Diane Rodriguez was born and raised in San Jose, California in the 1950's; her mother was born in Blythe, California and her father was born in San Angelo, Texas. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Theatre Arts and after graduation immediately joined El Teatro Campesino/the Theater of the Farmworkers where she was a leading actor for eleven years. In 1988, she co-founded the comedy troupe Latins Anonymous and published a two play anthology titled Latins Anonymous (Arte Publico Press 1996) that remains popular today. She was the director of the Latino Theatre Initiative at the Mark Taper Forum-a program that developed Latino theatre artists and audiences. In 2005 she became Associate Producer/Director of New Play Production at Center Theatre Group Los Angeles, positioning her as one of the most visible Latinas in the American theater. She won an Off Broadway Obie Award for Performance in 2007. She continues to direct, write and act. Her work is distinguished for its deeply political bend and use of humor to confront various forms of oppression