Summary
Letty Ortiz, played by Michelle Rodriguez, has been an iconic character in the Fast & Furious franchise, with her own individuality in a hypermasculine world.
Letty’s age throughout the franchise has ranged from 18 to 38, with her character maturing over the years.
Letty has had a complex journey, including death, amnesia, and changing allegiances, but she has ultimately remained a loyal and strong member of Dom’s crew.
Crossing paths with Dominic Toretto from a young age, street racer and mechanic Letty Ortiz has been one of the most iconic characters of the Fast & Furious franchise. Though Michelle Rodriguez had already broken out in the early 2000s with the sports drama Girlfight, she established herself as an action star starting out with 2001’s The Fast & the Furious. Introduced as a proficient member of Dom’s crew and his constant love interest, Rodriguez gave Letty her own individuality in an otherwise hypermasculine franchise. She went on to co-star in other action franchises like Resident Evil and Avatar but her involvement with Fast & Furious has been the longest.
Matters grew even more serious with Letty’s death and subsequent surprise return following the events of the fourth movie in the franchise. While many more Fast & Furious characters have undergone similar deaths and resurrections in the other movies, Letty’s presence has matured over the decades. Not only is she a proficient member of Dom’s crew, but she also serves as an adoptive mother to his son, Brian Marcos. Rodriguez was 23 years old when she acted in the first Fast & Furious movie. She continued throughout the blockbuster franchise in her 40s, making Letty a prominent icon in the modern-day action genre.
Related: How Old Dominic Toretto Is In Each Fast & Furious Movie
Letty Is 18 Years Old In The Fast & The Furious
While Rodriguez was aged 23, she played an 18-year-old Letty in The Fast and the Furious. The franchise’s official Wikia profile on Letty states that she was born on September 7, 1983. This makes her 18 in The Fast and the Furious considering it’s set in 2001. Dominic’s sister, Mia, tells protagonist Brian O’Conner that Letty grew up in the same L.A. neighborhood as them. Like the Toretto siblings, Letty garnered an interest in fast cars very young, from the age of 10. In fact, it was Dom’s passion for racing that drew her attention toward him. And when she turned 16, Dom himself began developing romantic feelings for her.
In The Fast and the Furious, Letty has established herself as a street racer and career criminal despite still being in her late teens. Even in early adolescence, Letty is revealed to have had enthralling adventures of her own. For instance, 15-year-old Letty engaged in a drag race against Dom with both of their cars crashing against each other. Later, at undisclosed age in her teenage years, she was involved in an escape attempt with Mia, driving her car through a retaining wall. So, it seems unsurprising that when she was 18, Letty had already mastered her skills in illegal streetcar races and Dom’s carjacking schemes.
Letty Is 25 Years Old In Fast & Furious
The complete Fast & Furious timeline can be quite confusing as the fourth movie from 2009 is chronologically the third. With most of its events concluding in May of the same year, Letty’s age can be determined to be 25 years old as she was yet to celebrate her birthday in September. Having left the crew to evade arrest in the first movie, Letty returned in Fast & Furious. Not only did she rejoin Dom’s team and marry him, but she also worked undercover for the FBI to track down drug lord Arturo Braga. Unfortunately, her tenure was cut short when Braga’s henchman Fenix Calderon attempted to assassinate her.
Letty Is 30 Years Old In Fast & Furious 6
Even though she was presumed to be dead in Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6 confirmed that Letty had crawled out of her burning car when Fenix tried to kill her. By the time the sixth movie’s events unravel in 2013, Letty’s age can be deduced to be 30. Even though she survived the explosion, Letty underwent retrograde amnesia after the accident. This prompted her to join the antagonistic mercenary Owen Shaw’s team, going against her former lover Dom and other ex-crewmates Brian and Mia. Even though she didn’t regain her memory in Fast & Furious 6, she eventually had a change of heart and sided with Dom yet again.
RELATED: What Happened To Owen Shaw After Fast & Furious 8
Letty Is 31 Years Old In Furious 7
The period from 2009 to 2013 was significant in Letty’s timeline in the Fast & Furious movies as this was the phase during which she had amnesia. By the time Furious 7 took place in 2014 (despite being released in 2015), she still continued to fight global terrorists alongside Dom even though she couldn’t regain her memories. However, before the final act, Letty investigated the time when she was hospitalized after her 2009 accident. This brought her to the conclusion that she had checked in under the name Toretto, bringing back her memories. Considering that Furious 7 was set only a year after its predecessor, Letty is 31 years old.
Letty Is 34 Years Old In The Fate Of The Furious
Three years after regaining her lost memory, 34-year-old Letty seemed to be finally settling down in life. Embarking on a romantic getaway with Dom in Cuba, the duo had reignited the sparks of their relationship until cyber-terrorist Cipher blackmailed Dom. Turning him against Letty and the rest of his crew, Cipher held Dom’s son Brian and former lover Elena captive to keep him under her hold. While the team is obviously shocked at Dom’s sudden betrayal, Letty still believes in him and gives her very best in freeing him from Cipher’s clutches. Meanwhile, Michelle Rodriguez had turned 38 in real life when The Fate of the Furious was released.
Related: 1 Fast & Furious Character Return Completely Changed The Franchise
Letty Is 36 Years Old In F9
F9: The Fast Saga delved deeper into Dominic Toretto’s backstory, revealing the existence of his younger brother, Jakob. When Jakob joined forces with Cipher to exact revenge on his elder sibling, two years had transpired since the events of The Fate of the Furious. Letty, aged 36 around this time, was leading a content life on a farm with Dom and stepson Brian before Jakob wreaked havoc. But like many of Dom and Letty’s previous enemies, Jakob also eventually joined the heroes of the franchise. Once again taking Cipher down for good, Letty led a tranquil existence with Dom in their rebuilt L.A. house.
Letty Is 38 Years Old In Fast X
Much like the gap between The Fate of the Furious and F9, Fast X is also set two years after the events of the Fast Saga’s previous chapter. This makes Letty 38 years old as she is reintroduced as straying away from her life of crime and racing, settling down with Dom and young Brian. But as sociopath terrorist Dante Reyes devises a complicated plan to take down everyone close to Dom, Letty gets back in action to the point where she becomes an international fugitive on the run. While Letty is depicted as a 38-year-old in the tenth Fast & Furious movie, Michelle Rodriguez was 44 during its release.