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Michelle Rodríguez
Michelle Rodríguez at the New York Fashion Week Spring 2006.
Birth name	Mayte Michelle Rodríguez
Born	July 12, 1978 (1978-07-12) (age 29) Bexar County, Texas
Official site	michelle-rodriguez.com
Awards Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Ensemble - Drama Series' 2005 Lost' Best Supporting Actress (ALMA Awards) 2006 Lost

Mayte Michelle Rodríguez^[1] (born July 12, 1978), better known as Michelle Rodríguez, is an American actress, known for her role in the television series Lost and films The Fast and the Furious, S.W.A.T., BloodRayne and Resident Evil.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 1.4 Curve controversy 1.4.1 Legal troubles 2 Filmography 2.1 Video games 3 References 4 External links 4.1 Interviews

Rodríguez was born in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of Carmen Milady (née Pared), a native of the Dominican Republic, and Rafael Rodríguez, a Puerto Rican who served in the military.^[2] 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.^[3][4] Rodríguez 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.

Having run across an ad for an open casting call and attending her first audition, Rodríguez beat 350 other applicants to win her first role in the low-budget 2000 independent film, Girlfight. Rodríguez'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 did not receive the Oscar nod. Rodríguez 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 has 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, Rodríguez portrayed Eden in the surfer girlpower flick Blue Crush.

In 2004, Rodríguez lent her voice to the video game Halo 2, playing one of the Marines. She also currently provides 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, Rodríguez was featured in her own episode of G4's show Icons. Battle in Seattle, her latest film, is due for release in December 2007, and she is currently in New Zealand filming James Cameron's upcoming highly anticipated scifi adventure Avatar, due out in May 2009.^[5]

In early 2000, Rodríguez broke off a near engagement to a Muslim boyfriend, citing opposition to religious requirements he demanded of her, which included covering herself completely.^[6] In 2001, Rodríguez then dated her The Fast and the Furious co-star, Vin Diesel.^[7] In 2006, she expressed a romantic interest in Irish actor and S.W.A.T. co-star, Colin Farrell.^[8] In July 2006, Rodriguez told UK's Cosmopolitan magazine that she was not gay, but had "experimented with both sexes".^[9] 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.^[10][11][12] 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".^[13]

Most recently, Rodriguez was linked to Kylie Minogue's ex Olivier Martinez after the two were seen dining at Chateau Marmont. Rodríguez reportedly spent the night at his hotel room, and the two have been spotted together several times over the course of the last 4 years.^[14]

In June 2007, Curve ran a cover widely considered to be trailing an interview in which Rodríguez would out herself. In reality, Rodríguez never actually did an interview with the magazine and therefore, in response, used her blog to accuse the magazine of attempting to "out" her^[15]. On her official website she said the following: ^[16]

As far as rumors go of me coming out, I guess Curve magazine took it upon themselves to out me on the premise of their own suspicions. Whatever, I'm not insulted, I have a big lesbian following, and for whatever reasons they show me love I'm never going to shun, disrespect or neglect anybody who shows me genuine non-psychotic Love. But I will Say this, to put words in someone's mouth and place people in categories affects them for sure, especially in this business. I don't know what the intent behind the curve magazine cover was. I wasn't informed of it, I had no Idea they were planning on using my image to sell magazines. By the way I only got kicked out of five schools not six...

Look, I guess what I'm trying to say ultimately is that, if I wanted people to know what I do with my Vagina I would have released A sex video a long time ago. Yet i haven't done that. You know why? Because extremists can rarely be mediators, mass communicators, or chameleons for that matter. I have bin an extremist in my personal life, Yes. Yet I have never really over stepped the boundaries consciously in the public eye. I have really focused on specific types of films for that very reason, I don't need to be limited by judgmental labels, especially in a society ruled mostly by an MTV A.D.D. mentality. See, I even labeled, It's almost second nature to the generation Y culture, and what about the popular culture groups that buy up all the US Weekly's, In Touch's, Hello's And the readers of sites like Perez Hilton.com.

If I were Ellen [DeGeneres] I may get away with: ' The I'm Gay' level of exposure, but I'm not a comedian, I like men; (real ones anyway) and I've only been in this business for 7 years, not 20. Years of recognition can give a person lots of leverage especially if you have many years of positive recognition under your belt. There are certain things that can close doors between a celebrity and certain audiences. Especially in a world where walls are constantly being put up by people seeking comfort and groups to belong to. There is so much out there, over-saturation of music, media, Agenda News, war, political drama, high school prom drama, image drama, religion drama, Bully drama. All this drama is caused by one thing, not understanding the true meaning of communication and the real power behind it. It's tough to learn, I'm working on it myself, but when people come out of nowhere and put words in my mouth or call me Gay, they should really think for one second How they could truly affect my life by doing such things. You don't know what producer, director, would be husband or future audience member may be influenced by these opinions and media content.

Asked about the Curve issue, Rodriguez told E! Online,

"People are gonna say what they say. It’s like Eminem...I am whatever you say I am. Free press...it’s all good—the more, the merrier. Just as long as it doesn’t mess up my flow if I ever want some shows, ya know? That would suck”.^[17]

In the July/August 2007 issue of Curve, editors responded to this criticism by stating:

"If you read the article, you will see that the author did not, in fact, 'out' Rodríguez; rather, the article stated both that 'Rodríguez has never publicly come out' and 'Rodríguez has said she is not a lesbian."

The editors stated that the misunderstanding arose when Perez Hilton posted in his blog that she had come out in Curve after seeing her on the cover and assuming it was a coming out story.^{[citation needed]} The Curve website did initially describe her as a "bi bad girl" on the magazine's cover, but later removed their "bi" label in reprints. Rodríguez has never denied being bisexual.^{[citation needed]}

In March 2002, Rodríguez was arrested for assault after getting into a fight with her roommate.^[18] The charges were later dropped after the roommate declined to press the allegations in court.^[19]

In November 2003, Rodriguez went to court to face eight misdemeanor charges based on two driving incidents including a hit and run and DUI.^[20] In June 2004, Rodríguez pleaded no contest in Los Angeles to three of the charges: [hit and run, drunken driving, and driving with a suspended license.^[21] 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.^[22]

In 2005, while filming Lost in Hawaii, Rodríguez 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.^[23] On December 1, 2005, Rodríguez and her Lost co-star, Cynthia Watros were separately pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence.^[24] Rodríguez pleaded not guilty when arraigned,^[25] 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 21.78 hours of community service.^[21] Rodríguez cited her high doses of allergy-relieving steroids as part of the reason for her erratic behaviour.^[26] The fact that her and Watros' characters were killed off (appropriately enough, in an episode titled "Two for the Road") led some fans to believe that it was a result of the arrests, 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, Rodríguez 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.^[27] Because of overcrowding, she was released from jail on the same day she entered it. As of June 2006, she will still have to serve the community service.^[28] She wrote about the experience on her blog.^[29]

In September 2007 however, Rodríguez 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.^{[citations needed]}

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. The judge in the case ordered that Rodríguez not be granted a work furlough, early release or home confinement and must remain in jail for the entire 180 days. ^[30]

On December 23, 2007, she began a 180-day jail term in the Century Regional Detention Facility located in Lynwood,CA. This stems from an earlier probation violation. Michelle turned herself in under her given name, Mayte.^{[citation needed]}

• Girlfight (2000)
• 3 A.M. (2001)
• The Fast and the Furious (2001)
• Resident Evil (2002)
• Blue Crush (2002)
• S.W.A.T. (2003)
• Control (2004)
• Sian Ka'an (Voice, 2005)
• BloodRayne (2005)
• Immortal Grand Prix (2005)
• The Breed (2006)
• Lost (24 episodes, 2005-2006)
• Adventures in Voice Acting (Documentary, 2007)
• Battle in Seattle (2007)
• Avatar (2009)

• True Crime: Streets of LA (Voice. 2003)
• Driv3r aka Driver (Voice, 2004)
• Halo 2 (Voice, 2004)

• Michelle Rodriguez - Official Website
• Michelle Rodriguez at the Internet Movie Database
• Michelle Rodriguez at TV.com
• Michelle Latina - Fansite in Spanish

• In-depth Video Interview (September 20, 2007)
• Collection of Transcribed Magazine Interviews (2000-2006)
• Interview, 10/00, BeatBoxBetty
• Interview, 9/29/2000, CNN
• Collection of snippets on Rodriguez's background