Gina Rodriguez

Gina Alexis Rodriguez (born July 30, 1984) is an American actress. 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 2003 in theater productions and 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), Someone Great (2019), Scoob! (2020), Awake (2021), I Want You Back (2022), and Spy Kids: Armageddon (2023). She voiced the titular character of the Netflix animated action-adventure series Carmen Sandiego (2019—21) and starred and executive produced the Disney+ comedy-drama series Diary of a Future President (2020-21). In 2023, Rodriguez began starring and executive producing in the ABC comedy series, Not Dead Yet. Early years Rodriguez was born on July 30, 1984 in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest daughter of Puerto Rican parents, Magali and Gino Rodriguez. Her father was a boxing referee. She has an older brother and two sisters. 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 went to high school at St. Ignatius College Prep where she was two years behind the comedian John Mulaney. She has stated that she did not attend "Jake McNamara's party" which is the subject of one of Mulaney's bits. She focused on salsa dancing until age 17 when she began acting more.