Mayte Michelle Rodriguez (born July 12, 1978), better known as Michelle Rodriguez, is a US American actress, known for her role in the television series Lost and action films Girlfight, The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil and S.W.A.T..

Rodriguez was born in Bexar County, Texas, the daughter of Carmen Milady (née Pared), a native of the Dominican Republic, and Rafael Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican who served in the US military. 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. Rodriguez 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, Rodriguez beat 350 other applicants to win her first role in the low-budget 2000 independent film, Girlfight. Rodriguez’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.

Rodriguez 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, Rodriguez portrayed Eden in the surfer girlpower flick Blue Crush.

In 2004, Rodriguez lent her voice to the video game Halo 2, playing a Marine. She also provided 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, Rodriguez was featured in her own episode of G4’s show Icons. Her latest film, Battle in Seattle, is released in the U.S. in March 2008. She recently wrapped filming in New Zealand for James Cameron’s sci-fi adventure Avatar, due out in December 2009.

In early 2000, Rodriguez broke off a near engagement to a Muslim boyfriend, citing opposition to religious requirements he demanded of her, which included covering herself completely. At one time, Rodriguez dated her The Fast and the Furious co-star, Vin Diesel. In 2006, she “had her eye on” Irish actor and S.W.A.T. co-star, Colin Farrell. In July 2006, Rodriguez told UK’s Cosmopolitan magazine that she was not gay, but had “experimented with both sexes”.

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. 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”.

In June 2007, Curve ran a cover describing her as a “bad bi girl” and considered by many to be trailing an interview in which Rodriguez would out herself. Rodriguez never did an interview with the magazine however, and therefore in response used her blog to express her feelings on the issue. In the July/August 2007 issue of Curve, editors responded to her criticism by stating: “If you read the article, you will see that the author did not, in fact, ‘out’ Rodriguez; rather, the article stated both that ‘Rodriguez has never publicly come out’ and ‘Rodriguez has said she is not a lesbian.” The editors stated that the misunderstanding arose when the Perez Hilton blog posted that she had come out in Curve after seeing her on the cover and assuming it was a coming out story.

In early 2007, Rodriguez was seen having dinner with Kylie Minogue’s ex Olivier Martinez at Chateau Marmont Hotel. Rodriguez reportedly spent the night at the hotel. The two had been spotted together two years earlier.

Legal troubles: In March 2002, Rodriguez was arrested for assault after getting into a fight with her roommate. The charges were later dropped after the roommate declined to press the allegations in court.

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

In 2005, while filming Lost in Hawaii, Rodriguez 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.

On December 1, 2005, Rodriguez and her Lost co-star, Cynthia Watros were separately pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence. Rodriguez pleaded not guilty when arraigned, 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 240 hours of community service.

Rodriguez cited her high doses of allergy-relieving steroids as part of the reason for her erratic behaviour. 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, Rodriguez 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. 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. She wrote about the experience on her blog.

In September 2007 however, Rodriguez 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.

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 Rodriguez not be granted a work furlough, early release or home confinement and must remain in jail for the entire 180 days.

On December 23, 2007, she turned herself in and began a 180-day jail term in the Century Regional Detention Facility located in Lynwood, CA. This stems from an earlier probation violation. On the evening of January 9th 2008, Rodriguez was released after serving 18 days of her 180 day sentence.

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