Michelle Rodriguez is an American actress known for her roles in various films and television shows. She gained recognition for her debut performance as a troubled boxer in the film “Girlfight” (2000), which earned her awards and critical acclaim. Rodriguez played Letty Ortiz in the Fast & Furious franchise and Rain Ocampo in the Resident Evil franchise. She has also appeared in films such as “S.W.A.T.” (2003), “Avatar” (2009), and “Battle: Los Angeles” (2011).

In addition to her film career, Rodriguez has acted in the television series “Lost” (2005-2006; 2009-2010) and provided the voice for Liz Ricarro in the English-language version of the anime “Immortal Grand Prix” (2005-2006). She has reprised her roles in video game adaptations of “Avatar” and “Fast & Furious” and has appeared in other video games like “True Crime: Streets of LA” (2003), “Driver 3” (2004), “Halo 2” (2004), and “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” (2012). Rodriguez’s performances in films like “Widows” (2018) have received critical praise.

Early life

Michelle Rodriguez was born in San Antonio, Texas, to a Dominican mother and a Puerto Rican father who served in the U.S. Army. She spent part of her childhood in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico before settling in Jersey City, New Jersey. Rodriguez faced difficulties in her education, being expelled from multiple schools before dropping out of high school.

Despite this, she later obtained her GED. She briefly attended business school but left to pursue a career in acting with aspirations of becoming a screenwriter and director. Rodriguez was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness but has since left the faith. A DNA test revealed that she has a mixed ancestry of European, African, and Native American heritage. She also mentioned that there was some racial tension within her family due to the different complexions of her parents.

Career

Michelle Rodriguez gained recognition for her breakout role as Diana Guzman in the independent film “Girlfight” (2000), where she portrayed a troubled teenager training to become a boxer. Her performance earned her numerous awards and nominations. She went on to have notable roles in successful movies such as “The Fast and the Furious” (2001) and “Resident Evil” (2002).

Rodriguez also appeared in TV shows like “Lost” and lent her voice to video games and animated series. In 2009, she starred in James Cameron’s blockbuster film “Avatar.” She continued to work in films such as “Machete” (2010), “Fast & Furious” (2009), “Widows” (2018), and “Alita: Battle Angel” (2019). Rodriguez also established her production company, Cheshire Kat Productions, which produced the documentary “Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story” (2019).

Personal life

Michelle Rodriguez has various hobbies, including tactical gun training, skydiving, and DJing. In her personal life, she broke off an engagement in 2000 due to religious differences and was reportedly in a relationship with her Fast & Furious co-star Vin Diesel in 2001.

Rodriguez has spoken openly about her sexuality, stating that she has been attracted to both men and women. She expressed a desire, to be honest about her identity and hoped that her openness would inspire others in similar situations. Rodriguez has identified herself as bisexual and has advocated for acceptance and representation of unconventional female roles in the film industry.

Legal issues

Michelle Rodriguez has had several legal issues related to driving incidents and alcohol-related offenses. In 2002, she was arrested for assault but the charges were dropped. In 2003, she faced misdemeanor charges for a hit and run and DUI, to which she pleaded no contest in 2004.

She served 48 hours in jail, performed community service, completed an alcohol program, and was placed on probation. In 2005, she was arrested for DUI in Hawaii and pleaded guilty in 2006, paying a fine and spending five days in jail. Her behavior was partially attributed to medication. Violating her probation, she received a 60-day jail sentence, alcohol rehabilitation, and community service in 2007. However, due to overcrowding, she was released on the same day. In 2009, she completed her community service.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Girlfight	Diana Guzman
2001	The Fast and the Furious	Letty Ortiz
2001	3 A.M.	Salgado
2002	Resident Evil	Rain Ocampo
2002	Blue Crush	Eden
2003	S.W.A.T.	Officer Christina “Chris” Sanchez
2004	Control	Teresa
2005	BloodRayne	Katarin
2006	The Breed	Nicki
2007	Battle in Seattle	Lou
2008	Gardens of the Night	Lucy
2008	Adventures in Voice Acting	Herself	Documentary
2009	Fast & Furious	Letty Ortiz
2009	Los Bandoleros	Letty Ortiz	Short film
2009	Avatar	Captain Trudy Chacón
2010	Machete	Luz / Shé
2010	Trópico de Sangre	Minerva Mirabal
2011	Battle: Los Angeles	Technical Sergeant Elana Santos
2011	Fast Five	Letty Ortiz	Photo
2012	Resident Evil: Retribution	Rain Ocampo
2013	InAPPropriate Comedy	Harriet
2013	Fast & Furious 6	Letty Ortiz
2013	Turbo	Paz (voice)
2013	Machete Kills	Luz / Shé
2015	Furious 7	Letty Ortiz
2016	The Assignment	Frank Kitchen / Tomboy
2016	Milton’s Secret	Ms. Ferguson
2017	Smurfs: The Lost Village	Smurf Storm (voice)
2017	The Fate of the Furious	Letty Ortiz
2018	Widows	Linda
2019	Alita: Battle Angel	Gelda	Uncredited cameo
2020	She Dies Tomorrow	Sky
2021	Crisis	Supervisor Garrett
2021	F9	Letty Ortiz
2023	Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves	Holga Kilgore
2023	Fast X	Letty Ortiz

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Slavi’s Show	Herself	TV show (1 episode)
2005	Punk’d	Herself	1 episode
2005–2006	Immortal Grand Prix	Liz Ricarro	Voice role, anime TV series
2005–2006 2009–2010	Lost	Guest (season 1) Main cast (season 2) Special guest star (seasons 5 & 6)	Guest (season 1) Main cast (season 2) Special guest star (season 5 & 6)
2011	CollegeHumor Original	Jessica	Episode: “Sorority Pillow Fight”
2011	Curiosity	Herself	Episode: “Alien Invasion: Are We Ready?”
2012	Germany’s Next Top Model	Herself	Episode: “A Dream Comes True: Hollywood is Waiting”
2015	Running Wild with Bear Grylls	Herself	Episode: “Michelle Rodriguez”
2015	Super Into	Herself	Episode: “Michelle Rodriguez is Super Into Superbikes”
2021	Getaway Driver	Co-Host

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	True Crime: Streets of LA	Rosie Velasco	Voice
2004	Driver 3	Calita Martinez
2004	Halo 2	Marine
2009	James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game	Captain Trudy Chacon
2012	Call of Duty: Black Ops II	Strike Force Soldier
2020	Fast & Furious Crossroads	Letty Ortiz	Voice and motion capture

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist(s)	Ref.
2000	“I Can Do Too”	Cole featuring Queen Latifah
2001	“Always on Time”	Ja Rule and Ashanti
2002	“If I Could Fall in Love”	Lenny Kravitz
2015	“Confident”	Demi Lovato
2018	“Nice for What”	Drake

Theme park ride

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Fast & Furious: Supercharged	Letty

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2001	Chicago Film Critics Association Award	Most Promising Newcomer	Girlfight	Nominated
	Deauville Film Festival	Best Female Performance		Won
	ALMA Award	Outstanding Latino Cast in a Feature Film		Nominated
	Black Reel Award	Best Actress		Nominated
	Independent Spirit Award	Best Debut Performance		Won
	National Board of Review Award	Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress		Won
	Gotham Award	Breakthrough Actor		Won
	Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award	Best Actress		Nominated
		Best Female Newcomer		Won
	Online Film Critics Society Award	Best Breakthrough Performance		Nominated
2002	ALMA Award	Best Actress in Film	The Fast and the Furious	Nominated
		Outstanding Actor/Actress in a Made for Television Movie or Miniseries	3 A.M.	Nominated
2002	MTV Movie Award	Best On-Screen Team (with Kate Bosworth and Sanoe Lake)	Blue Crush	Nominated
	Imagen Foundation Award	Best Supporting Actress in a Film	S.W.A.T.	Won
2005	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Lost	Won
	Saturn Award	Best Supporting Actress on Television		Nominated
2006	Golden Raspberry Award	Worst Supporting Actress	BloodRayne	Nominated
2009	ALMA Award	Actress in a Film	Fast & Furious	Nominated
2011	ALMA Award	Favorite Movie Actress-Drama/Adventure	Battle: Los Angeles	Nominated
2013	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Summer Movie Star: Female	Fast & Furious 6	Nominated
2015	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actress: Action	Furious 7	Nominated
	People’s Choice Award	Favorite Action Movie Actress		Nominated
	Chinese American Film Festival	Golden Angel for Best Leading Actress of the Year		Won
2017	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actress: Action	The Fate of the Furious	Nominated

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