WOMEN WE LOVE: Gina Rodriguez

Gina Rodriguez has been a staple on our screens for over half a decade now, so we though it was time to show her some love.

Born in Chicago as the youngest of 4 siblings to Peurto Rican parents, Gina was destined for stardom from the start. At 16 years old, Gina became one of just 13 teenagers accepted into Columbia University’s prestigious Theatrical Collaboration program. Soon after, she got into NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where she continued her study of acting, and boy we’re glad she did.

She made her on-screen debut in 2004 in an episode of "Law & Order" (shout out to the "Law & Order" franchise for giving all our favorite stars their big start!), a year before she even graduated from University! What a go-getter. From there, Gina popped up all over town, making appearances on "Eleventh Hour", "Army Wives", and "The Mentalist", but it wasn’t until 2011 that she finally landed a recurring role in the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful". Now we know where she honed her telenovela dramatics!

Her star power was apparent from the start, and she topped it off with the musical chops to boot. In 2012, Gina portrayed a young hip-hop artist in the independent musical-drama Filly Brown. The performance won her great reviews, an Imagen Award, and the Best Actor Award at the First Run Film Festival. There were also rumors that she was working on an album, but nothing has ever been released… We’re still holding out hope.

But the biggest break of her career came on February 27, 2014, when it was announced that Gina would be playing the title role in The CW's "Jane the Virgin". Dios mio. Since then, Gina has been our go-to powerful woman to watch. She played a badass paramedic opposite Natalie Portman in the science-fiction thriller Annihilation and voices Carmen Sandiego on the animated series of the same name which premiered in January 2019 and which Netflix recently announced that they had acquired the live-action film rights to as well. So Gina’s going to be bringing Carmen into the real world before we know it!

On top of that, she’s a movie star too! If you haven’t seen the best rom-com of the year, please direct yourself to Netflix now and watch Someone Great. Then watch it again.

And she’s not just an actress, she’s a businesswoman and advocate as well. Gina owns the production company I Can & I Will Productions, where she’s developed projects for CBS and The CW that are centered around the Latino community, and is outspoken about representation of all races and genders in entertainment. What a woman.

Though "Jane the Virgin" is in it’s final season, we certainly haven’t seen the last of Gina Rodriguez. Thank you for everything you do, Gina, we love you!