Angela Rockwood (born March 15, 1975) is an American model and actress, best known for roles in the Fast and the Furious with Vin Diesel, 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, Curry County, New Mexico. The city had a population of 37,775 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, and a 2019 estimated population of 38,319. Clovis is located in th ...

, 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 Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

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 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 through the states of Califor ...

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

Dustin Nguyen Dustin may refer to: Places in the United States * Dustin, Nebraska * Dustin Township, Holt County, Nebraska * Dustin, Oklahoma Other uses * Dustin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Dustin ...

, the driver (also one of her bridesmaids) lost control of the car. It swerved violently across the road before hitting a rock face and flipping several times before hitting the safety rail and plunging over the bank. Vietnamese American actress

Thuy Trang Thuy Trang (December 14, 1973 – September 3, 2001) was a Vietnamese American actress. She was known for her role as Trini Kwan, the second Yellow Ranger on the original cast of the television series ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers''. The firs ...

of ''

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers ''Mighty Power Rangers'' (''MMPR'') is a 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 pop culture phenomenon al ...

'' (who was 27 years old) was killed in the crash after she sustained internal injuries. Rockwood was thrown from the vehicle before its final impact and was rendered a

quadraplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or to ...

. Doctors gave her a 3% chance of regaining motor skills and feeling below her neck. Through 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 is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. , the only established therapy using stem cells is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This usually takes the form of a bone-marrow transplantation, but ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

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 unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

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 ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

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 people with disabilities American television actresses Living people Participants in American reality television series People with paraplegia Actors with disabilities People from Clovis, New Mexico