Génesis Rodríguez

Génesis Rodríguez is spending 2026 in two very different worlds. In Netflix’s The Night Agent, she plays Isabel De Leon, a financial journalist whose investigation into dark money pulls her into danger. On Paramount+’s Lioness, she is back as Captain Josephina “Josie” Carrillo, the Army helicopter pilot she introduced in Season 2.

The shift demanded something entirely different from Rodríguez. “I went from this very tough, physical character to a very cerebral character,” she said. “I love a challenge.”

Long before either role, Rodríguez learned to take risks in Spanish-language television. Born in Miami to Venezuelan singer José Luis Rodríguez, known as El Puma, and Cuban model Carolina Pérez, she began acting in telenovelas and found a breakout role as the spirited Marisela Barquero in Doña Bárbara. It remains one of the characters audiences most closely associate with her. Rodríguez has said playing Marisela taught her to be “completely free as an actress,” a lesson she carried with her as her career expanded beyond telenovelas.

Hollywood brought comedy, action, horror and animation, with credits including Casa de mi Padre, Tusk, Big Hero 6 and The Umbrella Academy. But 2026 has placed Rodríguez in an especially visible position.

In February, all 10 episodes of The Night Agent Season 3 arrived on Netflix, with Rodríguez joining the series as Isabel, a journalist investigating financial crimes and a dark-money network. The character appealed to her not only because of the story, but because of the kind of Latina she could put on screen: intelligent, principled and driven by her work. “I want to elevate the Latino community and push against stereotypes,” she told ¡HOLA!. That return puts Rodríguez alongside Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman. 

© Matt Winkelmeyer

There is already another turn ahead. Rodríguez has filmed El Tigre, an action-comedy directed by Tyler Cornack and featuring Luke Wilson, Harvey Guillén, Arturo Castro and Tom Segura. She described the project as a cartel comedy “with a lot of heart” and a welcome return to a genre she had not explored in some time. The film is currently in post-production.

More than two decades after her first telenovela roles, Rodríguez is stepping into one of the most visible chapters of her career. She has carried her Cuban and Venezuelan roots from Spanish-language TV into major Hollywood productions, pushing for characters not limited by stereotype. In 2026, she is no longer asking Hollywood to make room for her. She is claiming that space, on her own terms, and widening it for the Latinas who will follow.