Rodriguez was born in Bexar County, Texas, the daughter of Carmen Milady (née Pared), a native of the Dominican Republic, and Rafael Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican who served in the US military. She has a total of ten half-siblings or siblings. She was partly raised by her devoutly religious maternal grandmother and was brought up in her mother's Jehovah's Witnesses religion. Rodriguez moved to the Dominican Republic with her mother when she was eight and lived in Puerto Rico when she was 11, later settling in Jersey City, New Jersey. She dropped out of high school but later earned her GED. Rodriguez briefly attended business school before quitting to pursue a career in acting with the ultimate goal of becoming a writer and director.