Born on August 29, 1971 in Sarasota, Florida, Carla Gugino is an actress best known for her role in the Spy Kids trilogy, plus a couple of television series. Of Italian, English, and Irish descent, Gugino’s parents separated when she was just two years old. Her mother moved the family to Paradise, California when she was 4. Despite such family troubles, she was able to remain a straight-A student and graduate valedictorian. She was discovered by a modeling agency in San Diego at the age 15 and had to move to New York. At 5 feet 4 inches, however, Gugino was not your typical model, and, true enough, she found the work too much. She moved back to California the following summer and instead studied acting.
Today, Carla Gugino has several films under belt, such as Lovelife, Snake Eyes, with Nicolas Cage, Judas Kiss, Son in Law, The One, with Jet Li, Sin City, Night at the Museum, American Gangster, and the three Spy Kids films. She is also part of the original cast of the Michael J. Fox series Spin City, as well as in the CBS sci-fi series Threshold. She also dabbled in theater, appearing in Roundabout Theater Company’s After the Fall and an Off-Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer opposite Blythe Danner.
Gugino’s other television credits include ALF, Doogie Howser, M.D., Saved by the Bell, Who’s the Boss and The Wonder Years. She has also appeared in a Bon Jovi music video, appeared nude in a 2007 issue of Allure, and two episodes of the HBO series Entourage.