Gina Rodriguez - Hispanic Actresses, Facts and Family

Gina Rodriguez was born on 30th July, 1984, in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents, Magali and Genaro Rodriguez, are Puerto Rican by origin. Her father was a boxing referee by profession. Rodriguez is the youngest of the three sisters in the family.

Seven year old Gina started performing as a dancer with the local salsa group ‘Fantasia Juvenil’. She worked for other companies too, like the ‘Los Soneros Del Swing’ and performed in Chicago, California, New York and Puerto Rico during the Salsa Congress events.

When Gina was sixteen, she became one of the thirteen teens who were accepted at the Columbia University NY- Theatrical Collaboration taught by Richard Niles, giving her the opportunity to write, direct and perform original work with twelve other teenagers from across the globe.

She gained acceptance into the Tisch School of the Arts, thereby deciding to channelize all her energy into honing her acting skills through theatre.

For the next four years, Gina underwent rigorous training in theatre at the ‘Atlantic Theatre Company’ and ‘Experimental Theatre Wing’ where she learnt under the expert guidance of professors like Rosemary Quinn and worked with David Mamet and William H. Macy.

Soon after graduating, Gina Rodriguez got her first role in ‘Tiny Dancer’. At the American Stage Theatre world premiere of ‘Casa Blue: The Last Moments in the Life of Frida Kahlo’, Rodriguez played the role of Frida Kahlo.

Rodriguez’s career started taking stride when she was cast in the shows ‘Jonny Zero’, ‘Army Wives’ and ‘Law and Order’. Her performance in the short film ‘Osvaldos’ gained her immense recognition at several film festivals.

She began working as Beverly for the in the soap opera series ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ in 2011.

Gina played the lead role in the feature film ‘Go for It’ the same year where she portrayed a dancer battling between career and family. Soon came her first ever co-star television role in CBS, ‘Eleventh Hour’.

She became a regular face on the web series ‘Eden's Court’ and ‘No Names’ but her first studio film was ‘Our Family Wedding’ with America Ferrera.

Gina Rodriguez was seen in a guest appearance on the television shows ‘The Mentalist’, ‘Happy Endings’ and ‘Ten Things I Hate About You’.

In 2013, Rodriguez featured in the film ‘Filly Brown’ as a young rap artist with Jenni Rivera, Lou Diamond Phillips and Edward James Olmos. The character took Rodriguez to the height of success through her powerful performance as Filly Brown. She was offered the role after an impressive rap performance at the audition. Through collaborations with music producers E Dub and Khoolaid, five original songs were composed for the film.

’Filly Brown’ received admiration from the film fraternity and after it’s screening at the Sundance Film Festival, Rodriguez career graph started moving northward. There were various offers but she took critical decisions at this time.

Though she got the opportunity to appear on Marc Cherry's ‘Devious Maids’ series, she rejected it on account of her objection in the way Latino culture was presented.

In the dark comedy, ‘Sleeping with Fishes’, written and directed by Nicole Gomez Fisher, Rodriguez was seen in the leading role of a woman named Alexis Rodriguez Fish. Fish was depicted as a lady whose cheating husband dies, followed by her return to her family.

Rodriguez’s lead role as Jane Villanueva in her favourite project, ‘Jane the Virgin’, aired during the fall of 2014. Speaking to ‘Vanity Fair’, Rodriguez expressed her love for the character. The series is based on the Venezuelan soap, ‘Juana le Virgen’, which unveils the events in the life of a young virgin who is accidentally inseminated.

Rodriguez has a number of projects in the pipeline. She will be seen in many upcoming movies, among which ‘The Star’ is set to release in November 2017 which will feature her as Mary.

‘Filly Brown’, illustrating the ups and downs in the life of the young rap artist played by Rodriguez remains her most admired film so far. Her work in ‘Go for It’ is also worth a mention.

The series ‘Jane the Virgin’ is also running successfully and has received appreciation from people and critics.

During the early years of her career, her short film, ‘Osvaldos’, was accepted at many film festivals like the ABFF, NY HBO Latino Film Fest, Chicago International Film Fest and Urban world. Rodriguez was announced as the winner of the ‘Best Actor’ award at the First Run Film Festival in New York. It was also chosen as the ‘Five Best Shorts’ and was telecast on HBO in 2010.

Rodriguez was nominated for an Imagen award in 2011 for the film ‘Go for It’ but she finally received the award for her performance in ‘Filly Brown’ under the category ‘Best Actress in a Feature Film’.At the First Run Film Festival in New York, she was awarded the ‘Best Actor’ Award. She also won the ‘Inaugural Lupe Award’ on 9th June, 2013.

For her role in ‘Jane the Virgin’, she received the prestigious Golden Globe award in 2015 and nominated for the same again in 2016 and 2017.

The actress has two older sisters, Ivelisse Rodriguez Simon and Rebecca. Ivelisse is an investment banker. During her speech at the Golden Globe, Rodriguez had referred to her siblings as her “biggest role models”.

Rodriguez had a great struggle after she was diagnosed with thyroid at 19 years of age.

The actor is a staunch supporter of the Latino community and is associated with the ‘National Hispanic Foundation’.

‘We Will foundation’ established by Rodriguez aims to empower young Hispanic women through scholarships.