The American stage, film and television actress Carla Gugino was born on August 29, 1971 in Sarasota, Florida. She spent her childhood and attended school in California and Florida. She is best known for her performances in the movies “Watchmen,” “Night at the Museum,” “Righteous Kill” and “American Gangster.”
As a teenager, Gugino started her career working as a fashion model. She began taking acting lessons after her aunt Carol Merrill who worked as the spokes model for the television program “Let’s Make a Deal” suggested that she pursue a career in theater.
Gugino has worked in feature films and television starting in the late 1980s. During the 1990s her television appearances included “Saved by the Bell,” “Who’s the Boss?,” “ALF,” “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and “The Wonder Years.”
In 1992 Gugino co-starred with Pauly Shore in “Son in Law” a romantic comedy film and was featured in the 1994 Bon Jovi music video “Always.” During the first season of the sitcom “Spin City” in 1996, Gugino was cast opposite of Michael J. Fox as his girlfriend Ashley Schaeffer. She played the role of Dr. Gina Simon during the 1999 season of the television drama “Chicago Hope.” She starred in the 2003 ABC crime drama “Karen Sisco,” and the 2005 science fiction series “Threshold.”
She appeared in “Lovelife” in 1997 and in 1998 she co-starred with Nicolas Cage in “Snake Eyes,” directed by Brian De Palma. Gugino starred as the matriarch figure Ingrid Cortez in the 2001 science fiction adventure “Spy Kids” directed by Robert Rodriguez and reprised her role in the 2002 and 2003 sequels. Later in 2001, she was cast to co-star with Jet Li in the action thriller “The One” followed by her performance as Lucille in the highly acclaimed “Sin City,” adapted for the screen from Frank Miller’s graphic novel. The following year, she co-starred in “Night at the Museum.”
In 2007, Gugino also starred in the cable television series “Entourage” Vincent Chase’s agent, Amanda and co-starred with Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington in “American Gangster.” The following year, she played the lead female role opposite Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in the crime drama thriller “Righteous Kill.”
During the first months of 2009, Gugino earned rave reviews when she starred as Abby in the stage production of “Desire Under the Elms” by Eugene O’Neill at the Goodman Theater in Chicago.
She performed in three 2009 feature films; “The Unborn,” “Watchmen,” the film version of Alan Moore’s graphic novel and the adventure remake “Race to Witch Mountain,” co-starring Dwayne Johnson.
