From UFC star to Hollywood outcast: The rise and fall of Gina Carano

The Mandalorian actor Gina Carano has filed a lawsuit against Lucasfilm and Disney over being fired in 2021. The lawsuit seeks $75,000 in damages besides a demand to be recast in the Lucasfilm project from which she was removed. Elon Musk, the CEO of X, is funding the lawsuit as Gina’s posts on the platform led to her dismissal.

Gina Carano, a former mixed martial artist, moved from martial arts to acting in 2011. She was part of many projects until 2022, which include Deadpool and the Fast & Furious franchise. Her outspoken attitude and various beliefs affected her acting career. After leaving Lucasfilm, Gina failed to bag notable roles and was being written off as a Hollywood outcast. Her lawsuit brings the media's attention back to her.

---

Who is Gina Carano?

Born in Texas to former football player Glenn Carano and his wife Dana Carson, Gina Carano grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, after her parents’ divorce. She graduated from Trinity Christian High School in Nevada and later majored in psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

She started her sports career at a young age and continued to win numerous MMA matches. She signed a contract with the UFC and battled against many lightweight, featherweight, and middleweight champions.

Her acting career started in 2005, and she was part of many acting and reality television shows. After quitting MMA, she took to acting and was seen in numerous action movies and shows. However, controversial remarks and political comments forced her employer's production house to drop her, leading to a damaged acting career. She responded by suing the company with Elon Musk's help.

---

How did Gina’s sports and acting career chart move?

Her sports career started with Muay Thai, where she had a starting record of 12-1-1, followed by the first sanctioned female MMA bout in Nevada. She followed this up with a win in the World Pro Fighting show. She played against Elaina Maxwell in the first female fight in Strikeforce: Triple Threat.

From here started a series of ringed battles where Gina Carano showed a winning streak. These included Showtime EliteXC card tournaments, where she defeated Julie Kedzie, Tonya Evinger, and Kaitlin Young. However, her win against Kelly Kobold was the most talked-about match, partly due to Gina’s trials at meeting the weight demand of 64 kg and partly due to her win through a unanimous decision.

For a long time, she remained a UFC star. After winning many fights for years, Gina Carano lost her fight against Cris Cyborg in August 2009. Gina quit MMA after that and has never fought since. Though there were many attempts to bring her back, they were not successful for various reasons.

Gina Carano’s acting career started before she quit fighting. The 2005 film Ring Girls was one of her early performances. Her other projects while carrying on MMA were Fight Girls, American Gladiators, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, and Blood and Bone.

Gina in a scene from The Mandalorian (Image via Lucasfilm)

After quitting MMA, her first movie was 2011’s Haywire. As such, she continued to have a presence in many action-oriented projects, such as Fast & Furious 6, Extraction, Almost Human, and Deadpool. However, her role as Cara Dune in the Star Wars live-action series The Mandalorian made her a household name.

Gina Carano played Cara Dune in the show’s seasons 1 and 2. However, in February 2021, Lucasfilm declared Gina’s removal, citing her controversial social media posts as a reason. At the same time, her talent agency dropped her.

Since then, Gina has been rarely seen in any reputed projects. Fans feel she is treated as a Hollywood outcast.

---

What is Gina Carano’s lawsuit all about?

Gina Carano had posted some controversial comments on her X profile, leading to media accusations of racism and transphobia. She had apologized for some of her comments at the time and deleted them. However, her political remarks drawing parallels with Jews during the Holocaust did not go down well with Lucasfilm, her employer for The Mandalorian.

While there was media furor over the comment, Lucasfilm believed her reference to “cultural and religious identities” was unacceptable. As mentioned before, Gina was fired by Lucasfilm in February 2021, and three years later, she filed a lawsuit against the company.

Since the point of her dismissal was her comment on X, CEO Elon Musk is supporting her legal fight financially. He has asked others to come forward in support, as he has promised support for people suffering work-related discrimination because of their posts on Twitter.

While Gina Carano calls her case a response to a “bullying smear campaign” by Disney and Lucasfilm, she is demanding a return to work and $75,000 in damages. Representatives of Disney and Lucasfilm have not given out any official statements. The dates for the hearing have not been declared yet.