Who is Gina Carano: Biography, Career, Family and Personal Life
Gina Carano fired from The Mandalorian after 'abhorrent' TikTok post about Nazis |
In the wake of Gina Carano’s controversial social media posts, Lucasfilm has released a statement tonight, with a spokesperson saying “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Carano played the bounty hunter Cara Dune on the first two seasons of The Mandalorian, and it looked like we’d be seeing more of her. It appears not.
The actress shared a Tik Tok post a comparison of the pided political climate to Nazi Germany.
“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views,” she wrote.
Another photo on Carano’s Instagram story had a person with several masks covering their face and head with the caption “Meanwhile in California.”
Who is Gina Carano and Biography
Gina Carano is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter and up and coming actress. While currently in hiatus from fighting, Carano is considered one of, if not the, best female fighters in MMA history, once called the “Face of Women’s MMA.”
She began in the sport of Muay Thai, where her record of 12–1–1 led to MMA and a 7-1 record there. Her lone loss was to a fighter eventually suspended for using steroids in a later fight.
Quick Facts about Gina Carano
Birthday: April 16, 1982
Nationality: American
Age: 38 Years, 38 Year Old Females
Sun Sign: Aries
Also Known As: Gina Joy Carano
Born In: Dallas County, Texas
Family of Gina Carano
Father: Glenn Carano
Mother: Dana Cason
Childhood & Early Life Gina Carano
Gina Carano was born on 16 April 1982 in Dallas County, Texas (US) to Dana Joy and Glenn Thomas Carano, a professional football player. Gina has Italian ancestry along with traces of English, Scottish, and German heritage.
She has an older sister, Casey, and a younger one, Christie. Though her parents divorced in her childhood and she was primarily raised by her mother, her father played an integral part in her upbringing.
She finished graduation from Trinity Christian High School in Las Vegas, Nevada where she also helped the basketball team securing the state title. She then attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to study psychology for three years after attending a year in the University of Nevada, Reno.
However, during her last year she dropped her studies to support her older sister through a crisis. At 21, she started Muay Thai training with Master Toddy on the advice of her then-boyfriend Kevin Ross.
She started training hard after a trainer at the Muay Thai gym told her that she was fat and had to lose weight. The four-time world kickboxing champion Master Toddy was impressed to see her determination.
The master saw potential in her powerful punches, deadly elbows, hard kicks, natural strength, and agility. She excelled in the sport with his encouragement and landed in ‘Fight-Club’ scenarios in San Francisco, triumphing over female fighters.
Career of Gina Carano
In 2006, Gina Carano appeared in ‘Ring Girls’, a cult movie about five women Muay Thai fighters challenging the best fighters all over the world. Her real-life success in the sport, beauty, and personality drew her a significant number of fans. She also played the role of an ice breaker for female boxers in Thailand.
In June 2006, Jamie Levine invited her to take part in the first ever sanctioned women Mixed Martial Arts bout in Nevada by fighting against Leiticia Pestova. Carano registered a remarkable win in the first round within 38 seconds.
In the World Pro Fighting show in Las Vegas on 15 September 2006, she knocked Rosi Sexton out in the last seconds of the second round. She won a jaw dropping fight over Elaina Maxwell on 8 December 2006 at the first Strikeforce: Triple Threat female fight. In the following year, she appeared in the reality show ‘Fight Girls’ as a mentor and won millions of hearts for her amazing work.
On 10 February 2007, in the first televised female fight on Showtime, she knocked Julie Kedzie flat in the second round. This roaring brawl was called as ‘Fight of the Night’ in which the fans applauded for both women by giving them standing ovation.
In September 2007, she won the fight against wrestling champion Tonya Evinger by using submission for the first time, through a rear naked choke. In May 2008, she defeated Kaitlin Young at EliteXC: Primetime. She had forfeited 12.5% of her “show” purse to Young to keep the fight on card since Gina failed to make it to the EliteXC’s weight criteria of 140 lb.
The following year she starred as ‘Crush’ in the TV show ‘American Gladiators’ in NBC which won her more followers. She also appeared in ‘Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3’, a video game, acting as a Soviet commando and sniper, ‘Natasha Volkova’.
In October 2008, she stripped off at the weigh-in and successfully made it to 141 pounds to fight against Kelly Kobold. She defeated Kobold unleashing powerful kicks and blows which ultimately caused a deep gash over Kobold’s right eye. Carano won unanimously and dedicated this victory to her grandfather.
In 2009, she did a cameo in ‘Blood and Bone’, a film by Michael Jai White. She also graced the cover of ‘ESPN The Magazine - The Body Issue’ posing topless and invoking criticism.
On 15 August 2009, the biggest fight occurred in the history of Women’s MMA amidst approximately 14,000 viewers in San Jose, California which brought about the end of Carano’s MMA career. At Strikeforce’s first Women’s Championship, Brazilian fighter Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos defeated Carano in the first round. Through this fight, Carano also became the first female fighter who earned $100,000 for a single fight.
According to the Unified Women’s MMA rankings, she was the world number 3 in the 145 lb. category. After her heart-breaking loss to Cyborg, Gina never returned to the ring. Following her MMA career, she acted in ‘Fast and Furious’ (2013), ‘In The Blood’ (2014), and ‘Dreadpool’ (2016).
Awards and AccoladesIn April 2012 Carano received the first ever “Chick Norris” Award for best female action star, awarded by ActionFest to the top female action star of the year. Carano was named “Hottest Woman In America” by Big Biz Magazine in Spring 2008. On May 13, 2008, Carano was the most-searched person on Google and was the third-most searched person on Yahoo! Carano was ranked #16 in Maxim’s Hot 100 list in 2009. She was one of the few athletes to make the cover of ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue in 2009. |
Personal Life of Gina Carano
Gina Carano dated ‘Man of Steel’ actor Henry Cavill for two years from September 2012. Currently she is reported to in a relationship with Kevin Ross since June 2015. Gina and Kevin were in a relationship previously for four long years and separated for almost a decade before getting back again.
During her fighting career, she was often humiliated and ridiculed openly for her good looks. Critics doubted on her talents, and claimed that she was entertained with preferential treatments and that she misused her striking looks to get ahead in her career. She always remained poised and gracefully let her work answer the taunts.
Net Worth of Gina Carano
Her net worth is estimated to be $4 million.
Carano has previously stirred up the dust on social media with comments about mask wearing and voter fraud. In November 2020, she made fun of those using preferred pronouns on social media by listing “beep/bop/boop” in her Twitter bio. The action came off as transphobic. She later walked that back, saying that Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal. “helped me understand why people were putting them in their bios. I didn’t know before but I do now. I won’t be putting them in my bio but good for all you who choose to. I stand against bullying, especially the most vulnerable & freedom to choose.” Carano rose to fame as an MMA fighter competing in Strikeforce and EliteXC. She retired from MMA competition and segued to acting, one of her early launches being the 2011 Steven Soderbergh movie Haywire. She went on to star in Fast & Furious 6 and Deadpool, playing Angel Dust in the latter Marvel/20th Century Fox R-rated feature. |