Angela Rockwood (born March 15, 1975) is an American actress and model, best known for roles in ''

The Fast and the Furious ''Fast & Furious'', also known as ''The Fast and the Furious'', is an American action media franchise centered on a series of films revolving around street racing, heists, and spies. The franchise also includes short films, a television se ...

'', the syndicated television series '' V.I.P.'' and for her reality television series ''

Push Girls ''Push Girls'' is an American reality television series on the SundanceTV. A sneak peek episode, and original premiere date, aired on April 17, 2012, with the official debut on June 4, 2012. ''Push Girls'' chronicles the lives of four women— An ...

''.

Early life

Born in

Clovis, New Mexico Clovis is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico. The population was 38,567 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Clovis is located in the New Mexico portion of the Llano Estacado, in the eastern part of the state. A ...

, Rockwood is the oldest of four children of German-Thai descent and was raised in the Philippines, Spain, and Guam. At the age of 22, she moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles to finish art school and work with Michelle Bohbot and Bijan. She later turned down a job as a composite sketch artist for the

LAPD The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

and instead accepted a modeling job for designer Michelle of Bisou Bisou.

Car crash

On September 3, 2001, Rockwood was involved in a car crash on California's

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

Highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles during a Labor Day weekend. Rockwood and two of her bridesmaids were returning late at night from visiting her maid-of-honor for her upcoming marriage to

Dustin Nguyen Dustin Nguyen (born Nguyễn Xuân Trí) (September 17, 1962) is a Vietnamese– American actor and martial artist. He is best known for his roles as Harry Truman Ioki on '' 21 Jump Street'' and as Johnny Loh on '' V.I.P.'' Recently, he starr ...

. The car was being driven by Rockwood’s bridesmaid, Steffiana de la Cruz. She lost control of the vehicle and it swerved violently across the road, before hitting a rock face and flipping several times and the hit the safety rail and plunged over the bank. Rockwood was thrown from the vehicle before its final impact and was subsequently rendered a

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of Motor control, motor and/or Sense, sensory function in the Cervical vertebrae, cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weak ...

. The other passenger was Vietnamese-American actress

Thuy Trang Thuy Trang (December 14, 1973 – September 3, 2001) was a Vietnamese-born actress based in the United States. She was known for her role as Trini Kwan, the first Yellow Ranger on the original cast of the television series ''Mighty Morphin Pow ...

of ''

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ''Mighty Power Rangers'' (''MMPR'') is an American superhero television series that premiered on August 28, 1993, on the Fox Kids programming block. It is the first entry of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, and became a 1990s popular culture, ...

'', who was also due to be one of Rockwood’s bridesmaids. 27 year-old Trang sustained significant internal injuries, and died whilst in a helicopter which was transporting her to the hospital. Doctors gave Rockwood a 3% chance of regaining motor skills and feeling below her neck. Through occupational therapy and physical therapy, she regained partial motion in her left index finger two months after the crash. Three months later, she could touch the top of her head. In 2003, she received

stem cell treatments Stem-cell therapy uses stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. , the only FDA-approved therapy using stem cells is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This usually takes the form of a bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cel ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

that allowed her to eventually use a manual wheelchair.

Post-crash career

In 2012, The Sundance Channel announced the creation of ''

'', a

reality television series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

about living with paralysis in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

produced by Gay Rosenthal, which cast Rockwood among "four dynamic, outspoken and beautiful women" in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

area.

Personal life

Rockwood was married to actor

on February 14, 2001. They separated and divorced in 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rockwood, Angela 1975 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New Mexico American film actresses American people of German descent American people of Thai descent American television actresses Living people Participants in American reality television series People with paraplegia American actors with disabilities People from Clovis, New Mexico