Carla Gugino ( guu-JEE-noh; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After early roles in the films Troop Beverly Hills (1989), This Boy's Life (1993), Son in Law (1993), and Snake Eyes (1998), Gugino received wider recognition for her starring roles in the Spy Kids trilogy (2001–2003), Sin City (2005), Night at the Museum (2006), American Gangster (2007), Righteous Kill (2008), Race to Witch Mountain (2009), Sally Jupiter in Watchmen (2009), Sucker Punch (2011), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), San Andreas (2015), Gerald's Game (2017), Gunpowder Milkshake (2021), and Lisa Frankenstein (2024).
Gugino also starred in the crime drama series Karen Sisco (2003), the science fiction series Threshold (2005–2006), the crime drama series Jett (2019), and the supernatural horror miniseries The Haunting of Hill House (2018), The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), and The Fall of the House of Usher (2023).
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Early life
Gugino was born on August 29, 1971, in Sarasota, Florida, to Carl Gugino (1928-2025), an orthodontist of Italian descent, and Susan (née Burgess), of English and Irish descent described as "Bohemian". After her parents separated when she was two, she traveled between the Sarasota home of her father and half-brother Carl Jr.'s, and the California home of her mother.
My father and my mother separated when I was two. With my father, I lived in (Sarasota) Florida, where we had a swimming pool, a tennis court, the whole deal. My mom wanted to take me out of the hubbub. She put up a real Indian tepee in Paradise, California, and we lived there for six months. We also lived in a van in Big Sur for a while.
She has said of her upbringing, "I lived in a tepee in northern California and a van in Big Sur. With my dad, I lived in a beautiful house with a swimming pool and a tennis court and went to Europe for the summers. So I feel like I lived two childhoods." She worked as a teenage fashion model, including work for the Elite agency, and took acting classes (with Gene Bua) at the suggestion of her aunt, former Let's Make a Deal show assistant and prize model Carol Merrill. She eventually came to support herself, and with her parents' approval, was legally emancipated by the time she was 16.
Career
Gugino's television work during the late 1980s and early 1990s included appearances on Good Morning, Miss Bliss, Saved by the Bell, Who's the Boss?, ALF, Doogie Howser, M.D., The Wonder Years, Webster and a recurring role on Falcon Crest. In film, Gugino appeared in the Shelley Long film Troop Beverly Hills (1989), and she co-starred with Pauly Shore in the romantic comedy Son in Law (1993). Gugino made her stage debut in 1993 as Curly's wife in Geva Theatre's production of Of Mice and Men in Rochester, New York. She later recalled that the role earned her membership in the Actor's Equity Association. She appeared in the video to Bon Jovi's 1994 song "Always".
In 1995, Gugino appeared as Nan St. George (later the Duchess of Trevenick) with Greg Wise and James Frain in the BBC miniseries The Buccaneers, an adaptation of Edith Wharton's last novel. She played Ashley Schaeffer, Michael J. Fox's character's love interest, during the first season of the sitcom Spin City in 1996. She played opposite Nicolas Cage in Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes, and in Judas Kiss, which she also co-produced. She appeared as Dr. Gina Simon during the final season of the television medical drama Chicago Hope (1999–2000).
In 2001, she appeared as family matriarch Ingrid Cortez in the first Spy Kids film (as well as the film's two sequels in 2002 and 2003). That same year she appeared as Jet Li's love interest in the martial arts action thriller The One.
She starred in two short-lived TV series: ABC's Elmore Leonard crime drama Karen Sisco in 2003, and CBS' science fiction series Threshold in 2005. That same year, Gugino appeared as Lucille in the feature film adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel Sin City. The following year, she appeared in the film Night at the Museum as Ben Stiller's love interest.
Gugino made her Broadway debut in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of Arthur Miller's play, After the Fall opposite Peter Krause. In late 2006, she appeared in an Off-Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer opposite Blythe Danner.
Gugino appeared as Amanda, Vincent Chase's agent, in a dozen episodes of the cable television series Entourage. Gugino appeared in the May 2007 issue of Allure. That same year she appeared in the action-horror film Rise: Blood Hunter and the feature film American Gangster. The following year, she played the female lead in the thriller Righteous Kill, opposite Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.
Personal life
In 1996, Gugino began a relationship with her collaborator, Sebastián Gutiérrez. Gugino stated in 2009 that they had no plans to marry: "Marriage isn't important for us. We like being boyfriend and girlfriend; there's something sexy and fun about that. We're very much about, 'There’s nothing holding us here other than our desire to be together.'"
Filmography
Accolades
In 2009, Gugino was honored by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). During the Foundation's 34th Anniversary Gala in Washington, D.C., she received NIAF's Special Achievement Award for Entertainment, presented by her close friend, actress Connie Britton.
