Early Life
Rodriguez was born in San Antonio, Texas. Her mother, Carmen Milady (née Pared Espinal), is a native of the Dominican Republic, and her father, Rafael Rodriguez, is Puerto Rican and served in the United States Army. She has a total of ten siblings and half-siblings. She was partly raised by her devoutly religious maternal grandmother and was brought up a Jehovah's Witness (her mother's religion), though she has since abandoned that faith.
Rodriguez moved to the Dominican Republic with her mother when she was eight and lived there until the age of eleven, later settling in Jersey City, New Jersey. She dropped out of high school but later earned her GED; in total she was expelled from five schools. Rodriguez briefly attended business school before quitting to pursue a career in acting, with the ultimate goal of becoming a writer and director. According to the PBS television show Finding Your Roots with Dr. Louis Gates Jr., Rodriguez is 75% European, 23% African, and 4% Indigenous.
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