Staying in the spotlight in the world of comedy isn't easy. As an actress or actor, few are given the opportunity to play important lead roles in various comedy series. There are some, just think of Charlie Sheen, Ed O'Neill or Donald Faison, but it is certainly not easy.
Gina Rodriguez is an American actress who may well become next in this list. Her acting career, which now spans a good twenty series or so, started in the drama angle. What Baantjer is to Dutch actors, Law & Order may be that to many international actors. Rodriguez also played a role (two in fact!) in the long-running court drama.
Guest appearances followed in the mystery series Johnny Zero and Eleventh Hour (US), while she also made her (short) appearance in the films Calling it Quits and Our Family Wedding. She got her first role in a comedy series in 10 Things I Hate About You.
That sounds nice and great, it is not yet a breakthrough in the genre. Rodriguez takes on a brief recurring role on Army Wives, returning to drama as a genre. We also see her briefly in Happy Endings - a comedy - and The Mentalist.
Rodriguez is therefore not exactly on track to play a permanent character in a comic role. Especially if she decides to take on a recurring role in The Bold and the Beautiful. Although her share in the entire series is very limited - she can only be seen in fifteen episodes of the long-running soap - it offers her something new.
No Names is a series that follows. Comedy, about - how original - two men who want to make it in the business world, but don't make it and so decide to go into porn, which doesn't exactly catch on. The series is taken off the tube after just six episodes.
In 2013 it is the turn of another popular series in which Rodriguez makes a brief appearance: Rizzoli & Isles, about a female duo that takes on crime in Boston. It is only a short time before her real breakthrough. A period that is almost entirely dominated by just one series for Rodriguez. We are, of course, talking about Jane the Virgin.
Jane is still young and religious when, through a series of extraordinary events, she is accidentally artificially inseminated. A mistake based on a Venezuelan telenovela that lasts five seasons and exactly 100 episodes. Rodriguez plays the leading role of the quickly popular Jane with verve. Something that makes the series quite memorable.
Rodriguez does not have much time for other work during that period. Although she occasionally appears in a short film, and later even larger theatrical releases such as Deepwater Horizon, Ferdinand and Smallfoot, her focus remains on Jane the Virgin. She also has some small appearances in Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Animals.
The fact that Rodriguez has focused more on voice acting since Ferdinand and Smallfoot is evident from the roles that she chose after the end of Jane the Virgin. We hear her once or for a longer period of time in Robot Chicken, Elena of Avalor, Dash & Lily and Carmen Sandiego, among others.
She returns to the small screen with Diary of a Future President, a Disney family series about a teenage girl who dreams of becoming the next president. Rodriguez assumes the role of president in those dreams. She can also be seen or heard in Lost Ollie, Big Mouth (2022) and Batwheels.
With that we can say that Rodriguez is not sitting idle. This is also evident from the projects that still have to be released in 2023. One of them is the series Not Dead Yet, which will premiere in February. In Not Dead Yet, we follow Rodriguez in her role as Nell Stevens. She is broke, single and feels old. Her latest job: writing obituaries.
In an unexpected turn of events, she receives all kinds of life advice from that job. You already know: that sounds like she's going back to comedy, and perhaps that is what will ensure Rodriguez becomes one of those actresses who has had multiple large comedy roles. Who knows!
Are you a fan? Click this link for more (guest) roles that Gina Rodriguez has played.
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