Michelle Rodriguez Biography

MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ

Date of Birth: July 12, 1978

Rodriguez spent her childhood shuttled between the Dominican Republic, Texas and Puerto Rico. She landed her first role in the film Girlfight after beating out 350 other hopeful actresses who auditioned for the lead.

Rodriguez endured months of intense physical training in preparation for her role as the angry and fearless Diana Guzman. It paid off—the role garnered her rave reviews from audiences and critics alike. She also won the Gotham Award for Breakthrough performance.

Roles in the telefilm 3 A.M., opposite Danny Glover and Pam Grier, and feature films The Fast and the Furious starring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker and Resident Evil (2002) followed. In 2005 she joined the cast of the hit ABC series Lost, playing tough girl Ana-Lucia Cortez.

While in Hawaii shooting the series, Rodriguez was arrested on a DUI. The incident violated her California probation for a hit and run DUI and driving with a suspended license. She served 65 hours out of a five day sentence behind bars in Hawaii, and was due to serve 60 days in jail in California, but spent just over four hours there before being released due to overcrowding.

Her bout with the law didn't hurt her career, however, as she landed a starring role in James Cameron's mega-hit Avatar (2009), then she had the opportunity to return to the Fast & Furious franchise with Fast & Furious 6 (2013). She also starred in Machete Kills(2013) alongside Danny Trejo and Sofia Vergara, and Furious 7 (2015) alongside Vin Diesel.

Michelle's latest credits include the action thriller The Assignment (2017) with Sigourney Weaver, the animated comedy Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017) with Julia Roberts and Joe Manganiello, and the action thriller The Fate of the Furious (2017). In 2021 Michelle returned in F9: The Fast Saga where she reprised her role as Letty 'Ortiz' Toretto alongside Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson.

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