Jordana Brewster: From Soap Operas to the Fast & Furious Saga

Jordana Brewster, born on April 26, 1980, in Panama City, Panama, is an accomplished American actress. Her career spans various genres, from daytime soap operas to blockbuster action films, showcasing her versatility and talent. Her most iconic role is Mia Toretto in the "Fast & Furious" franchise.

Early Life and Education

Jordana Brewster has a diverse background. Her mother, Maria João (née Sousa Leão), is a former swimsuit model from Brazil. She appeared on the 1978 cover of Sports Illustrated. Her father, Alden Brewster, is an American investment banker. Her paternal grandfather, Kingman Brewster Jr., was president of Yale University (1963-77) and the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (1977-81). Brewster is a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers William Brewster and Edward Doty.

Jordana lived in London, England, and moved to Brazil when she was six years old. She left Brazil at 10, settling in Manhattan, New York City. There, she studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and graduated from the Professional Children's School. Brewster graduated from Yale University with a B. A. in English in 2003.

Reflecting on her time at Yale, Jordana shared, "What I loved about my time at Yale was that I learned that reading relaxes me. I find that there's nothing better… To be able to immerse myself in something, study it, is pretty relaxing." She also noted the balance it provided amidst her acting career. "I'd hit the beta waves, that state where I'm super chill, and that really complimented the chaos of, 'Read the script; get on the plane; audition for this; have this meeting.' I found that once I got to LA I really missed it, the grounding that I had at school."

Early Career in Television

Brewster began her acting career at age 15. She made her debut in daytime soap operas, with a one-time appearance on All My Children as Anita Santos. She next played the recurring role of rebellious daughter Nikki Munson on As the World Turns. From 1995 to 2001, she appeared in a total of 104 episodes of the soap opera. For her performance, she was nominated for Outstanding Teen Performer at the 1997 Soap Opera Digest Awards.

She reflected on the experience, recalling, "Ever since I was a little kid, I'd dreamed, and I had this crazy sense of confidence. I truly believed I was the most beautiful girl in the world… I really believed in myself, and I idolized actors. I liked performing in front of a mirror. I would create story lines in my head." She credits ACTeen, a place where they taught on-camera skills, as life-changing, leading to her first agent and auditions.

Transition to Film

Her first film role was in Robert Rodriguez's horror science fiction film The Faculty (1998), written by Kevin Williamson and co-starring Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, and Clea DuVall. Brewster starred with Cameron Diaz and Christopher Eccleston in the independent drama The Invisible Circus (2001), portraying a grieving teenage girl who travels to Europe in 1976 in search of answers to the suicide of her older sister. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received a limited theatrical release.

Breakthrough with The Fast and the Furious

Brewster's breakthrough came afterward in 2001, when she took on the role of Mia Toretto opposite Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in the street racing action film The Fast and the Furious. As she did not have a driver's license, she took driving lessons during production.

Reflecting on her initial experience with the franchise, Brewster mentioned, "Back then, as a New Yorker, I didn't have a license. I had no interest in getting one. I was actually a little bit afraid of driving, and it didn't mean liberty to me. I had to get a license because, back in the day, we had to drive ourselves. Now, we don't. It's all a green screen and you're faking it. Back in the day we also had to go to professional racing school in Vegas. I had a very tight window to learn. I passed my driver's test, and I stayed at the Standard Hotel the entire time we were shooting. I spent the entire summer only going to set, because I was such a little nerd back then, doing my work, coming back home and watching Big Brother while I ate dinner alone. There was no partying for me because I was really afraid of messing up. The messing up would come later, in my 20's, when I finally relaxed a bit more."

Subsequent Film Roles

Following the release of The Fast and the Furious, Brewster took a break from acting to complete her B. A. in English at Yale from which she graduated in 2003. She returned to the screen when she played as a lesbian criminal mastermind in the action comedy D.E.B.S. (2004). Brewster appeared in the drama Annapolis (2006), directed by Justin Lin and starring James Franco and Tyrese Gibson. Brewster next starred in the slasher horror The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), opposite Diora Baird, Taylor Handley, and Matt Bomer.

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Return to Television and Further Fast & Furious Installments

Brewster had a four-episode arc between 2008 and 2009 on the NBC television series Chuck, as Jill Roberts, the title character's ex-girlfriend from Stanford. She returned to the role of Mia Toretto in Fast & Furious (2009), the fourth film of the Fast & Furious franchise. On the growth of her character over the course of the series, Brewster explained in an interview with AskMen.com, "In the first one I'm more of a wallflower and it's much more of a girlfriend-type role, but in [the new movie] I'm more of a woman. She's far more tough."

In 2010, Brewster made a three-episode appearance in Dark Blue, playing an art gallery dealer named Maria, and guest-starred in two episodes of Gigantic. She reprised the role of Mia in the fifth film in the series, Fast Five (2011), which making a departure from the street racing theme, revolves around Diesel, Walker and Brewster's characters as they plan a heist to steal a fortune from a corrupt businessman in Brazil. Critical response toward Fast Five was positive while it earned US$86 million in its North American opening weekend and US$626.1 million worldwide.

In 2012, Brewster starred as Elena Ramos, on Dallas, an updated version of CBS's original series of the same name (1978-1991) about the trials and tribulations of a wealthy Texas family. She played Mia Toretto for the fourth time in Fast & Furious 6 (2013), which follows the remaining wanted fugitives on the heist from Fast Five. The film earned a worldwide total of US$789 million. She returned for the next installment, Furious 7 (2015), which was the final film appearance of Walker, who died in a single-vehicle accident while filming was only half-completed. After Walker's death, filming was delayed for script rewrites to the story arcs for both Walker and Brewster's characters, causing them to be retired. The highest-grossing film in the franchise, it grossed US$397.6 million worldwide during its opening weekend and US$1.5 billion worldwide.

She next appeared in the independent action drama American Heist (2014), as the girlfriend of a man involved in a crime. In 2016, she took on the recurring role of Denise Brown, the sister of Nicole Brown Simpson, in The People v. O. J. Simpson, the first season of the true crime anthology series American Crime Story, revolving around the infamous O. J. Simpson murder case. Also in 2016, she signed on to play the regular role of Dr. Maureen Cahill, a Los Angeles Police Department psychologist, on the FOX buddy cop action dramedy Lethal Weapon and starred in the second season of the ABC anthology crime drama Secrets and Lies as Kate Warner.

After not appearing in 2017's The Fate of the Furious, Brewster returned as Mia Toretto in the ninth instalment of the franchise, 2021's F9.

Personal Life

Brewster and film and television producer Andrew Form met on the set of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, which Form produced. They announced their engagement on November 4, 2006, and married in the Bahamas on May 6, 2007. They have two sons born via surrogacy: Julian, born in September 2013 and Rowan, born in June 2016. Brewster filed for divorce in mid-2020. The divorce was finalized in June 2021. Jordana Brewster 2nd husband is Mason Morfit. They got engaged in 2021 and were married in 2022.

Recognition

In 2002, Stuff magazine named her the 96th hottest woman in their "102 Sexiest Women in the World". In 2005, Maxim magazine named her the 54th sexiest woman in the world in their annual Hot 100, while in 2006, Maxim placed her at No. 59. In 2009, she was ranked No.

Continuing Career

Continuing her acting career, Brewster remains a prominent figure in Hollywood, balancing her professional endeavors with family life and charitable activities. Jordana Brewster is known for her bold fashion choices, particularly her confident displays of midriff. Notably, at the 2023 Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project Block Party, she turned heads in a striking black two-piece outfit that showcased her midriff and belly button. This trend continued into 2024 at the L.A. 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards, where she again embraced her style by baring her belly button on the red carpet in her Alberta Ferretti two-piece dress.

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