Michelle Rodriguez is arguably one of the most iconic actress in the action genre, as well as one of the most visible Latinas in Hollywood. She has also amassed some BIG box office NUMBERS. The cumulative global gross of her films is $5.2 billion. That Rodriguez, 39 is a delicate beauty doesn’t mean she’s any less of a badass. In her downtime she likes to race cars, fire guns, and jump out of planes.
Rodriguez is known for speaking her mind. She doesn’t shy away from addressing her fraught early days in Hollywood (“I was loud, obnoxious, crazy”) or even her sexuality. “I don’t talk about what I do with my vagina, and they’re all intrigued,” she says of the media. “I’ve never walked the carpet with anyone, so they wonder: What does she do with her vagina? Plus, I play a butchy girl all the time, so they assume I’m a lesbo.” Michelle she says. “I’ve gone both ways. I do as I please. I am too f—ing curious to sit here and not try when I can. Men are intriguing. So are chicks.” She shrugs.
Machete Kills director Robert Rodriguez brought Michelle her back his sequel — and was actually pleased to see she’d tinkered with his script. “She just comes in and says, ‘Here, I want to say this.’ Then I read it, and I’m like, ‘Yes, please.’ She’s just a blast. Everyone wants to edit on her scenes because there are so many great takes and great lines.”
The actress says she gets grief for not making more movies with Latin filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez: “Most Latin directors don’t understand female empowerment at all. Culturally they’re in the archaic caveman days.” That said, she’d love to create a Latina superhero. “She should be, like, a South American Amazon princess,” she says. “I just need to figure out what her superpower is.”
Michelle Rodriguez is, fittingly, furious with “The Fast and the Furious” franchise for not giving enough opportunities to women.
Over the summer, the actress threatened to leave behind her role as Letty Ortiz, the wife of Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto, if the series continues to limit its female roles.
“F8 is out digitally today,” she captioned her Instagram photo. “I hope they decide to show some love to the women of the franchise on the next one. Or I just might have to say goodbye to a loved franchise. It’s been a good ride & I’m grateful for the opportunity the fans & studio have provided over the years.”
Rodriguez, who has portrayed Letty in five of the eight installments, has previously pointed out that she’s had limited dialogue along with actress Jordana Brewster, who plays the sister of Dom, and other women who have joined the series.
Interesting Facts about Michelle Rodriguez
In real life Michelle is very much a Rebel
Her and Vin Diesel were dating in real life while making Fast and the Furious.
She’s a DJ who plays some big events
She’s done a great amount of voice work for video games, too.
She has 10 brothers and sisters!
Her mother is not happy with her chosen career path and even told her that she was “part of the devil’s tool.”
She was raised a Jehovah’s Witness from the age of 7. She was not allowed to watch any movies as a child.
Her father Rafael Rodriguez, was a Puerto Rican, while her mother Carmen Milady Pared Espinal, is a native of the Dominican Republic. Her father served in the U. S. Army.
After moving from Puerto Rico to Jersey City, New Jersey, she attended her first audition, an open casting call, for “Girlfight,” in which she portrayed the character of Diana Guzman, a troubled teen who decides to channel her aggression by training to become a boxer. She beat out 350 other girls for the role.
Before she landed the role, she was put in the ring for three weeks’ training with the director watching her. She was so broke that they had to give her money to buy train ticket every day to the auditions.
Director Karyn Kusama, described Rodriguez’s audition as “a disaster,” but still offered her the role as the director “could not find anyone who could come close to her in physical power.”
She starred in the James Cameron’s high-budget sci-fi adventure film “Avatar,” in the role of Trudy Chacón. The movie became her most successful film to date.
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