LaRhonza Lee Rodriguez (born November 28, 1999) is an American actress and singer. Rodriguez is known for her regular role as Fabiola Torres on the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

comedy ''

Never Have I Ever "Never have I ever", also known as "I've never.." or "ten fingers", is a drinking game in which players take turns asking other players about things they have not done. Other players who have done this thing respond by taking a drink. A versi ...

.''

Early life

LaRhonza Lee Rodriguez was born on November 28, 1999, in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

to a Mexican-American father and an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

mother. When she was a child, her family moved to

Hesperia, California Hesperia () is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is located north of downtown San Bernardino in Victor Valley and surrounded by the Mojave Desert. Because of its relatively high elevation and the unique and moderat ...

. When she was in the 8th grade, she started performing roles in the school theatre at Encore Jr./Sr. High School, a school specializing in the arts, helping her develop an interest in acting. She listed herself in a talent agency and later got a role in the year 2018.

Career

Rodriguez's first TV acting role was her portrayal of Bea in the series ''Class of Lies'' in 2018. In the same year Rodriguez portrayed Naomi on

Grown-ish ''Grown-ish'' (stylized as ''ish'') is an American teen comedy drama television series and a spin-off of the ABC series '' Black-ish''. The single-camera comedy follows the Johnson family's children as they go to college and begin their journe ...

in 2018. In 2020, Rodriguez joined the cast of

Mindy Kaling Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979),Additional archive on June 25, 2015. known professionally as Mindy Kaling (), is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Known for her work on television, she has received a Tony Awa ...

series ''

'' as Fabiola, a gay teenager who is captain of the robotics team at her high school. To prepare for the role, she tried her hand at building a robot that she named "Tinzel Washington". In 2023, Rodriguez started releasing music under the stage name "La Rhonza".

Personal life

Rodriguez has spoken about

colorism Discrimination based on skin tone, also known as colorism or shadeism, is a form of prejudice and discrimination in which individuals of the same race receive benefits or disadvantages based on the color of their skin. More specifcally, coloris ...

and the lack of representation of dark-skinned actresses of colour in the entertainment industry. Rodriguez has future goals of releasing music albums and touring. Rodriguez identifies as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

, first

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

National Coming Out Day National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11 to support anyone "coming out of the closet". First celebrated in the United States in 1988, the initial idea was grounded in the feminist and gay liberation s ...

in 2020.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Lee Living people American television actresses 21st-century African-American actresses 21st-century American actresses 1999 births American queer actresses American actresses of Mexican descent LGBTQ people from California People from Victorville, California People from Hesperia, California Actresses from California African-American LGBTQ people LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people