American actress Michelle Rodriguez was born on July 12, 1978 in Bexar County, Texas, but moved to the Dominican Republic with her mother when she was eight. Three years later, she lived in Puerto Rico and soon settled in Jersey City, New Jersey. Though she dropped out of high school, she earned her GED and briefly attended business school. She eventually quit in order to pursue a career in acting, hoping to become a writer and director as well.
Michelle Rodriguez’s first role was in the low-budget independent film Girlfight. She beat out 350 other applicants for the role of Diana Guzman, and was praised by critics and audiences for her performance. This led her to win several awards, with some accolades from the Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, and the Deauville Film Festival. Her success brought her more roles, including those in The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil, Blue Crush, and S.W.A.T. In 2005, Rodriguez landed the role of tough cop Ana Lucia Cortez on the acclaimed ABC series Lost. She is also credited for her voice work in video games, including Halo 2 and Driv3r. In 2007, the actress got a part in Battle in Seattle alongside Charlize Theron. Her other roles include those in BloodRayne, The Breed, Gardens of the Night, and A Cat’s Tale. She has also been slated to reprise her role as Letty in Fast & Furious.
As a producer, Michelle Rodriguez is known to have co-founded a production company known as Cheshire Kat Productions. She has also been known to have written a screenplay for a family film.
Rodriguez has made the news more than once, as she had run into legal troubles several times. In 2002, she was arrested for assault after getting into a fight with her roommate. Though the charges were dropped, she returned to court in 2003 for a different matter. She had to face eight misdemeanor charges based on two driving incidents – a hit and run and a DUI. She later pleaded guilty to three of the charges and was sent to jail for 48 hours, ordered to perform community service and complete a three-month alcohol program, and was placed on probation for 3 years. In 2005, she was pulled over by Honolulu police officers multiple times while she was filming Lost in Hawaii.
-I do have a delicate side.
-I'm a gypsy, I can see beauty in a jail cell.
-I don't think it's narcissistic at all to love yourself and believe in yourself. I think some people are really scared to do that. I have to. If I don't, I would not succeed in what I do.
-When I was about, I'd say, 18 or 19 years old, I wanted to be a part of the CIA just because they know those intimate secrets... So I was just always into knowing. I like to know things.
-Whenever a female takes a strong stand for herself, the majority of the time they have to really, really narrow it down to being feminine and wearing dresses and just being lipstick chic.