Everything about Michelle Rodriguez totally explained
Mayte Michelle Rodriguez (born
July 12,
1978), better known as
Michelle Rodriguez, is an
American actress, known for her role in the television series
Lost and action films
Girlfight,
The Fast and the Furious,
Resident Evil and
S.W.A.T..
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 US military. She has a total of ten half-siblings or siblings. She was raised by her devoutly religious maternal grandmother and was brought up in her mother's
Jehovah's Witnesses religion. 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 at age 17 and later earned her
GED.
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 didn't 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's had notable roles in other successful movies, including
S.W.A.T., The Fast and the Furious and
Resident Evil. In 2002, she was ranked #77 in
Stuff magazine’s “102 Sexiest Women In The World,” and #34 in
Maxim’s "100 Sexiest Women." That same year, Rodriguez portrayed Eden in the surfer
girlpower flick
Blue Crush.
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, releases in the U.S. in September
2008 and she recently wrapped filming in New Zealand for
James Cameron's sci-fi adventure
Avatar, due out December 18, 2009. Rodriguez is currently filming
The Fast and the Furious 4 which releases in June 2009 along with the original cast. In November, Rodriguez will begin filming
Trópico de Sangre, a film she's 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.
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. At one time, Rodriguez dated her
The Fast and the Furious co-star,
Vin Diesel. In 2006, she "had her eye on" Irish actor and
S.W.A.T. co-star,
Colin Farrell. In
July 2006, Rodriguez told UK's
Cosmopolitan magazine that she wasn't
gay, but had "experimented with both sexes." 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. 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."
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. Rodriguez never did an interview with the magazine, and therefore in response used her blog to express her feelings on the issue. In the July/August 2007 issue of
Curve, editors responded to her criticism by stating: "If you read the article, you'll 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 isn't a lesbian."
In early 2007, Rodriguez was seen having dinner with
Kylie Minogue's boyfriend
Olivier Martinez at
Chateau Marmont Hotel. The two had been spotted together two years earlier. Minogue's spokesperson denied it was a romantic relationship by saying, "Olivier and Michelle are great friends, but that's all."
Legal troubles
In
March 2002, Rodriguez was arrested for
assault after getting into a fight with her roommate. The charges were later dropped after the roommate declined to press the allegations in court.
In
November 2003, Rodriguez went to court to face eight
misdemeanor charges based on two driving incidents including a
hit and run and
DUI. 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. 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.
In
2005, while filming
Lost in
Hawaii, Rodriguez was pulled over by
Honolulu police multiple times; she was cited for driving 83 mph in a 55 mph zone on
Oahu on
November 1, and was fined $357, paid a $300 fine for driving 90 mph in a 35 mph zone on
October 20, was fined $197 for going 80 mph in a 50 mph zone on
August 24. On
December 1,
2005, Rodriguez and her
Lost co-star,
Cynthia Watros were separately pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence. Rodriguez pleaded not guilty when arraigned, 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. The fact that her and Watros' characters were to be discontinued on Lost may have been the reason for the crimes, however Rodriguez and producers said their exit from the show had been planned before the season began and the arrests were just coincidental. Her hiatus from movie roles from 2003 to 2007 also led fans to believe she was being temporarily
blacklisted for her legal troubles.
Because the Kailua incident was a violation of her Los Angeles probation, Rodriguez was sentenced to 260 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. Because of overcrowding, she was released from jail on the same day she entered it. As of June 2006, she'll still have to serve the community service.She wrote about the experience on her blog.
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 later admitted she was actually in New York City that day. Her lawyer claimed it was a clerical error.
On
October 10,
2007, following a hearing, she was sentenced to 180 days jail time after agreeing to admit to violating her probation, stemming from her earlier charges. She was expected to spend the full 180-day term in jail, as she'd been deemed ineligible for work furloughs and house arrest.
On
December 23,
2007, she turned herself in to begin the jail term in the Century Regional Detention Facility located in
Lynwood, CA. On the evening of January 9, 2008, Rodriguez was released after serving 18 days of her 180 day sentence, due to overcrowding.
Filmography
Television
Video games
- Halo 2 (Voice, 2004)
- Driv3r aka Driver 3 (Voice, 2004)
- (Voice. 2003)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Michelle Rodriguez'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://michelle_rodriguez.totallyexplained.com">Michelle Rodriguez Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
