Michelle Rodriguez Quotes

I think there are three types of actors. There are the ones that do the ego thing, which is "I'm never going to look bad in a movie, ever." This is mostly the action film dudes, like, "Nah, hell no. He ain't punchin' me! I'd whoop his ass!"

I love action. I love to move my body. Any chance I have to do that in my youth, I'll definitely jump towards it, for sure.

The only place that I'd be worried about being typecast is the independent film world.

I don't have much history - I've got Rosie Perez, Jennifer Lopez, Rita Moreno. That's it. That's the history of Latin women in Hollywood, really.

I knew nothing about the independent film industry. I didn't know much about the industry itself. All I knew was how to watch movies, how to enjoy them, how to hate them, how not to like them.

I've gone both ways. I do as I please. I am too f**king curious to sit here and not try when I can. Men are intriguing. So are chicks.

When I was about, I'd say, 18 or 19 years old, I wanted to be a part of the CIA just because they know those intimate secrets... So I was just always into knowing. I like to know things.

I think there are three types of actors. There are the ones that do the ego thing, which is "I'm never going to look bad in a movie, ever." This is mostly the action film dudes, like, "Nah, hell no. He ain't punchin' me! I'd whoop his ass!" Then you've got the activist type who bases their decisions in the development of a character on what it symbolizes to society - what the ethical code is. And then the third type is a true thespian who doesn't give a flying rat's ass what it is as long as it's deep, powerful, and painful, and they will dive in headfirst. I really respect those people.

I wanted to express myself. I wanted to be creative and I didn't want to worry about someone bossing me around in the process. You have to struggle no matter where you are to get to where you're going, so I'm like, working it honey!

This crazy little party girl who loves to enjoy life actually has a purpose. So, that's really the core of why I've survived so many years and I can go and I can fall down and I can get back up. Why? Because I know why I'm here. That's the question that a lot of people need to answer when they do fall is, 'Why am I here?' If you can answer that question, you'll be able to dust yourself off and shine like a phoenix out of ashes.

My dad was more, "Let's play chess. Read a book, you're stupid." He's more the intellectual type.

I just want that unconditional love, the kind you get with a family member. You might get lucky enough to find that unconditional love in a friend or a lover, but it's very rare. So if I ever have a kid, it'd be so that I could look in those eyes and know that this child is a piece of me and will love me the same way I love, but I think that's selfish of me.

When I am scared of something, I run towards it, instead of away from it.

I went to business school but left after four months because I just didn't want to be a puppet of society, stuck in an office, craving some sunlight.

Until they come up with an independent woman who's on an adventure of her own, I don't think I'm interested.

It's the board I had a problem with. I could totally handle being in the water and stuff. I came here to do my own stunts. Water! Ocean! Action! Big waves! That water, that water has tamed me. You can feel that the world is connected to it.

I used to go over to my friend's house and we'd watch VCR tapes, three of them a day, and I was like, "I could come up with better stories than this." And I've wanted to write films ever since.

People love destroying mankind, for some strange reason. You make a movie about mankind's destruction, you're going to fill seats. People just love the idea. For a couple thousand years, we've been dreaming up how we're all going to disappear and fade away from this planet.

I have absolutely nothing consistent in my life. But that's where serendipity comes in and I love that. One day I'm going to have to sacrifice that to bring life into the world. But the more I can hold off on that, the happier I'll be. It's scary for me.

The Dewey decimal system really works. So that's all I needed to know. Elementary school taught me that.

I didn't know how to box so I would have looked like a complete street fighter actually, but what we did have to do was pick up some sides and then just memorize them within two days and go there and audition.

I was born in Texas and I lived there 'till I was 8. Then I moved to the Dominican Republic with my mom, lived there for two years and forgot every word of English I knew.

You can keep knocking me down forever, I'll keep getting up and trying.

It's easy for me to work with other girls because I'm a tomboy and I don't want the guy, your boyfriend - I'm not interested in looking better than you, so don't worry. Fail or win, whatever it is, I need to go do stuff.

I wanted to write a film and I thought the best way to do so was to train myself within the field... It was just like a cycle of people trying to make it, not making it, doing extra work, and it was pretty depressing in the end.

There's only a handful of directors who really understand what I call the alchemical balance between a man and a woman, in a woman's body, which most people consider the strong woman character.

I wouldn't want to sacrifice the last years that I have of being youthful in this business to have kids.

The best part of making the movies... learning from the pros themselves.

At school, I was this tomboy kid who just loved to hang out with her friends and learn curse words, trying to fit in with the cool kids and defending all the kids who got picked on.

I thought about making movies. It hit me when I was about 14, 15 years old.

I also love the makers of South Park, because they're political, strong, and they're making all of these comments that would get you shot for if you did it in a drama.

I don't like weak women and I don't find it interesting to play them. I'm inspired by them, when I see them in dramas, like with Natalie Portman, in almost every movie she's in. It's awesome that chicks can really go there, and it's beautiful to watch, but I don't think I'm interested, in any way, shape or form, in embodying those creatures.

I do have a delicate side.

There was a lot of drama in school because, well, people have problems at home and they take it out on their friends in school. Trying to impress people, they became bullies. I hated it because I know what it's like to be picked on, and I never liked not fitting in, especially moving around so much as a kid because I was an Army brat. My dad was in the Army.

Maybe I exclude myself from that genre by not getting dressed up often enough, by acting ghetto most of the time, and running around in sweats and Timberlands.

Guys are so predictable. They can't seem to separate fantasy from reality, so I get a lot of bikers and race car drivers hitting on me. They're all just playboys, so they don't interest me.

I was hanging out in gers [yurts] with these Kazakh sort of Bedouins. Drank nasty-ass camel milk. The drive [from the Souther Gobi to Ulan Bator] is insane. It's like The Road.

Basically I was a rebel growing up. I got kicked out of six schools. But I don't think that it makes you less of an intellect. You know, if you ever crave knowledge, there's always a library.

I think empathy is a beautiful thing. I think that's the power of film though. We have one of the most powerful, one of the greatest communicative tools known to man.

I'm stubborn. I'm hardheaded. I don't do what I don't want to do.

I'm always researching ancient religions, and I was also raised Jehovah's Witness, so that kind of scarred me for life.

Whenever a female takes a strong stand for herself, the majority of the time they have to really, really narrow it down to being feminine and wearing dresses and just being lipstick chic.

The egos in this industry are incredibly vulnerable and everybody's afraid to wipe out. So everybody plays it safe and everybody tells everybody else how great they are.

We all have our moments. But you can switch it around. Then you've got the activist type who bases their decisions in the development of a character on what it symbolizes to society - what the ethical code is.

I've been part of really big things that are amazing, but I haven't taken on that responsibility yet. So I don't want to sell myself short by having a kid and then regret not doing what I set out to do.

I would like to see a fierce Fantasia mixed with Blade Runner, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars all in one. That's the kind of movies I want to make.

I just never felt like I belonged anywhere. I always had a stick with a little knapsack attached.

People don't like talking about it, but if you're Spanish, you feel a weight.