 2016, she took the lead in The Assignment alongside Sigourney Weaver. The following year, she contributed her voice to Smurfs: The Lost Village. Rodriguez played a significant role in The Fate of the Furious in 2017, a film that set records for the largest global box office opening of all time. Moving to 2018, she starred opposite Viola Davis in Widows, directed by Steve McQueen, and in 2019, she reunited with director James Cameron for the film Alita: Battle Angel. Rodriguez also initiated Cheshire Kat Productions, her own production company, which produced the documentary Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story (2019).

References

1.  IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards. "Gothan Awards Recipients" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
2. ^ Jump up to:
3. a b ""Girlfight" a Winner". FilmFestivals.com. Archived from the original on December 18, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
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5. a b Vilkomerson, Sara (October 1, 2013). "Michelle Rodriguez talks movies, female empowerment, and sex: 'I don't talk about what I do with my vagina'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
6. ^ "Woman". Michelle-Rodriguez.com (official site). Archived from the original on June 15, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2007.
7. ^ Marx, Rebecca Flint (2008). "Michelle Rodriguez: Biography". Rovi via MSN. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved August 27, 2008.