Mayte Michelle Rodriguez  was born on July 12, 1978 and is an American actress. Her breakout role as a troubled boxer in the independent film Girlfight was met with critical acclaim, and earned her several awards, including the Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Award for Best Debut Performance.  The following year, she starred as Letty Ortiz in the 2001 blockbuster film The Fast and the Furious, a role she has reprised in six additional films throughout the Fast & Furious franchise. She has also appeared in a number of successful action films, including Resident Evil, S.W.A.T., Battle: Los Angeles, and Avatar.

On television, Rodriguez played Ana Lucia Cortez in the second season of the television series Lost. She has also had numerous voice appearances in video games, such as Call of Duty and Halo, and lent her voice to the 3D animated film Turbo.

In 2013, she described herself as bisexual in another interview.: “Bi, yeah, I fall under the B category of LGBT. In 2014 she said in an interview that she hoped her actions would help others in a similar situation: “Maybe by me opening my big fat mouth like I usually do and stepping up and owning who I am, maybe it might inspire somebody else to do the same.”