Gina Joy Carano (born April 16, 1982) is an American actress and former

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

. She competed in

EliteXC Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization owned and operated by ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between Showtime Networks and ProElite and officially announced on Decemb ...

and Strikeforce from 2006 to 2009, where she compiled a 7–1 record. Her popularity led to her being called the "face of women's MMA", although Carano rejected this title. She and

Cris Cyborg Cristiane Justino Venâncio (born July 9, 1985), known professionally by her ring name Cris Cyborg (and formerly by her married name Cristiane Santos), is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist who as of January 2021 competes in Bellator MMA ...

were the first women to headline a major MMA event during their 2009 Strikeforce bout. Carano retired from competition after her first professional MMA defeat to Cyborg. Transitioning from the ring to the screen, Carano landed her first major role as the lead of the action film '' Haywire'' (2011), which was followed by appearances in ''

Fast & Furious 6 ''Fast & Furious 6'' (titled on-screen as ''Furious 6'') is a 2013 American action film directed by Justin Lin and written by Chris Morgan. It is the sequel to '' Fast Five'' (2011) and is the sixth installment in the ''Fast & Furious'' franc ...

'' (2013) and ''

Deadpool Deadpool is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/writer Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in ''New Mutants'' #98 (cover-dated Feb. 1991). Initially, Deadpo ...

'' (2016). Carano also portrayed

Cara Dune Cara Dune is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise, appearing in the first two seasons of the Disney+ television series ''The Mandalorian''. Portrayed by actress and former mixed martial artist Gina Carano, the character is a for ...

in the first two seasons of the

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

space Western series ''

The Mandalorian ''The Mandalorian'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, beginning five years after the events of '' Retur ...

'' from 2019 to 2020. Following a series of controversial posts she made to

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the '' Star Wars'' and ...

announced in 2021 that Carano would not appear in future ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

'' media.

Early life

Carano was born in

Dallas County, Texas Dallas County is the List of counties in Texas, second-most populous county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census, the population was 2,613,539, making it the ninth-most populous county in the country ...

, and raised in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

, Nevada, the daughter of Dana Joy Cason and casino executive and former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player

Glenn Carano Glenn Thomas Carano (born November 18, 1955) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys for seven seasons. He also was a member of the Pittsburgh Maulers in the United States Football L ...

. She is the middle child of three sisters.Carano in She was raised by her mother after her parents divorced when Gina was 7. She has said that her family celebrates "an Italian festival" every year, though she is of a "small percentage of Italian" descent. Carano graduated from Trinity Christian High School in Las Vegas where she led the girls' basketball team to a state title. She also played volleyball and softball. She attended the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12 ...

for a year and then

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

for three years, majoring in psychology.

Mixed martial arts career

Carano started her career in the sport of

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterise ...

. Her then-boyfriend Kevin Ross, a pro Muay Thai fighter, got her involved. After achieving a Muay Thai record of 12–1–1, Carano received an offer from Jamie Levine to participate in the first-ever sanctioned female MMA bout in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

with World Extreme Fighting to fight Leiticia Pestovа (a bout Carano won in 38 seconds). She was invited to the World Pro Fighting show in Las Vegas to fight Rosi Sexton. Carano won the fight by knocking out Sexton late in the second round. Carano faced Elaina Maxwell at '' Strikeforce: Triple Threat'' on December 8, 2006. She won the fight via unanimous decision. Carano proved critics wrong when she defeated Maxwell for the second time; the first victory coming in a Muay Thai bout. The fight was the first female fight in Strikeforce. She fought on the February 10, 2007 Showtime

card, defeating Julie Kedzie via unanimous decision in what was called the "Fight of the Night". The fight was the first televised female fight on Showtime. Her scheduled bout against Jan Finney at the EliteXC/

K-1 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993, well known worldwide mainly for its heavyweight division fights and Grand Prix tournaments. In January 2012, K-1 Global Holdings Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong, acquired ...

'' Dynamite!! USA'' event on June 2, 2007, was canceled due to illness.

The Fight Network Fight Network is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment. The network broadcasts programming related to combat sports, including mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, and professional wre ...

and other news outlets reported that she was rushed to the hospital by ambulance for

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

while attending a

World Extreme Cagefighting World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion founded in 2001. It was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in 2006. In its final incarnation, it was mad ...

event as a spectator. Carano fought on the September 15, 2007 Showtime EliteXC card, where she defeated Tonya Evinger via

rear-naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC) is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word "naked" in this context suggests that, unlike other strangulation techniques found in jujutsu/judo, this hold does not require the use of a keikog ...

for her first career win by

submission Deference (also called submission or passivity) is the condition of submitting to the espoused, legitimate influence of one's superior or superiors. Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of re ...

. Carano impressed critics by holding her own on the ground before submitting Evinger late in the first round. Carano defeated former

HOOKnSHOOT HOOKnSHOOT was a mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion based in Evansville, Indiana, United States. It was one of the earliest MMA promotions in the United States, and one of the first organisations in the United States to allow Women's MMA. Hist ...

Champion Kaitlin Young at '' EliteXC: Primetime'' on May 31, 2008. A day before the fight, Carano failed to make weight for her fight after weighing in at . Although most MMA organizations set weight classes at (

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. Bra ...

) and (

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, th ...

), EliteXC opted to create a women's weight class at . Carano agreed to forfeit 12.5% of her "show" purse to Young, and the fight remained on the card. Leading up to her fight against Kelly Kobold, there was much controversy over whether Carano would make weight for the fight, as she had fought only once in the past year and had failed to make weight. Carano assured critics that she would be able to make weight since she had hired a nutritionist to help with her dieting. At the weigh-in for the Kobold fight on October 3, 2008, Carano weighed in at on her first attempt. After removing her clothing, a towel-covered Carano weighed in a second time at . The towel was removed, and on her third attempt, Carano weighed and successfully made weight. Early on, Kobold was intent on pressing Carano in the clinch, while working for the takedown throughout the fight. Kobold managed a takedown in the second round, but the round ended before she could take meaningful advantage of it. Carano worked her opportunities by hitting Kobold at every turn whenever the fighters separated while opening a huge gash on the inside of her opponent's eyebrow in the first round. At the end of the third round, Carano looked to finish the fight as she unloaded a head kick that landed flush on Kobold's chin, but Kobold remained on her feet and the bout came to a close. Carano won by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, and 29–28).

Strikeforce Women's Lightweight Championship bout

After Strikeforce purchased the assets of ProElite, Carano, along with other fighters within the defunct promotion, became contractually linked with Strikeforce after many months of a stalemate regarding their

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who i ...

status. It was announced at '' Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields'' that Carano's fight against

would take place on August 15, 2009, at '' Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg.'' Strikeforce created their first Women's Championship for the bout. Though the 145-pound division is most commonly referred to as featherweight, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated that the title would be known as the Strikeforce Women's Lightweight Championship. The title was later renamed the Strikeforce Women's Middleweight Championship. Carano lost the fight against Cyborg by TKO at 4:59 in the first round, giving her first-ever loss in her professional MMA career. Carano has not fought since August 2009 and has not been scheduled for any upcoming events. Carano is still under contract with the UFC through her old Strikeforce contract and has four fights remaining on that contract. In November 2010, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated he was hopeful that she would return in 2011. Carano's return was formally announced in February 2011, and Strikeforce announced at its April 9, 2011, event in San Diego that Carano would make her return against Sarah D'Alelio on June 18, during the ''Overeem vs. Werdum Strikeforce'' event in Dallas. This bout would have been held by Zuffa, who have been detractors of women's MMA in the past. Critics asserted that the reason for the turnaround was Carano's marketability. However, the fight did not take place. Initially, Strikeforce announced Carano failed her pre-fight medical examination and the fight was pulled from the card. Later, it became public that Carano was medically cleared by the Athletic Commission but was removed from the card for other reasons. In April 2014, during an appearance on ''

The Arsenio Hall Show ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall. There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989, ...

'' Carano said she was considering a return to MMA. In September 2014, Dana White of the UFC said contract negotiations with Carano had stalled. During her appearance on the ''Joe Rogan Experience 690'' podcast,

Ronda Rousey Ronda Jean Rousey (; born February 1, 1987) is an American professional wrestler, actress, former judoka and mixed martial artist. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand and is the current SmackDown Women� ...

said a fight between Gina Carano and her had been planned for December 2014, but never materialized.

Television and film career

2000s

Carano starred in the 2005 film ''Ring Girls''. Based on true events, ''Ring Girls'' is a fast-paced story about five American women from Las Vegas who take on the ultimate challenge of fighting the best Muay Thai fighters in the world. Along with Lisa King, Carano served as a mentor to aspiring fighters in the 2007

Oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements ...

reality series ''

Fight Girls ''Fight Girls'' is an Oxygen original reality television series that spun off from a 2006 special which documented seven female fighters' attempts at winning a championship. The initial special aired on August 7, 2006 and the series premiered J ...

''. She appeared as "Crush" on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

show '' American Gladiators'', in which she starred in the workout video of the show along with Monica Carlson (Jet), Jennifer Widerstrom (Phoenix), Michael O'Hearn (Titan), Tanoai Reed (Toa) and Don "Hollywood" Yates (Wolf). The DVD was released on December 16, 2008. She appeared in '' Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3'' as

Natasha Natasha (russian: Наташа) is a name of Slavic origin. The Slavic name is the diminutive form of Natalia. Notable people * Natasha, the subject of ''Natasha's Story'', a 1994 nonfiction book * Natasha Aguilar (1970–2016), Costa Rican sw ...

, a purchasable hero unit, portraying the Soviet sniper/commando in various cut scenes. She is featured in the

Michael Jai White Michael Jai White (born November 10, 1967) is an American actor, director and martial artist. He was the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion picture, starring as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 1 ...

film ''Blood and Bone'' (2009).

2010s

In September 2009, Carano landed the leading role in the spy thriller movie '' Haywire'' (2011), directed by

Steven Soderbergh Steven Andrew Soderbergh (; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor. A pioneer of modern independent cinema, Soderbergh is an acclaimed and prolific filmmaker. Soderbergh's direct ...

Christy Lemire Christy A. Lemire (née Nemetz; born August 30, 1972) is an American film critic and host of the movie review podcast ''Breakfast All Day''. She previously wrote for the Associated Press from 1999 to 2013, was a co-host of ''Ebert Presents at ...

of the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

stated: " arano'sdialogue delivery may seem a bit stiff — and she has acknowledged that Soderbergh made some tweaks to her voice in post-production — but she has tremendous presence: an intriguing mix of muscular power and eye-catching femininity." ''Newsweek'' said Carano's martial-arts experience gives her "an unparalleled physicality" in the role. She described her knockout fight with co-star

Michael Fassbender Michael Fassbender (born 2 April 1977) is an Irish actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Award ...

: In February 2012, Carano was cast in '' In the Blood'' (2014), an action thriller directed by John Stockwell. The film is set in motion when a husband disappears while vacationing in the Caribbean with his wife, played by Carano. The grieving wife passionately and recklessly pursues the men whom she believes kidnapped and killed him. Stockwell stated, "This role will showcase not only Gina's fighting skills but also her acting abilities as her character struggles to einin her violent past." In 2012, Carano was cast as the lead in an all-female ensemble action film, tentatively titled '' The ExpendaBelles'', that would have been part of '' The Expendables'' film franchise. Producer Adi Shankar said, "I don't know how I'm supposed to make a movie that is supposed to be the female version of ''The Expendables'' without Gina Carano in it. It would be like making Twix without caramel or

Jamba Juice Jamba Juice, doing business as Jamba, is an American company that produces blended fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies and similar products. The company is co-owned—with Moe's Southwest Grill, Schlotzsky's, Carvel, Cinnabon, McAlister's Del ...

without Jamba." The project has yet to materialize. Carano co-starred in ''

'' (2013) as a member of Special Agent Luke Hobbs' (

Dwayne Johnson Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the develop ...

) Diplomatic Security Service team. Several critics praised Carano's performance;

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'' wrote, "Gina Carano is BIG fun to watch. heis still a bit stilted with her line readings, but her two fight scenes with Michelle Rodriguez are just epic." while Matt Goldberg of Collider.com wrote that the scene would "create a lot of new Gina Carano fans." In July 2013, she and comic book creator

Rob Liefeld Robert Liefeld (; born October 3, 1967) is an American comic book creator. A prominent writer and artist in the 1990s, he is known for co-creating the character Cable (comics), Cable with writer Louise Simonson and the character Deadpool with wri ...

announced they were working on a big-screen adaptation of Liefied's ''

Avengelyne Avengelyne h-van'-jah-leenis a fictional Image Universe comic book character created by Rob Liefeld and Cathy Christian. Avengelyne is an angel who fights the forces of evil and often finds herself face-to-face with demons and monsters. Publica ...

'' in which Carano would star as a fallen angel, who is sent to Earth with a mission to find and protect 'the one', a person who holds the key to saving mankind from demons and other monsters. Carano appeared in the 2013–2014 Fox series '' Almost Human'' episode "Unbound", where she played the part of an XRN combat android named Danica. She co-starred in the 2015 film ''

Extraction Extraction may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * Comedo extraction, a method of acne treatment * Dental extraction, the surgical removal of a tooth from the mouth Computing and information science * Data extraction, the pr ...

'', and she played Angel Dust in the 2016 film ''

''. In December 2018, she was announced as part of the cast of ''

'',

's first live-action ''

'' television series. She portrayed the character

with a first appearance in the fourth episode of the first season titled "Chapter 4: Sanctuary". Carano initially believed she would be playing the role of a female Wookiee, and was surprised to "find that hewas one of the few people that you were actually going to see her face." She played the role in seasons 1 and 2.

2020s

In February 2021, it was announced that Gina Carano would appear as a guest on an episode of the show '' Running Wild with Bear Grylls''. The episode aired in May 2021. Lucasfilm announced in February 2021 that Carano would not appear in future ''Star Wars'' projects following a series of controversial posts she made to social media. The same day she was dropped by the

United Talent Agency United Talent Agency (UTA) is a global talent agency based in Beverly Hills, California. Established in 1991, it represents artists and other professionals across the entertainment industry. , the company has more than 1,400 global employees. U ...

. A week later, Carano announced she would be developing, producing, and starring in a new film project with conservative media company ''

The Daily Wire ''The Daily Wire'' is an American conservative news website and media company founded in 2015 by political commentator Ben Shapiro and film director Jeremy Boreing. The company is a major publisher on Facebook, and produces podcasts such as ...

''. The film, ''White Knuckle'', was to be about revenge by a survivor of an attempted murder by a serial-killer truck driver. The film was scheduled to begin production in October 2021 in Tennessee, Utah, and Montana. In the U.S., it was to be released exclusively to subscribers of ''The Daily Wire'', and was to be released internationally by

Voltage Pictures Voltage Pictures is an American film production and distribution company founded by Nicolas Chartier in 2005. It has assembled over 180 motion pictures, earning the company a total of two Golden Globe Awards and nine Academy Awards. Recent fil ...

. In November 2021, Carano was tapped to play a secret service agent in ''

My Son Hunter ''My Son Hunter'' is a film directed by Robert Davi and starring Laurence Fox, Gina Carano and John James. The film centers on Hunter Biden, the son of US president Joe Biden. In 2021, Donald Trump accused Hunter Biden of corruption. It is, acc ...

'', a biopic on

Hunter Biden Robert Hunter Biden (born February 4, 1970) is an American attorney who is the second son of U.S. President Joe Biden and his first wife Neilia Hunter Biden. He is also a hedge fund, venture capital, and private-equity fund investor who for ...

directed by

Robert Davi Robert John Davi (born 1953) is an American actor, singer and filmmaker. Over the course of his acting career, Davi has performed in more than 130 films. Among his most known roles are opera-singing heavy Jake Fratelli in ''The Goonies'' (1985), ...

. The movie was released in September 2022 to Daily Wire subscribers.

Political views and entertainment industry fallout

In late 2020, Carano clashed with activists on Twitter, who criticized her lack of public support for the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

movement, leading to accusations of racism. Weeks later, after facing calls from some fans to put her gender pronouns in her Twitter profile, she added the words "beep/bop/boop". This ridicule led to accusations of

transphobia Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger to ...

. She later apologized and removed them, saying that ''Mandalorian'' actor

Pedro Pascal José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal (born 2 April 1975) is a Chilean and American actor. He began his career guest-starring on various television shows before rising to prominence for portraying Oberyn Martell on the fourth season of the HBO fantas ...

had helped her understand the use of preferred pronouns. In February 2021, Carano shared an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

post that compared "hating someone for their political views" to the persecution of Jews during

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...

and included an image taken during the Lviv pogroms. Many critics interpreted the post as comparing

American conservatives Conservatism in the United States is a political and social philosophy based on a belief in limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to U.S. states. Conser ...

Jews in Nazi Germany The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

. Shortly afterward, Lucasfilm stated that Carano was no longer employed by the company, saying that "her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable". Her posting of a series of tweets in which she mocked the use of

face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The wearing of non-medical face masks in public to lessen the transmission of COVID-19 in the United States was first recommended by the CDC on April 3, 2020, as supplemental to hygiene and appropriate social distancing. Throughout the pandem ...

was also cited by Lucasfilm as well as her repeated belief of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election. In February 2022, Carano explained her offending post, saying that she "shared a meme, I translated into: Don’t let the government pit you against each other or history tells us that could go wrong." Some fans and commentators contrasted Carano's firing with fellow ''Mandalorian'' cast member Pedro Pascal suffering no consequence for making comparisons between the treatment of Jews in concentration camps and the treatment of undocumented migrant children at ICE detention facilities in the US. Carano was defended by ''Mandalorian'' co-star

Bill Burr William Frederick Burr (born June 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, filmmaker, and podcaster. He has released multiple stand-up comedy specials, most notably ''Why Do I Do This?'' (2008), ''Let It Go'' (2010), '' You People Are ...

, who described her as "an absolute sweetheart" and criticized her firing. By fall 2021, the ''White Knuckle'' project had been cancelled at Carano's behest, due to her unwillingness to comply with Hollywood's COVID-19 mask and vaccine requirements. She stated, "After we announced our first project this summer, the Hollywood unions started debating vaccine mandates for cast and crew, and I wasn’t into that. I don't believe anybody gets to make your medical choices for you, and I'm not willing to force masks and vaccines on anyone else." ''Daily Wire'' co-founder and co-CEO

Jeremy Boreing Jeremy Danial Boreing (born February 5, 1979) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and political commentator. He was a member of Coattails Entertainment, a production company, with Kurt Schemper, Joel David Moore, and Zachary Levi fr ...

recalled Carano's demand to "find a different movie", and her statement, "To hell with it, I’ll quit my union. Let’s make a movie up in Montana where they can’t get after us." The group then began production on the replacement film, a

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

entitled ''Terror on the Prairie'', that was released exclusively to Daily Wire subscribers in June 2022. In February 2022, Carano suggested that the war in Ukraine was a government conspiracy to control the public through fear, started because "they" had "lost control of the covid narrative".

Accolades

Carano was profiled in a feature story for the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

series '' E:60''. She was voted "Hottest Woman In America" by ''Big Biz Magazine'' in the Spring 2008 issue. On May 13, 2008, "Gina Carano" was the fastest-rising search on

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

and third-most-searched person on

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Mana ...

, and ranked no. 5 on Yahoo!'s "Top Ten Influential Women of 2008" list. In May 2009, Carano was ranked no. 16 on ''

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...

''s Hot 100 list. She is one of the cover athletes along with

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) fo ...

for the October 19, 2009, edition of ''

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998. Initially published every other week, it scaled back to 24 issues a year ...

''s Body Issue. In addition to being a nominee for the 2013 Critics Choice Awards for best actress in an action movie for ''Haywire'', Carano was a top 10 most-searched athlete on Yahoo! that year.

Awards

* 2008 World MMA Awards Female Fighter of the Year * 2012 AOCA / Awakening Outstanding Contribution Award * 2012

ActionFest ActionFest was an annual film festival in Asheville, NC, started by Carolina Cinemas and Magnolia Pictures founder Bill Banowsky and action director/producer Aaron Norris ( Missing in Action III, Walker, Texas Ranger), along with Dennis Berman and ...

Film Festival, Chick Norris Award for Best Female Action Star

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 7–1 ,

, TKO (punches) , Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:59 ,

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 7–0 , Kelly Kobold , Decision (unanimous) , EliteXC: Heat , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 3:00 , Sunrise, Florida, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 6–0 , Kaitlin Young , TKO (doctor stoppage) , EliteXC: Primetime , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:00 ,

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

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Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O ...

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Southaven Southaven is a city in DeSoto County, Mississippi, United States. It is a principal city in Greater Memphis. The 2020 census reported a population of 54,648, making Southaven the third-largest city in Mississippi and the second most populous ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

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, United States ,

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Notes

References

External links

Gina Carano
a
Awakening Fighters

Gina Carano with ESPN.com 2009

American Gladiators Crush Profile (GladiatorsTV.com)

American Gladiators Profile
* Goodman, Justine (October 2, 2013)
"Gina Carano Has A New Movie, 'In The Blood', So Let's Revisit Her Maxim Photo Shoot!"
''

''. * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Carano, Gina 1982 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Dallas Actresses from Las Vegas American female kickboxers American female mixed martial artists American film actresses American television actresses American sportspeople of Italian descent American Muay Thai practitioners American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu American video game actresses American women television personalities Conservatism in the United States Featherweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Muay Thai Mixed martial artists utilizing Gaidojutsu Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Female Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners Female models from Nevada Female models from Texas Female Muay Thai practitioners Kickboxers from Nevada Kickboxers from Texas Living people Mixed martial artists from Nevada Mixed martial artists from Texas Sportspeople from Las Vegas Sportspeople from Dallas The Daily Wire people University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumni University of Nevada, Reno alumni Television personalities from Texas