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What Movies Has Barmageddon Contestant Michelle Rodriguez Been In?

Before she played Air Cannon Cornhole, Michelle Rodriguez acted in such films as The Fast and the Furious

By James Grebey
Michelle Rodriguez smiles

Michelle Rodriguez has gotten behind the wheel of any number of fast and furious vehicles, braved the wilds of Pandora, and battled zombies, but Barmageddon viewers saw the actress face her toughest challenge yet last night on the USA Network game show: Air Cannon Cornhole.

How to Watch

Watch new episodes of Barmageddon Mondays at 11/10c on USA Network

RELATED: Who Are the Celebrity Guests in Season 2 of Barmageddon?

But, before Rodriguez went head-to-head with Kelly Clarkson in the Season 2 premiere of the series, which pits celebrities against one another in outsized versions of classic pub games inside of co-host Blake Shelton’s Nashville bar, Ole Red, she starred in tons of blockbuster movies. Here’s a quick guide to Rodriguez’s career.

How Did Michelle Rodriguez Start Acting?

Rodriguez was born on July 12, 1978, in San Antonio, Texas, though she lived in the Dominican Republic (where her mother was from) and Puerto Rico (where her father was from) in her late childhood and teen years. She moved to New Jersey when she was 17, and ended up getting expelled from five different schools throughout her education, briefly attending business school before dropping out to pursue acting — which turned out to be the right call.

Rodriguez got her acting break when she was cast in the 2000 indie film Girlfight, where she played a troubled young woman who attempted to channel her aggression through boxing. The film was a critical success, winning awards at Sundance and Cannes and getting praise from various critic organizations. Her next film was a little picture called The Fast and the Furious.

What Major Movies Has Michelle Rodriguez Been In?

Michelle Rodriguez wearing a gold color gown at the amfar venezia gala.

In 2001, Rodriguez was cast as Letty Ortiz in the first Fast & Furious movie. This was back when the franchise was about street racing and smuggling DVDs rather than driving between skyscrapers and going to outer space. She would reprise the role several more times, in 2009’s Fast & Furious, 2011’s Fast Five, 2013’s Fast & Furious 6, 2015’s Furious 7, 2017’s The Fate of the Furious, 2021’s F9, and this year’s Fast X. She’ll play Letty (at least) once more in the next film in the franchise. 

RELATED: The Fast And The Furious Timeline Explained: How To Watch The Whole Franchise

In 2002, she was Rain Ocampo in the first Resident Evil movie, a role which she reprised in 2012’s Resident Evil: Retribution. (Sort of — she was a clone. It’s complicated.) Rodriguez stayed busy throughout the rest of the ‘00s, including on TV, where she played Ana Lucia Cortez on the hit show Lost. In 2009, she played Captain Trudy Chacón in James Cameron’s Avatar, and she was in the exploitation-style Machete films opposite Danny Trejo. 

More recently, Rodriguez’s non-Fast & Furious roles have included a turn in the 2018 Steve McQueen crime drama Widows and this year’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, where she played the barbarian Holga Kilgore. Rodriguez has done voiceover work as well, lending her pipes to kids’ movies like Turbo and Smurfs: The Lost Village.

And, of course, she was a contestant on Season 2 of Barmageddon

New episodes of Barmageddon Season 2 premiere on USA Network on Mondays at 11 p.m. ET/PT. You can watch Barmageddon Season 1 on Peacock.

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