Gina Carano

GINA CARANO

Date of Birth: April 16, 1982

Often referred to as the face of Women's Mixed Martial Arts, Gina Carano was born in Dallas, Texas, and is the daughter of Glenn Carano, a former Dallas Cowboys quarterback. In high school she was a champion basketball player and also competed in volleyball and softball.

While majoring in psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, she began her career as a Muay Thai fighter. Having achieved a 12-1-1 professional record, she was invited to participate in the first-ever sanctioned MMA bout in Nevada with World Extreme Fighting. She defeated her opponent, Leiticia Pestova, in 39 seconds. She was then invited to participate in the World Pro Fighting Show, knocking her opponent out in the second round.

Her December 2006 fight against Elaina Maxwell was the first time MMA promoter StrikeForce included women on their card. In 2005, Gina played herself in the straight-to-video 2005 docudrama Ring Girls. Shortly after appearing in a small role in the violent home release Blood and Bone (2009), she landed the lead as a female spy who is double crossed in Steven Soderbergh's thriller Haywire (2012), starring Ewan McGregor and Channing Tatum. Gina followed that up with a role in Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and then starred as a wife who goes after the men who kidnapped her husband in In the Blood (2014). More recently, she can be seen in Deadpool (2016).

Gina makes her home in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Filmography:

Deadpool (2016)
Extraction (2015)
Heist (2015)
In the Blood (2014)
Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
Haywire (2012)
Blood and Bone (2009)