Michelle Rodriguez Says Strict Religious Upbringing Shaped Her Early Hollywood Years

Michelle Rodriguez says her strict Jehovah’s Witness upbringing made her feel disconnected from Hollywood when she first entered the entertainment industry.

The actress, 48, reflected on her early career during a 25th anniversary screening of The Fast and the Furious in Los Angeles on Monday, according to People magazine. Rodriguez said that, at the time, she viewed Hollywood as part of what she had been taught was the “devil’s world.”

“I came from a Jehovah’s Witness background at the time,” Rodriguez said. “So it’s like none of this really means anything to me.”

Rodriguez had appeared in only two independent films, Girlfight and 3 A.M., before landing the role of Letty Ortiz in The Fast and the Furious. She said Vin Diesel had seen Girlfight and liked her character, eventually helping bring her into the franchise.

Rather than being impressed by the movie business, Rodriguez was drawn to the freedom that came with the role. She enjoyed learning to drive and race cars, handling guns for the film and performing stunts and other activities that had been off-limits in her upbringing.

“To me, that was the exciting thing,” she said. “Doing things that you weren’t allowed to do in real life.”

Rodriguez has previously spoken about the restrictions she experienced growing up. During a 2020 appearance on Red Table Talk, she recalled that celebrations such as birthdays and Halloween were considered wrong in her household. She also said she was not allowed to watch Disney movies until her teenage years because her family viewed their references to witchcraft as inappropriate.

In a 2015 interview with Interview magazine, Rodriguez said her religious upbringing had “scarred me for life.” She also described feeling as though she was living a “double life” while going door to door with her family as part of their religious activities.

At school, Rodriguez said, she was a tomboy who wanted to fit in with her classmates, while her life outside school followed very different rules.

Her unconventional path into acting ultimately led to one of Hollywood’s most successful action franchises. Rodriguez has now appeared in eight Fast & Furious films, making Letty one of the series’ most recognizable characters.

The franchise, which began with the 2001 film starring Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, grew from a street-racing story into a global action series. For Rodriguez, however, her earliest connection to the films was less about Hollywood fame and more about the chance to experience a world that had once been forbidden to her.