Gina Rodrigues rose to fame with her role as Jane, in the CW series Jane the Virgin. Since then she has participated in many movies!
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about her!
- Her full name is Gina Alexis Rodriguez
- She was born on July 30, 1984
- She is an American actress and director
- She is known for her leading role as Jane Villanueva in The CW satirical romantic dramedy series Jane the Virgin (2014- 2019)
- For which she received a Golden Globe Award in 2015
- Born and raised in Chicago
- Rodriguez began her career in 2004 in theater productions
- She made her screen debut in an episode of the police procedural drama series Law & Order
- Her breakthrough came in 2012
- In the independent musical-drama film Filly Brown
- She has gone on to star in such films as Deepwater Horizon (2016), Ferdinand (2017), Annihilation (2018), Miss Bala (2019), and Someone Great (2019)
- She also voices the title character of the Netflix animated action-adventure series Carmen Sandiego (2019–present)
- Gina Alexis Rodriguez was born in Chicago, Illinois
- She is the youngest daughter of Puerto Rican parents, Magali and Gino Rodriguez, a boxing referee
- She is the youngest of three sisters
- And has an older brother
- She was raised in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on Chicago’s Northwest Side
- At the age of seven, Rodriguez performed at the salsa dance company Fantasia Juvenil
- Rodriguez was raised Catholic, and attended high school at St. Ignatius College Prep
- She continued dancing salsa until age 17
- At the age of 16, she was among thirteen teenagers to be accepted into Columbia University’s Theatrical Collaboration
- She attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts
- She trained for four years at the Atlantic Theater Company and Experimental Theatre Wing
- And earned with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2005
- She portrayed Frida Kahlo in the world premiere of Casa Blue in the United Kingdom
- In the play called The Last Moments in the Life of Frida Kahlo at the American Stage Theatre
- It was announced that Rodriguez was cast in the upcoming Netflix science fiction thriller Awake
- She will also voice the role of Velma Dinkley in the computer animated adventure film Scoob
- In an interview, Rodriguez revealed that she has suffered from Hashimoto’s disease, a thyroid condition, since the age of 19
- In a 2014 interview, she said, “I grew up Catholic. I have Jewish in my family and I attend a Christian church in Hollywood. I am basically all over the place”
- In 2016, Rodriguez began dating actor, model, and MMA fighter Joe LoCicero
- They met on the set of Jane the Virgin
- On August 7, 2018, Rodriguez confirmed in an interview with Us Weekly that she and LoCicero were engaged
- On May 5, 2019, the couple married
- Rodriguez has been increasingly involved with various charities and philanthropic efforts
- This was made possible by her rising visibility as a film and television actress
- Most notably, she became involved with various organizations in 2015, ranging from CustomInk to Naja Lingerie
- All of which Rodriguez has stated have a special connection to her life and experiences
- On March 16, 2015, she was announced as a new member of the HSF’s (Hispanic Scholarship Fund) Board of Directors
- The HSF is the United States’ biggest non-profit organization which supports Hispanic American higher education
- Because attaining an education was the biggest priority in Rodriguez’s household, coupled with her determination to work towards a degree, she was able to work towards receiving a HSF scholarship
- For her placement on the Board of Directors, Rodriguez will help to support HSF in a matchless and meaningful way
- Therefore making sure that HSF’s mission will continue to support the original values and commitment to education
- Rodriguez has stated that this is a great opportunity to say thank you and to help open doors for Latino students to follow
- Later in 2015, PACER’s (The Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights) National Bullying Prevention Center teamed up with CustomInk and enlisted the help of various celebrities, Rodriguez among them, to raise money for their fifth annual “Be Good to Each Other Campaign”
- Throughout the month of October 2015, people were encouraged to purchase a celebri-tee from CustomInk
- Who would donate all the proceeds from bullying prevention T-shirts to PACER
- Rodriguez, in designing a celebri-tee which featured the phrase “Kindness Is Always In Style” in cursive print, took a stand for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion in support of bullying prevention
- She stated that her parents always taught her the power of thinking positively and treating others with respect
- She also hopes that through the Be Good to Each Other Campaign, such a message could be continued to be spread to younger generations
- Also in October 2015, Rodriguez was announced as a partner of Naja
- A lingerie line founded in 2014 with ambitions to help women and the environment
- Because Naja is vertically-integrated, thereby shortening manufacturing lead times by up to eighty percent, it allows the company’s savings to go towards school books, lunches, and uniforms for employees’ children, and there’s also an emphasis on a flexible work environment
- Having seen the hardships of single mothers through a close friend from college, Rodriguez wanted to support a company that primarily employed single mothers and allowed them to work from home and provide for their families
- She also cites Naja’s commitment to creating lingerie for women of all shapes and sizes and encouraging body confidence as a factor for becoming involved with the lingerie line
- Admitting that it was a process for her to fall in love with her own body
- Rodriguez also spoke on the importance of empowering women to love their own bodies and what they wear
- Naja is also environmentally-conscious in its production, as more than half of all of its pieces are made of synthetics (like nylon), that have been fabricated from recycled plastic bottles, and makes use of digital printing as a more environmentally-friendly measure
- In 2016, Rodriguez was named to Oprah’s SuperSoul 100 list of visionaries and influential leaders
- In 2017, Rodriguez, among several other artists, sang on the single “Almost Like Praying”
- Sparked by Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Broadway’s Hamilton, all proceeds from the song benefited those affected by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
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