Carla Gugino is an American actress. She is known for roles like Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids trilogy, and Lucille in Sin City. She has also starred in multiple theater shows such as Desire Under the Elms and an off-Broadway production of Suddenly Last Summer. This Carla Gugino biography will let the actress tell her own story in her own words.

Carla Gugino Bio: Early Life, Age

Carl Gugino was born in Sarasota, Florida, on August 29, 1971 (Carla Gugino age: 51). As the daughter of divorced parents, she moved around a lot during her early childhood, most of it within the state of California. She is both of Italian and English-Irish descent. As a teenager, she was recruited by the agency Elite Petite and went to New York for a month in order to do modeling work, but found the experience in the city to be terrifying. After this event, she spent time in Los Angeles, where her love for acting first sparked. “I ended up going and living for that summer with my aunt Carol Merrill, who had been on Let’s Make A Deal with Monty Hall, many years ago — amazing woman — and I took an acting class that summer and fell in love with it,” Gugino told uInterview exclusively. “From that moment I called my parents and said this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, and because I was a very serious kid they believed me and I started — I got an agent and I started working, I guess around 14 and got emancipated at 16 so I became a legal adult so they wouldn’t have to be on set  with me, and the rest is history.”

Carla Gugino Bio: Film and TV

Gugino went on to make minor appearances on popular teen and family-oriented television shows such as Saved By The Bell, ALF, and The Wonder Years. She was able to obtain a more substantial role in the 80’s soap opera Falcon Crest. 

Her film debut was as Chica Barnfell in Troop Beverly Hills. She was able to land a starring role in the romantic comedy Son in Law, where she plays Rebecca “Becca” Warner, the story of the culture clash that ensues when the South Dakota native brings her Los Angles college R.A. back home with her for Thanksgiving Break.

Gugino has had recurring roles in tv shows such as Spin City, Chicago Hope and Entourage. She has also had starring roles in short-lived shows like Karen Sisco and Threshold, and leading roles in the TV series Political Animals and Roadies.

From  2001 to 2003 she played Ingrid Cortez in the successful Spy Kids Franchise. Her other films include Night At The Museum, Sucker Punch, Race To Witch Mountain (where she stared with Dwayne Johnson) and  American Gangster, which received a Screen Actor Guild Award For Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

In 2016 she starred in the sci-fi coming-of-age story The Space Between Us, as astronaut Kendra Wyndham, the primary guardian of Mars-born Gardner Elliot (Asa Butterfield).

Gugino was attracted to how the film contrasted with her other works. “So when I started reading this, I loved that it was original, I loved that it wasn’t from any kind of source material, it wasn’t a sequel to something, and yet it had this sort of magical quality to it, it has sci-fi elements and this character is an astronaut,” she told uInterview exclusively, “I was really intrigued by a woman who would rather be on Mars, who would rather be away from the rest of humanity, who kind of wanted to use that job as an excuse to, of course, she had the aspirations as an astronaut.”

In 2017, Gugino starred in the thriller film Gerald’s Game and was featured in the one-season television show The Haunting of Hill House in 2018. Her most recent role was in the 2021 action movie Gunpowder Milkshake.

Carla Gugino Bio: Theater Career

The Hollywood actress also has her share of experience performing in stage shows.

She joined the Roundabout Theatre Company in their production After the Fall.  She also starred as Abby in the Goodman Theater’s production of  Desire Under the Elms. This role landed her Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Actress In a Play for her performance.

Carla Gugino Bio: Personal Life, Dating History

She has been dating fellow actor and director Sebastian Gutierrez since 2005. It has been speculated that the two are secretly married, however, this rumor has never been confirmed.

Carla N. Gugino News