Michelle Rodriguez Biography

Mayte Michelle Rodriguez was born on July 12, 1978, in Bexar County, TX into a complicated home life. Michelle Rodriguez mother was from the Dominican Republic and a devout Jehovah's Witness; her father was a Puerto Rican who had served in the military and fathered several children with other women. When the marriage broke up, Rodriguez left Texas and moved with her mother and two older twin brothers to the Dominican Republic when she was nine. Once there, she chafed under her mother's strict religious beliefs, so joined her father in Puerto Rico when she was 11 years old. Rodriguez rebelled again, getting kicked out of several schools before finally joining her mother and brothers in Jersey City, NJ. Although a voracious reader and clearly intelligent, she hated high school and dropped out at age 15. It did not matter. Michelle Rodriguez was going to get kicked out anyway.

After Rodriguez got her GED, she drifted, attending a business school before quitting yet again. Much of it was due to boredom. Michelle Rodriguez started hanging out with a rough crowd, got in fights. But at the same time, she read a lot of books, watched a lot of movies, and formulated vague notions of becoming a writer, director or actress. Michelle Rodriguez striking looks - a blend of Latina femininity mixed with a street tough edge - landed her extra work in a few movies, but like countless aspiring actresses with no connections to Hollywood, she was still looking for her big break.

Amazingly she got it. Rodriguez read an ad in Backstage magazine, advertising for a hard, troubled Latina who could box. Michelle Rodriguez knew immediately she didn't need to act the part; she was the part. Rodriguez beat out over 350 other applicants to win the part of Diana Guzman in the low-budget independent film "Girlfight." Although a complete unknown, the director, Karyn Kusama, saw in Rodriguez a toughness and attitude that could not be faked. Although she had never applied herself to school, Rodriguez embraced the physical challenges to get in shape for the role - which included four and a half months of intense training at the famous Gleason's gym in Brooklyn. Michelle Rodriguez boxing skills were as convincing as her acting. Not only did Rodriguez win several prestigious acting awards, including an Independent Spirit Award and National Board of Review award.