Lost star Rodriguez chooses jail over community service

LOS ANGELES - Actress Michelle Rodriguez, one of the stars of the TV series Lost, was sentenced to five days in a Hawaii jail today after she was found guilty of drunken driving, a court official said.

Rodriguez, 27, opted for jail after turning down Kaneohe District Judge James Dannenberg's offer to perform community service.

She was taken to Oahu Community Correctional Centre, where she will likely serve the full five days, the official said. He described her as "chipper but probably nervous."

She was also fined US$162.

Rodriguez and her Lost co-star Cynthia Watros were arrested in separate incidents within minutes of each other last December on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Watros, 37, pleaded guilty in January, was fined US$370 and lost her licence for 90 days. Rodriguez opted to stand trial. Lost is filmed in Hawaii.

In 2004, she pleaded no contest to three traffic offenses in Los Angeles, including hit-and-run and drunken driving, and was given three years' probation. The Los Angeles City Attorney is reportedly seeking to have the probation revoked, a move that could send Rodriguez to jail for more than 16 months.

Messages left with her publicist were not returned.

The feisty actress won acclaim for her performance as a young pugilist in the 2000 film "Girlfight." She went on to star in such films as The Fast and the Furious and Blue Crush before landing the role of police officer Ana Lucia Cortez on "Lost," which revolves around a group of survivors of an air crash on a mysterious island.

- REUTERS